OPINION: 'Ireland is not full'- Blaming immigrants for housing crisis is cruel and racist
The recent protests across the country where people are chanting 'Ireland is full' and 'Make Ireland great again' are doing more harm than good and putting blame on the wrong group of people
Nowadays, you can't escape the rage and fury on social media from far-right people who are protesting against refugees coming into the country.
I see it on Facebook, X and Instagram, but even in social situations with people on a day-to-day basis too.
People are angry at immigrants coming into the country because "Ireland is full" but Ireland is not full and the housing crisis is the fault of the government and the government alone.
In recent times with wars and conflict, like the war in Ukraine, it shouldn't be a shock that Ireland is a destination people are fleeing to for safety.
However, certain Irish people are making this a lot harder for people who are already in struggling circumstances and who have no choice but to come here for safety for themselves and their families.
I've heard people saying they are dangerous and they are going to target our women and children.
But in my opinion, there are dangerous people everywhere in the world and classifying all refugees as dangerous is just pure racist and is not justified.
Yes, some of them could be dangerous but some Irish people could be just as dangerous too. That is the society we live in and we have to respect the law of land and trust that it will deal with these people, no matter their nationality.
The targeting refugees in protests is not helping the situation at all.
The housing crisis in Ireland is the fault of the government as they make it impossible for our young generation to even be able to afford to buy or rent a home of their own in today's world.
According to the 2022 Census, there are 163,433 vacant residential units in Ireland.
That's over 150,000 potential homes that are lying unused around the country, and with proper planning, could be used to house thousands of families.
This proves that Ireland is not full and people who are chanting this on the streets of Ireland are just racist against refugees.
To give examples of some social media comments I have come across, one person said: "Well done! Be relentless with this lads" with reference to such protests.
And another comment said: "Everyone in every town should be having peaceful marches, we need to look after our own first".
We have to remember that Irish people themselves have emigrated to countries for centuries. Young Irish people are still leaving Ireland and moving to places like Australia.
Imagine your son or daughter were to move away to Australia only to be hit with angry people shouting at them and yelling "we are full!"
We are all human at the end of the day and it truly saddens me to see so many people that have lost their compassion towards people in circumstances that they cannot help.
So don't blame the refugees, if you are going to blame anyone, I would say the government is the one at fault here.