Ongoing migrant protests in Ireland have been branded “out of control” as Sinn Féin has vowed to implement a “stricter immigration policy” for the country.
Protests have erupted at a former paint factory in Coolock, as locals opposed the location being earmarked as a site to house asylum seekers.
Taoiseach Simon Harris faces increasing pressure to crack down on immigration and has called the demonstrations in Coolock “reprehensible” and “thuggery”.
Sharing his thoughts on GB News, host Eamonn Holmes said the immigration crisis in Ireland is “out of control”, and warned of similar demonstrations “making their way to the UK” if numbers continue to surge.
Demonstrations broke out at a former paint factory in Coolock after locals opposed its alleged repurposing into a site for asylum seekers
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Joined by Irish political correspondent Ben Scallon, he claimed that the immigration issues have been ongoing for “several years”, due to the “grandiose commitment by government to having a no cap policy when it came to asylum seekers”.
Scallan explained: “They said we will take as many as they can effectively, and were bracing to accept as many as 200,000 asylum seekers entering Ireland.
“For those who don’t know, the Republic of Ireland’s population is just over five million. So 200,000 in a country with a population of that size is astonishing.”
Noting the latest from President of Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald, who claimed locals “won’t have a veto” on who moves into their area, Eamonn asked Scallon when the “arrogance” displayed by the Irish government is going to disappear.
Sinn Fein has proposed a ‘no veto’ approach to migrants moving in to local communities
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Scallon responded: “It’s a strange misunderstanding that has arisen in not just this country, but probably many Western countries, where politicians and the political class at large seem to be under the misapprehension that they own the country, when in fact it is the citizenry of the country who own the country.”
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Scallon fumed: “Ireland does not belong to the politicians, they are people who have been temporarily bestowed with the right to manage it on behalf of the people as representatives.
“And so this whole you don’t have a veto, you can’t decide, well, then who can decide?”
Eamonn weighed in on the migration crisis affecting the West, claiming that “no one is able to solve it”.
He told GB News: “It appears that we’re losing control, I don’t care who you are in the world, none of us can solve the migration problem.
Ben Scallan says Irish politicians ‘act like they own the country’
GB News
“So you’ve either got to decide, what are you going to do to tamper with it, or are you going to leave it alone? Are you going to put up the borders and say, ‘I’m sorry, it’s very unfortunate what you’re going through, but it’s not our problem’, and we only take extreme cases like those people affected by war?
“But goodness me, it’s obvious, we know we just can’t control it.”
When asked by Anne if the situation in Ireland is going to lead to “more protests” against Sinn Fein, Scallon responded: “It seems like we’re on that trajectory.
“They were warned about this in 2022 before things got out of control. They proceeded to ignore that advice and do it anyway, and now we’re at a situation where we’ve seen multiple riots.
“There’s these kinds of fiery scenes unfolding in working-class communities all over the country, and it is just ludicrous.”