An anti-immigration protest in Cootehill at the weekend endeavoured to "demonise" refugees and asylum seekers. That's according to Cavan community worker, Ruairí McKiernan, who said he was "disturbed and saddened" by the slogans that were chanted during the event.
Mr McKiernan told Northern Sound that people arriving in Ireland are seeking a better life by fleeing oppression and injustice. He pointed out, that while calls for better community engagement and improved decision making were necessary, racism can not be tolerated.
Mr McKiernan says there are groups in society focused on "stoking fires" to cause division but the priority is to ensure that respect for other human beings is upheld. "So many of our health and social structure in Ireland have been broken for a very long time and they were in dire crisis long before the war in Ukraine or the recent arrival of other refugees.
"The issue there for politicians is that the blame lies where it should lie - which is within the political parties that have been in Government since the foundation of the State, mainly. So, it really is important that we uphold decency here and that refugees are not the target; that asylum seekers are not the target; that migrants are not the target. We need to ask why our system is so inadequate," he added.
