Warning recession may raise racist tensions

IRELAND’S FALL into recession could lead to more tensions between immigrants and the native Irish population, the Irish committee of the European Cultural Foundation has warned.

Its chairwoman, Mary Canning, said instances of deaths associated with racism were not common but “there is a worry that perhaps there could be more issues of tension, particularly at local level”.

“People are in danger of becoming ghettoised, either in their housing or in their access to education or to health services.”

She said Ireland must not go down the road of the Netherlands where elements of the far-right openly criticise immigrant communities.

“And there is a danger that if the unemployment situation in Ireland worsens, that there would be some element of blame, that people would see new Irish occupying jobs. This could be quite dangerous, and could lead to social unrest and tensions.”

Ms Canning said it was notable that when the economy was booming, political leaders and public figures continually lauded the contribution made by migrant communities. “Now that we have fallen into recession, those leadership voices have recoiled. This is in spite of the fact that there is a significant cohort of people who have come to make Ireland their home and will remain here in spite of our weak economy.”

Ms Canning was speaking at the launch of the foundation's report How People Live Their Lives in an Intercultural Society. It involved interviews with a cross-section of people from different cultural backgrounds living in six areas of the State.

President Mary McAleese said she knew from her childhood in Belfast just how easy it was for neighbours to live “cheek by jowl” and yet be in complete ignorance of one another’s beliefs and culture. “A kind of a superficial homogeneity is no guaranteed recipe for good relationships.”

She said the people of Northern Ireland had learned the hard way that healthy and happy communities had to invest in good community relations with structured ways of engaging each other.

“Without that there’s the danger always of creating a vacuums where fears grow...where stereotypes are allowed to fester, where bigotry is allowed to fester.”

Good and bad attitudes started in the same place – in the heart and in the home.

“They are taught, they are learned, they are picked up, and bad attitudes diminish us all,” said the President.