Ireland has never been so divided, and with immigration being a major point of contention all across the country, there is a good shout that a big chunk of 2024 will be spent arguing over the semantics of Irishness. I love a bit of Paddywhackery down the pub and a fairy story or two by a roaring fire, but generally I don’t identify with any of that. If there’s one facet of Irishness that I do, it’s the immigrant spirit. The brave ones who dared to venture, who made something of themselves and more pertinently, the countries they ventured to, using nous, wit, poetry, charm and sometimes fists. Many have since returned home, bringing with them new music, new books and new ways of seeing the world, which ultimately made many repressed Irish feel less isolated on this tiny island. 

When it comes to the current debate over Irishness, I’m left with a sense of, ‘I can’t be bothered with any of this. I’m done with ye, Ireland’. As a forty-something who lived in London for half a decade in the nineties and had to navigate my way back into Irish life, I still often feel like I’m at the back of a darkened cinema, watching an old movie I’ve seen a hundred times. Serendipitously, being the quasi-outsider has given me a unique perspective on Irishness.

It’s undeniable that most Irish identify with one clear and obvious facet of our collective identity, our image as a charitable and kind nation. One’s capacity for charity is worthy of pride. It signals compassion and altruism but overall, strength of character. Ireland has displayed that strength for over half a century by sending money to Africa, by standing up and supporting the oppressed and happily welcoming waves of refugees here—sometimes with big dopey smiles.

However, has something changed about our character? In this age of mass immigration into Europe, of diversity, equity and inclusion, is our image as charitable something we now hide behind?

A HUNDRED THOUSAND WELCOMES

In regards to charity, immigration is on most people’s lips in Ireland nowadays. Many think the image is wearing a bit thin, or has completely eroded.  They give the aul wry shake of the head when those open hearted types espouse multiculturalism as if everywhere can become New York. The fact is, most places outside of America grow from deep roots. Ireland in particular has a strong and much-loved identity. It certainly does not have the vast undeveloped lands that America had when it flung open the doors to immigrants from across the world. Some will argue that Ireland needs workers because young Irish are too afraid to have children due to the housing racket! Our politicians that as well as being charitable, we need immigrants to build more houses (to house more immigrants, that build the houses, to house more immigrants). That taxation-racket aside, Ireland has to get real about immigration and drop the virtuous persona. 

Ireland and Irishness matters. The people that Ireland invites here have the capacity to drastically change the country and culture in a couple of generations. They arrive with chips on their shoulders about white imperialism and that’s extremely scary for a lot of people. Being prudent about Ireland’s direction by ‘limiting and vetting’ refugees entering is not bigoted but responsible. 

It is also undeniable that many of the world’s nations are archaic in comparison to the so called west. The fact is, and it is a fact, they flee to escape backwards regimes and cultures. Yet a vast proportion struggle to change, often reverting to a pseudo type of assimilation, retaining ideas that we decided long ago were not workable. There are thousands living in Ireland over a decade who don’t speak English, have made no effort to mix or try to understand us or our culture. In fact, they see locals as being in the way of their better life.  It’s human nature. When you move to a new land, you try to recreate that life. How many Irish that move to Canada forgo the Irish bars and start watching ice hockey? I’d say 95% track down the nearest neon shamrock and ask what time the GAA matches are shown. 

DIVIDED WE FALL

Over the last two decades of increased immigration locals are expected to change for them and not the other way around. Social anxiety and cultural change are interlinked in my opinion. Our many weak politicians and citizens think political correctness is kindness, and hence the so called ‘Far Right’ slur is thrown back at them of ‘Traitor’. Isn’t there something to that when large numbers move. Isn’t that going to change the entire spectrum and not simple amalgamate into the nebulous idea of multiculturalism? 

Ireland has a deep yet fragile identity, too. We cling to our strong and charitable persona, and our kindness is indeed a big part of who we are. Past generations handed down the sense of what it’s like to have nothing. Helping others is in our blood, probably because it helped us to redefine ourselves as humans after the bitterness of centuries of oppression by our now friendly neighbours. Consequently, the working classes have always reflected the sentiments of charity and warmth the most. Ironically, it’s the working classes making the most fuss about mass immigration. 

To make matters worse, we have drifted into a perfect storm where those who did well during the Celtic Tiger perhaps aren’t too proud of their past avarice. They lost their charitable identity and want to claw it back in a kind of redemption by proxy, blindly flinging open the gates, and on their knees, begging hoards of unprivileged immigrants to forgive their sins, assuming that their countrymen won’t.

Hearing those who did well during the Celtic Tiger talk down their noses about immigration fills me with a myriad of emotions, most of them rooted in dread and anger. Often their vitriol is aimed at the people immigration directly affects, the working classes. It’s too easy nowadays to sling around words like racist, bigot, xenophobe and the now infamous ‘Far Right’. In my humble opinion, that media-fed slur comes from a small cohort of well-off contrite, ultra-left-wingers that look down on working class people, particularly when they speak up for themselves. They’ll also have you believe that Ireland’s growing divide is due to a streak of horribleness running through the lower classes, when, again, the working classes have always been the most charitable! 

They’re not stupid however. Ordinary working people see that many of the so-called refugees have come here for a free ride and are not invested in the country’s development. They want a better life FOR THEM. You’d want to be fairly naive to not see that Ireland is seen as a rich country now. Nobody was coming when we were poor.

Is it bigoted to call out economic immigrants who will raise their children not as Irish but as foreigners living in Ireland? Who only care about making money? I’ve already heard African activists say Ireland was complicit in and has profited from the robbing of African resources. They believe it is their right to come here, demand land and money and hold positions of power. I would say, ok, as long as you assimilate. But we no longer ask that. We are now changing who and what we are to accommodate these people who, fed by Wikipedia and race-baiters, come here with angry attitudes. It sets a very dangerous precedent for all involved. 

DELUSIONS

If slurs were not thrown at me and my employers not contacted about my ‘bigotry’, I would call that out. I’d also ask the Post Celtic Tiger Redeemers and their pink-haired, virtue-signalling, woke posse a few hard questions. Like whether their American credit cards have lulled them into thinking Ireland is the 51st state. Or if they know the landmass of Ireland. Or weather they can be honest about differing cultures living in close proximity, if they homogenize or clash. I’d ask them, where do you draw the line for charity? Or contrition? When is it acceptable to stand up and say, ‘hang on, I think we’re being taken advantage of?’ 

It’s undeniable that those contrite individuals who argue for unlimited immigration overlook the many social crises at home. You might even call them legitimate humanitarian emergencies nowadays—given the housing rackets many countries in the west allow and encourage as well as the ever-growing wealth divide. Just because bombs aren’t falling on heads does not mean people aren’t dying. Ordinary Irish pass away on the streets every night. Thousands of us are the hidden homeless, hard-working yet stuck and waiting to die poor and alone.  And the bleeding hearts in this country think it’s more important to stand on O’Connell street, outside the GPO, waving the flags of other nations. They’ll tell you Ireland is rich and can share. You’d swear the streets are paved with gold—the waves of economic refugees arriving here seem to think so. I would remind those Post Celtic Tiger Redeemers, who sling around the word bigot to shut down discussion, that Ireland is one of the most taxed countries in the world.

Bigots aren’t widening the divide in Ireland—real bigots aren’t intelligent enough to make an impact. The put-fingers-in-ears-and-scream-in-your-face-instead-of-conversing types are, however. Most of them are educated yet naive. A naivety they somehow see as being in touch with a higher self. It’s as if they see themselves as the first seeds of the enlightened beings that humans become, one day magically descending on some alien planet, like gods, to share vast intellect. They’re fantasists, open-hearted head-in-the-clouds idealists, who have no notion of history or reality. They overlook scammers hanging up their headsets, after ripping off thousands of Dollars from vulnerable old people, catching flights here from Pakistan. Or any number of undocument males arriving from lawless places with backwards attitudes towards women. Oh, that’s racist, they say while shoving open Ireland’s doors with big dopy smiles and the aul: ‘Ah sure come in and warm your poor feet by the fire. Will ye have a cup of tea? Ye can leave your machete by the door. ’

Is it naivety or an image? 

I believe its an image. Our politicians and others with influence are the worst offenders. The truth is, modern Ireland is less like Mother Theresa and more like Seabiscuit. We quietly fancy ourselves as smarter and more enlightened than other nations and we dam well work hard to make those ambitions a reality; you only have to look at our anomalous global achievements. 

Look, being strong and charitable is all well and good. It’s certainly a persona worth aspiring to. In regards to immigration, without considering all the nuances a myriad of adopted new problems—older, larger and less developed attitudes that see the so called west as lost and beyond redemption—we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Let’s not forget how young Ireland is, too, as a free nation. It can be argued that we aren’t ready for the world at large to be on our doorstep day and night. I am baffled that any Irish person can soberly argue against being vigilant. Desperate people take advantage of nice people every day. You can see it in the eyes of many men and women and even kids arriving, that we are viewed as the nice friend who has no identity, that nobody really respects but keeps around out of necessity. A friend with benefits in the sum of two-hundred-and-thirty-odd Euros a week, free housing and free medical. They laugh at our social anxiety that permits them to be racists and compels us to self flagellate. 

I would ask those Irish natives on the fence about immigration (into Ireland per se) to take a seat with me in the back row of my darkened cinema to watch a movie about the Trojan Wars. On screen, some naive (or virtue-signalling) soul throws open the gates of Troy and gazes up in awe at the unique and culturally impressive wooden horse left on the sands. I lean into you and say, why is it that in the last two years our historic and symbolic Croke Park was used by a religious group? Why did that group insist on that particular park and not, let’s say, the Pheonix Park? Why did we allow it? Kindness? Or perhaps fear of what might result if refused? That’s weakness! 

Isn’t it reckless to shut down politically-incorrect conversation, given how much blood is still spilled in the name of differing beliefs, in particular religious—when some religions don’t condemn their radicalised brothers’ death-cult acts (not naming any names, but the fact I probably don’t have to says it all). Our kindness in this instance looks to me like weakness.

NECCESSARY CHANGE OR A BACKWARDS STEP?

In the cold light of day, the true strength of Irish identity is fading. It’s deeply saddening when you consider how we were a multi-faceted yet united people, loved all over the world, not so long ago. Ireland, due to her people, was a beautiful place to live, travel and just be. Now we are at each other’s throats over, let’s be honest, a contrite section of society playing God with the lives of complete strangers. 

Integration at school age will only work in the short term. If you really look at multiculturalism from all sides, in all countries, the efforts of trying to blend cultures and homogenize identities is often an exercise in futility. It’s a law of nature that we choose those most like us. Indeed, there are tenacious individuals who achieve success and status by assimilating the identity and culture of their adopted country or culture. But the masses are what matters in this regards, not those elite few. When cultures don’t interact, suspicion grows, which leads to tension and ultimately violence. 

If Ireland is to move forwards in a healthy and socially responsible way, a few basic things must happen: 1) stop the name calling (far right or woke) and unite under a renewed identity based around common sense, hindsight, insight and foresight. 2) take a back step and really look at where uncontrolled immigration has taken other countries and what it will do to our unique people and culture. And 3), be strong enough to admit mistakes and do what is necessary to correct them. 

If both sides of the divide can’t have an honest conversation about immigration; if we can’t admit to how other, formerly peaceful countries are spiralling into violence; if we can’t agree on a sane and stringent immigration policy; if we continue on this course of showing our Irishness as an image of strength through charity, we will have to face the very real possibility of perpetual division in Ireland. Ireland’s beloved cities and towns, that are already veering into cultural dissonance, will be overcome by widespread civil disobedience and habitual bloody violence. Political correctness cannot guide Ireland on the matter, because walking amongst the truly needy are foreign interests. 

If we can’t come together as a people again, we will be remembered by future generations as foolhardy and bickering idealogues. The Trojan Horse is well inside the gates, but night has not yet fallen. 

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(I am a writer of short stories and novels. Please help me make my passion a full-time job by sharing this, checking out my website and sharing a story, or you can buy my debut novel—details on the website. Sláinte.) 

www.darranbrennan.com