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C___'s avatar

When the invasion happened this year, I was selling newspapers door to door. I can tell you, every older person living alone (in a large house, empty nesters) all repeated the exact same word for word opinion that was from RTE, etc. Of course I was very pleasant, polite, with them and agreed. Ukraine flags were up in middle class estates within a day.

The Irish have an outpouring of kindness and christian good-will, as you say, and, as you say, this is being blatantly manipulated to get on the good side of the Brussels ingroup. Their hearts are overflowing for Ukraine and not the homeless Irish junkies on Dublin streets because those issues they feel truly impotent to help with.

Thus the consequences of this will be twofold. the immediate effects of ukrainian refugees+ housing crisis, and the creeping realisation from these good hearted christians that they were lied to, again and have been made impotent. The anger will be mis-directed somewhere no doubt.

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Donald Lindsay's avatar

The article suggests that "the powers that be", namely the political leadership, has to answer for the throwing open of Ireland´s door to a flood of Ukrainian immigrants, despite the existence of a huge housing problem for the existing citizenry.

However, one should consider that the central tenet of democracy is that political power is devolved to the general populace, as opposed to a dictatorship where power resides with a small ruling elite. Obviously the concepts of democracy and dictatorship exist along a continuum but Ireland´s recent history positions the country well toward the democratic end where political policy is influenced primarily by the actual and perceived desires of the voting public. This is exemplified in the surge in support for Sinn Fein on the back of its position on the housing crisis, however populist that position might be.

Another factor that needs to be considered is the reach and immediacy of social media which has not only amplified the voice of the general citizenry but also the voice of alternate and minority opinions. Ironically, despite its democratizing effects, social media has also become synonymous with the limiting of free speech through tactics such as cancellation. Suddenly, a single video of a father holding a dead child on a beach in some distant country can foment a huge wave of sympathetic public opinion that frequently precludes the voicing of alternate opinions or any valid questioning of events. Democratically-elected politicians that want to stay in power, respond to the majority opinion, regardless how illogical or populist.

Irish popular opinion has evidently become very pro-Ukraine/refugees and very anti-Russia/Putin and the public has signalled that the housing agenda is off the front burner and the big issue now is concern for the refugees. Against this background, politicians are seeking to respond in such fashion as will satisfy the voting public and, while the number and manner of control of the refugee influx is indeed surprising, no mainstream Irish politician in his/her/their right mind is going to champion the issue of housing shortages for Irish people at this time and suggest, even temporarily, that this shortage be a basis for limiting the entry of Ukrainian refugees. The people have spoken!

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