Immigration is not just a major concern among the people of the U.S. We tend to forget that cities in Europe have also seen major influxes of migrants from across the world, including Germany and now Ireland. The country has seen a large influx of migrants from Ukraine and other countries, and not everyone in the country is happy about it. Now, it appears Ireland’s leaders want to quell dissenting opinions. In a January 31 Senate session, Sen. Marie Sherlock took issue with social media and content that has been deemed harmful to refugees. Here are excerpts from her comments:
We have all seen the anti-refugee sentiment present now in many of our communities. It has risen to a terrifying point. The attack in Ashtown, Dublin 15, last Saturday was the latest and most insidious incident. Deep down, for many of us, there is a belief that it is only a matter of time, sooner rather than later, before somebody is very seriously injured or worse. There are, of course, many things the Government and the State can do to try to head off the rise in this very ugly sentiment. I will touch on just one action I believe the Government can take and this concerns the role of social media platforms.
Some of the largest social media platform companies have their Europe, Middle East and Asia, EMEA, headquarters here in Dublin. It is incumbent on the Government to use its influence now to try to ask representatives of these companies to do all in their power regarding this situation. These companies have an important responsibility in curbing what we all know to be the propagation of lies, false information and hate online. For many weeks now, we have seen individuals and groups preying on communities with grievances and concerns. These people have been allowed to go ahead unimpeded.
I appeal to the Minister, Deputy Martin, to engage directly with the social media companies because we are at a hiatus now regarding the regulation of these entities between the enactment this month of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 and the advent of the online safety code, which many in this Chamber have called for.
Sherlock was not alone in her sentiments. Eileen Flynn said that she did not feel safe on social media, having received threats of violence for posting quotes. She added:
I was threatened, to be honest. It is not just about me, personally. It is about all politicians and ordinary people like black people, brown people, refugees, or migrants, that is, ordinary people within our society. We all have freedom of speech and should have freedom of speech, but when your speech becomes a threat and becomes hate towards a community or individual, it is no longer freedom of speech. What you are doing is hate speech.
She followed that with a call for social media platforms to act to protect ordinary citizens. The presiding officer of the Senate voiced his support for Flynn’s message. Other senators concurred. A brutal murder of a woman in Ashtown, of which footage was posted to social media, was cited, as was an attack on a homeless encampment there, which has been blamed on racist motives.
However, the Irish news site Gript posted a story in which reporter Kitty Holland said she was not present at the attack, although it has been claimed by numerous media outlets across the country that she was an eyewitness. She did say that she arrived on the scene after the event and was threatened by one of the assailants. Her photographer managed to snap a few pictures of the attacker. Holland says that her employer, the Irish Times, did not want to publish the photos out of fear of a lawsuit.
Breitbart reports that in the last 12 months, tens of thousands of migrants have arrived at the island nation with a population of around five million. There is a growing backlash to the influx, particularly with regard to housing. With so many people moving in, native-born Irish are having problems finding places to live. The Irish government is also making moves to ban protests around immigrant camps and housing.
Obviously, online threats and attacks with bats and dogs are not things that civilized people do. The problem the Irish face, beyond housing and supporting waves of migrants, is the issue of what will constitute hate speech or an act of racism, or even violence. In America, we have college students who scream that “speech is violence.” If someone voices any opinion contrary to popular thought, they risk being branded one kind of “phobe” or another, a proponent of some sort of “ism.” And, of course, that speech is immediately branded hate speech.
So what, then, is to become of the average, native-born resident of Ireland, who may be genuinely concerned about the growing number of non-residents in their country? What about the Irish family who cannot find a home because of the immigrant situation?
As far back as 2018, Newsweek was reporting about the rising violent crime rates in Germany that were linked to immigrants. And then there are the no-go zones in various places around the European Union. The citizens of Ireland have a right to be concerned about the potential for such things to manifest themselves in their country.
It is all well and good to want to ensure the welfare of immigrants. That is simple human decency. But there should also be equal concern for the residents of the country. They are the ones who are being asked to bear the burden of a population increase, and they deserve a voice in immigration policies. While acts of violence should be excoriated and prosecuted, the voices of dissent, which seem to be growing in number, should not be ignored. Their concerns deserve to be addressed. And not everyone who is opposed to massive numbers of immigrants is violent or racist, and people with genuine concerns do not deserve to be branded as such.
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