Government needs to tackle issues sending desperate people into arms of far right 

The economy cannot survive without migration, so the Government must use the welfare state to insulate the poorest against far-right narratives

A Garda van burns outside the Citywest Hotel in west Dublin last week during a protest promoted by anti-immigration and far-right groups. File photo: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

IRELAND needs an increased flow of migrants to sustain the economy in the coming years. However, the State needs to be far more progressive as a welfare state if it is to prevent the continuing rise of anti-immigrant and racist sentiment, where vulnerable and deprived people are having their fears hijacked by the hard-right.

The CSO published population and labour-force projections last year, starting with Census 2022 up to 2057. In order to keep the population from falling, on average 2.2 children need to be born per woman each year. This total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.2 is what’s need to keep the population replacing itself — known as the replacement rate.