THE FACT OF THE MATTER
BY PAUL HOPKINS
While we are, as a society, noted for our welcoming nature, every so often, and more often of late, we find ourselves badly wanting when it comes to being the land of Cead Mile Failte. Racism is a reality here. We may not be seeing an out-and-out rightwing swing and inbred hatred but too often we are hearing of people facing down blatant discrimination, hate speech and, sadly, physical violence.
I recall when Twitter found itself some years ago in front of an Oireachtas Committee of Justice to answer claims that it did not do enough to respond to racist content on its site which a couple said had forced them to leave the country. The Justice Committee heard that Twitter’s decision to simply remove tweets aimed at Fiona Ryan and her fiancé Jonathan Mathis was “weak” and that the service provided “hateful content to a huge audience”.
The couple received death threats after appearing in a Lidl supermarket ad campaign and subsequently left the country with their 22-month-old son.
A hate crime is legally defined as “any criminal offence perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender”.
According to the anti-racist organisation, Show The Red Card, active in Ireland since 2006, and throughout Europe since 1995, racism “affects thousands of people in Ireland today”. A spokesperson told me: “There’s the obvious everyday racism, where people are called names, abused and harassed. Then, there’s the kind of racism that is more subtle. The kind that makes it harder for people to get jobs or housing because of their colour or nationality.” Meanwhile, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has labelled Direct Provision “a severe violation of human rights”.
Yet another native of India was attacked by youths the other evening while walking in a park. An e-scooter ran into him deliberately and he was then punched and kicked. It was daylight, He told reporters he was going back to India for good, that Ireland was no longer a safe place to be, and that many Indian people now feared for their lives.
Racism didn’t begin last month, says Azmia Riaz. “People who look or sound like me walk with their fist tightened around their house keys because the streets fill them with fear,” she says.
Imagine how much more crippled our health service would be were there no longer Indian doctors and nurses manning our hospitals – their kindness and professionalism I have been on the receiving end of on more than one occasion. And I thank them for their care.
The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has repeatedly raised concerns about “vulnerable minorities in Ireland”, repeatedly calling on the Government to tackle “an undercurrent of low-level racist violence”.
My friend Aileen says: “Racism is fear, ignorance and intimidation wrapped in the threadbare shroud of misplaced nationalism.”
There will always be one or two people wrapped up in that threadbare of ignorance, citing “concerns” as an excuse for their behaviour and goaded by the likes of Conor McGregor.
Yes, there are valid concerns, what with the housing and the shortage of teachers. But to kick a man when he is down just because of his ethnicity has no place in a society that purports to be good and welcoming. Whatever the colour of their skin or the language they speak, they are human beings just like us – and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
Not always so. It was disclosed last week that the provider of an International Protection accommodation facility in Dublin failed to identify residents’ sleeping arrangements as a welfare risk, according to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). The inspection report – one of six published – said the sleeping arrangements impacted the dignity and privacy of residents and were not in line with requirements of the Housing Act. When inspectors visited the centre, accommodating 231 people at the time, they found 11 families where children aged 10 and above were sharing bedrooms with parents or siblings of a different gender.
HIQA said this could lead to “accumulative harm” to the children.
Culturally there are differences between the Irish and the newly-arrived but such diversity could add positivity and knowledge to future generations. Listen. And we might learn that we’re not so different after all.
The late American civil rights activist Maya Angelou had it right when she said: “Each of us is more alike that we are unalike.”
