Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has pleaded with his fellow TDs in the Dáil to consider how they raise questions on refugee and migrants in Ireland, amid the growing frenzy of the far-right fringe.
He's urged Dáil deputies “not to inadvertently make excuses for racists” by linking the rise of the far right to government failures on housing and accommodation, amid policy questions related to “illegal” immigrants and refugees.
“None of us in this House want to see the issue of race or the issue of migration come into our politics,” Mr Varadkar said.
He asked TDs to consider their approach and consider it carefully by not lending a hand to the racist far-right “I know you're well-intentioned and I know you're fervently anti-racist internationalists. I absolutely accept that, but I just ask you not to inadvertently play their game,” he said.
“If we didn't have a housing crisis, and we had an unemployment crisis, they would blame that on the migrants instead.
“And if we didn't have an unemployment crisis, they would blame crime on the migrants. They will always pick on whatever issue is hurting a country at a particular point in time and try to blame that on the other. And I just ask you not to make excuses for them. Or do anything that might inadvertently play into their arguments.”
