Politicians 'should not play into racist arguments', says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it is a common tactic of the far-right to blame migrants for whatever problem the country is facing.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a national action plan against racism will be published in early March.

The Taoiseach has warned politicians not to play into the hands of racists and the far-right who blame national problems on migrants.

It came as the Government was accused of "handing racists their number one gift" by failing to address the housing crisis over almost a decade.

People Before Profit-Solidary TD Mick Barry. Picture: Damien Storan.

People Before Profit-Solidary TD Mick Barry said the Government’s housing policy has "forced record numbers into emergency accommodation" and has "allowed speculators to hoard vast tracts of land in the middle of a housing emergency".

When many people compare the efforts this Government has made to house Ukrainian refugees — inadequate as those efforts are in many respects — with the lack of effort and urgency in housing the victims of this housing crisis, they feel aggrieved, and the door opens up for the racist messaging of the far-right, facilitated by this Government," he said.

Independent Donegal TD Thomas Pringle also warned that the far-right is doing a “great job” of exploiting the public's real and legitimate fears, and using them to stoke racist hatred.

"It is doing this under the guise of Irishness and nationalism, but the ideas being spread could not be more anti-Irish," said Mr Pringle.

Responding, Mr Varadkar said that the far-right and those who are anti-refugee will blame whatever problem the country is facing on migrants.

"That is the way it works, and the way they think," he said.

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"If we have a housing crisis, it will be said the foreigners are taking our homes. If we have an unemployment crisis, it will be said the foreigners are taking our jobs. If we have high levels of crime, they will blame the foreigners for those. 

If there is violence against women — one of the oldest tropes in the book — they will blame it on migrants and people who have come here from overseas, especially those who are brown or black.

"We should not play into those arguments."

The Taoiseach said a national action plan against racism will be published by the Government in early March.

Nursing home controversy

Meanwhile, the Fine Gael leader strongly defended the stance taken by successive governments in relation to nursing home charges.

He told the Dáil that adopting a "confidential or secret" legal strategy does not equate to being "sinister in any way".

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy described a report compiled by the Attorney General, which found that the strategy pursued by the State was completely legitimate, as "incredibly blinkered".

"Throughout it, cost containment is repeatedly conflated with the public interest," she said. 

In summary, keeping costs down is good and screwing over vulnerable citizens is legally sound."

However, Mr Varadakar said the Attorney General had pointed out that anyone taking or defending a case has a legal strategy.

"I have heard people describe the State as being callous or operating like a company in the way it defends cases," he said.

"That is not the case. All the time the Government takes decisions to do things that it is not legally required to do," Mr Varadkar added, using the mica redress scheme as an example of this.