Read more Guardian letters — click here to visit gu. Anthony Ekundayo Lennon. Dr William Hart Armoy, Co Antrim The story of Anthony Ekundayo Lennon is an important one — a man who was assumed to be mixed-race is challenged as white, but proves that he is mixed-race. Topics Race Theatre letters. However, things are slowly starting to change. After representations from the returned development workers group Comhlamh and the Association of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Ireland ARASI , superintendents in Dublin Garda stations have been asked to deal personally with issues of concern to refugees and ethnic minorities.
An international conference on the issue in Wicklow next week is expected to lead to a development in Garda policy and training guidelines by the end of the year.
Then there is the role of the media. Sixty-one per cent of Irish people consulted by the Pilgrim House Community in a telephone poll cited the media as the source of their opinions on asylum-seekers. Less than 1 per cent had met or spoken to an asylum-seeker. Refugees, asylum-seekers, solicitors, campaigning groups and black Irish people agree on one thing. There was a perceptible change in Irish attitudes for the worse in the spring and summer of , when the numbers of asylum-seekers started to rise, the Government tightened immigration controls and sections of the media went on a spree of alarmist reporting about the State being "swamped" by refugees and other foreign undesirables.
It did not seem to matter that the numbers were still extremely small by European standards. There was an election on and a small number of unscrupulous Dublin politicians used the anti-refugee paranoia they heard on some doorsteps to win votes. At the same time the newspapers of the Independent Group, in particular, published a series of stories under headlines about "bogus" refugees flooding into the State to beg and thieve, defraud the welfare system, have their babies born in Irish hospitals and swell the housing lists at huge cost to the taxpayer.
The tide of anti-refugee stories continued throughout that year and has carried on at a lower level ever since. Women in Dublin were warned to stay off the streets for fear of "refugee rapists"; taxi-drivers talked about smuggling black refugees like cattle across the Border; asylum-seekers were accused of ritual animal slaughter in suburban back gardens. Radio phone-in programmes were full of callers complaining about refugees in the emotive language of racism.
In this atmosphere it was little wonder that the number of reported attacks on non-white refugees and other foreigners rose sharply. Ill-informed comments about asylum-seekers "sponging" when in fact they are not allowed to work and getting public housing which they are barred from started to become common currency, even among educated people.
He said that in , with few black people in Ireland, African students were treated with respect, apart from the occasional incident usually involving drunkenness. However recently "a man with a tie driving an Audi during lunchtime" had shouted at him "Nigger, go back home! Another African student said he felt that an atmosphere of friendly insularity - arising from Ireland's cultural homogeneity and isolation from the multi-cultural problems of larger European countries - was giving way to racism.
With "the coming of the refugees. He said there was now a widespread presumption that all black people in Ireland must be refugees, and are therefore unwelcome. In honour of Irish Times Food Month, a query into all manner of musical victuals. See a sample. Exclusive competitions and restaurant offers, plus reviews, the latest food and drink news, recipes and lots more.
Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription. Welcome to Dublin, unless you're black Sat, Apr 24, , Abuse of and violence against refugees and ethnic minorities are on the increase Black visitors to Ireland have been warned. More from The Irish Times Film. Slaves were not typically released and they were recognized under the law as property.
As Ireland has become more diverse, Black and Irish has been documenting the contributions and challenges of those who are just that. There was a very vibrant Arab and Chinese [community] but you would kind of not really pay attention maybe, because they were so small and kind of isolated. Starting at 7 p. Tonight, starting at 7 p. To register and for more information about these events visit irish-us. Categories: Entertainment. You must be logged in to post a comment.
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