Picnic aims to foster racial understanding

Dozens of people turned out for a free multicultural picnic in Dublin today which was organised to promote understanding between Irish people and migrants.

Organisers said the spread in Dublin’s St Kevin’s Park on Camden Row was being held to help counter some myths about asylum seekers and immigrants particularly in the aftermath of the hunger strike by Afghanistan asylum seekers in St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Rory Hearne, one of the organisers from the People Before Profit Alliance, said the picnic would help combat demands being made by some people that it was time now, given the census statistics, to reduce the number of immigrants coming here.

“We are organising this picnic to bring together migrants and Irish in a relaxed atmosphere of fun and food,” he said. “The main message we re trying to get across is that we are welcoming migrants here to Ireland as there has been a lot of talk recently about the numbers.

“We are trying to say the problems with housing and the health system are not due to migrants but decades of underfunding by successive governments.”

Mr Hearne highlighted that in some cases migrant workers were being exploited by ruthless employers to lower labour costs.

“There is enough wealth in this country to provide housing, jobs and a decent quality of life for everyone here, local Irish and the ’new’ Irish,” he said.

“If migrants and Irish can unite in, for example, the trade unions and campaigns for better local services we can win improvements in the conditions for everyone.”