'Anti-immigrant' attitudes increase

Attitudes toward immigrants reached an all-time low as the economy collapsed and unemployment soared, a study showed.

Researchers recorded a rise in the number of Irish people who believed those from outside Europe made Ireland a worse place to live by 2010.

Fewer people also felt immigrants were good for the economy, while there was an increase in those who thought the country’s cultural life was undermined by them, the annual integration monitor report study revealed.

Killian Forde, of The Integration Centre, said the key to successful integration is proactive government policy and a tolerant, welcoming host population.

“On the former we have none, and the latter negative attitudes towards migrants are increasing,” he said.

“The government as a matter of urgency need to create a national policy on integration, and co-ordinate activities between government departments on integration.”

The study, by The Integration Centre and researchers at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Geary Institute, found attitudes to immigrants in Ireland had been among the most liberal in Europe in 2002, 2004 and 2006, when just 6% of the population said no immigrants from poor non-EU countries should be allowed.

By 2010 the figure had soared to 22%.

“We find that positive attitudes towards immigrants increase from 2002 to 2004, and then decrease after 2006, reaching an all-time low in 2010, with more respondents reporting that immigrants make the country a worse place to live than did in 2002,” it stated.

When compared to Germany, Netherlands, Spain and the UK, researchers revealed Ireland had some of the most negative attitudes to immigrants, with only the UK being worse.

Highly-educated groups and younger people had more positive attitudes, compared to lower-educated groups and the over 65s.

More than half a million non-Irish people from almost 200 countries lived in Ireland on Census night in April 2011.

Some 34,500 adults were made Irish citizens between 2005 and 2011, with another 9,500 granted in 2012 as a backlog of applicants was cleared.

However, the report revealed immigrants are twice as likely to be living in poverty than their Irish counterparts – with 12% struggling to survive on the breadline.

The unemployment rate was 18.5% for immigrants last year, compared to just under 15% for Irish nationals, and one third of teenage children of immigrants scored below basic English reading levels, compared to almost one in six Irish 15 year olds.

Dr Frances McGinnity, senior researcher with the ESRI, said non-Irish nationals have been harder hit in the labour market by the current recession.

“The evidence seems to suggest that rapid growth in the immigrant population, followed by economic recession has resulted in increased concerns about, and resistance to, immigration in Ireland,” she added.

“The change in attitudes is modest, but of concern.”

CASE STUDY

The people who racially abused a Vietnamese-born Kerry Gaelgóir have been identified by gardaí.

Last month, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, from Tralee, spoke out about being racially abused and spat at by a group of teenagers while waiting for a friend on Dublin’s Parnell St.

Yesterday however, the 21-year-old tweeted that her attackers had been identified.

“Great news!! Gardaí have identified every member of the group who racially abused and spat

on me. This has made

my day… One thing I’ll

demand is a face to face apology from every single one of them. Individually.”

Later she said she would advise anyone that has been a victim of a racial crime to report it.

Last month, Ms Kavanagh recounted how after responding to a racial slur, she was grabbed by her face and spat at by one of the teenagers abusing her.

“That was humiliating. Afterwards I had to take the spit out of my hair and rub it away. It was

absolutely disgusting. I was furious at them… and at first I was angry, but then I just felt pity for them.

That they felt that this attitude, that these kinds of remarks, this kind of abuse was OK, and

spitting on someone was OK — I was just horrified really,” she said.

She said that although it was the first time she was attacked physically because of her race racism was something that she had encountered regularly.

“Throughout the years I’ve witnessed a lot of racism, and not just in Dublin but across Ireland and even in my hometown in Kerry, which I was glad to leave in the end because some of it was getting too much.”

She said she was “very disheartened” to have experienced such abuse in Dublin, because it is “so racially diverse”.

Report: Conall Ó Fátharta