The text on the spoiled presidential ballot paper was clearly written in black marker – “my child matters, our children matter, we are not safe, Irish People Matter!!” Another message followed – “she was only 10″.
References to the alleged sexual assault of a young girl in Saggart, Dublin, by a 26-year-old man near an Ipas centre appeared on dozens of spoiled ballot papers in the presidential election. The alleged attack took place at Garter Lane in Saggart on October 20th, and was followed by two nights of violent protests outside the Citywest Hotel.
Other spoiled votes referenced the murder of Ashling Murphy by Jozef Puska in 2022, with the message “she went for a run”. A common theme emerged on these unusable ballots – women and children are at risk in Ireland.
The claim that the safety of ”vulnerable” women and children is threatened by “foreign nationals” – particularly those who are not white, speak foreign languages and practise different religions – is not new. However, claims that this safety has been compromised by a recent rise in immigration has become the rallying cry of far-right groups and used to justify their increasingly violent pushback against foreign nationals and asylum seekers.
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Speaking in September at the Unite the Kingdom rally in London, British far-right figure Tommy Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) told tens of thousands of cheering supporters: “Our women, our daughters are scared to walk the streets.”
His words echo the language of prominent political figures such as Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, Donald Trump in the United States and Viktor Orban in Hungary – a narrative that is amplified by Irish far-right agitators.
Anupa Achuthan is no stranger to the influence of anti-immigrant social media posts. In August, the Indian nurse, who has lived and worked in Ireland for eight years, spoke publicly about how her six-year-old, Irish-born daughter was allegedly attacked, punched in the face and hit with the wheel of a bike by a group of boys about twice her age.
They called her a “dirty Indian” and told her “to go back to India”, Ms Achuthan said.
While her daughter has recovered from the incident, thanks to support from her friends, school and local community, Achuthan is still haunted by the “thousands of comments” that appeared under news reports on the attack. “These groups were spreading lies while accusing me of telling lies,” she told The Irish Times. “They claimed the incident never happened and told me “go back to your country”.
“The majority of Irish people are migrant-friendly, I know that from working and living here. But there is a minority spreading this hate.” Speaking of the safety of women and children as justification for their rhetoric is “nonsense”, she says. “It’s a lie, especially when women and children from immigrant communities are being attacked.
“My daughter is six years old, they didn’t support us, they attacked us online. All they actually want is to spread hate speech and blame immigrants for a housing crisis that existed before we arrived.”
The history of weaponising the rights of women and children for personal gain dates back hundreds of years, even to colonial times, says Dr James Carr from the University of Limerick. “There’s always been this claim of liberating, protecting or saving people. And the rights of women and children speaks to people’s very basic fears around the welfare of those deemed vulnerable in society, so can be easily deployed.”
“It’s dog-whistle racism, it’s unfounded but it speaks to real fears that people have about their loved ones – their children, sisters, mothers, wives.”
The public should understand that most of these far-right groups subscribe to an ideology that propagates a traditional, patriarchal view of women’s role in society, says Dr Carr. They view women in the context of the “great replacement theory”, which calls for more white women to have more white babies, he adds.
“This is a racist and patriarchal vision of society where sexual violence, and violence against children, is framed as something that only happens at the hands of brown or black men.”
Síle, who volunteers in her free time to support newly arrived male asylum seekers, says claims by far-right individuals about the protection of women and children make her “really angry”.
“I’ve had these men shouting in my face, threatening me in all sorts of ways and hurling abuse at me. And then they say they’re trying to protect Irish women and children? I’m an Irish woman, I have Irish children. They are not trying to protect me or my family.”
Síle, not her real name, requested a pseudonym be used because she is seriously concerned by the regular threats she receives from the predominantly male individuals who appear outside tents housing migrants who have not secured accommodation elsewhere. The situation for volunteers, and these men sleeping rough, is becoming “really scary”, she says.
“The kind of hate being stirred up around social media is driving people to be bolder in their actions. But we volunteers feel we can’t step back because the risk of serious injury or death is so high at the moment.
“For me, the people who are putting us in danger are the people coming out into our streets armed and ready to attack migrants. That is not who we are as Irish people.”
Reports last June that a parent had temporarily removed her child from a school in Dublin 8 because of anti-immigrant protests outside the school gates is another example of how little these groups actually care about the welfare of children, says Síle.
“If we really want to talk about safety for women and children, let’s talk about where the most amount of violence towards women happens. It’s in the home, we need to be looking at measures to combat that. Not having angry groups of men patrolling the streets ready to attack any women who disagree with their viewpoint.”
In August, Northern Irish investigative news site The Detail reported almost half of those arrested for race hate disorder in Belfast in 2024 had previously been reported to the PSNI for domestic abuse. In July, the Guardian reported two out of every five people (41 per cent) arrested after participating in violent anti-immigration riots across England and Northern Ireland in July and August 2024 had been previously reported to the police for domestic abuse.
Gabriela Burnett, co-founder of the Latina Women Against Violence organisation for migrant women living in Ireland, says the narrative of protecting women and children from migrants is “not only disingenuous but profoundly harmful”. These claims are “deeply disrespectful” to those living with the “real-life consequences of violence and coercion”.
Many survivors supported by Burnett’s organisation suffered abuse “at the hands of Irish or European white men – partners, employers or men who control migrant women’s immigration status”. Claiming that migrants are solely responsible for violence against women is “not only false, it erases the violence within Irish homes and communities”.
“When they talk about defending ‘our women’ it’s clear they mean white women. That’s not protection, it’s patriarchy wrapped in racism. “Our safety will never come from hate. It will come from solidarity, equality, accessible supports and a justice system that protects all women and children equally.”
