This election campaign saw all the major parties adopt harsher attitudes to immigration. Campaigns promising to bring ‘law and order’ to immigration, certainly familiar as standard right-wing rhetoric, have signalled a rightward step from parties traditionally aligned with liberal positions on human rights and, in particular, a right to asylum. The manifestoes of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Sinn Féin all identify immigration as a key issue facing the next government. These parties, the three largest in the country, have notably raised the ante on this issue since the last general election in 2020. Could the draconian measures that are mentioned be suggestive of the country’s major political parties jumping aboard the immigration bandwagon?
149,200 immigrants, including 86,800 citizens from outside the EU or Britain, arrived into the Ireland during the 12-month period until April 2024 – a 17-year high. Many of those coming to Ireland are asylum-seekers and Ukrainians, fleeing conflict or famine, and have been accommodated in hotels, in direct provision, and, inexcusably, in tents. While the major parties all acknowledge an acute need for more purpose-built and state-owned accommodation to house asylum-seekers, Fine Gael stand out with a most concerning proposal – of ‘designated accommodation with restricted freedom of movement’. Such accommodation seems not unlike the immigration detention centres that are used in the UK, US and Australia, and are condemned by human rights organisations alike. These designated centres proposed by Fine Gael are a way to ensure the integrity of immigration processing, but do they have equal regard for the dignity and rights of the individual?
The three major parties also suggest reserving a discretion to decide who should be allowed to enter and stay in the country. Fianna Fáil have emphasised a crackdown on economic migration, in order to accommodate only those ‘genuinely’ fleeing war and persecution. Fine Gael suggest a ‘skill-based migration system’, which seems to indicate priority being given to those immigrants deemed helpful to the workforce. Sinn Féin, meanwhile, have proposed the return of Ukrainians from ‘safe’ parts of Ukraine back to their war-torn home. If these proposals seem troubling at first glance, that is because they are, and could set alarming precedent. Who decides when Ukraine is safe, or if an asylum-seeker is ‘genuinely’ fleeing war? Will the government refuse or return migrants who do not contribute to the economy and workforce?
Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have all evidently taken notable steps to reconcile their policies with the ongoing conversation around immigration in this country. While much is to be commended about policies aiming to improve the immigration process, there is a delicate line to be walked when it comes to calls to ‘secure our borders’ – once seen as dangerous right-wing rhetoric, but now used by the parties most likely to lead the country. These parties will undoubtedly have to also tackle critical issues of housing and the economy in the next government – could raising speculative concerns about immigration be merely a mode of avoiding these more tangible issues facing Ireland?
