Just wanted to post this here because I see conversations about immigration SO much in the media and in reddit.

Personally, I do not think about it. I never talk about it. No one in my circle does.

And yes I've been directly impacted by the housing crisis. I currently live in less than ideal, cramped housing.

Life has been rough the past few years.

But I'm worrying about other things and immigration does not factor into that.

Of course people are going to point on the stressors increased demands put on services, of course I'm not stupid.

But I do wonder who are all these people focusing on this topic, part of me thinks it's mostly driven by politics and the media because it just does not come up in my circles.

There's bigger fish to fry and the demographics of this country is not keeping me up at night.

My health is. My lack of money is. The deterioration of the international rule of law. The increase in populism and far right extremism.

But immigration? Nah we good.

It would be great to hear from others who feel the same as this forum is turning into an insufferable echo chamber.

Absolutely disgusting

As far as I'm concerned, Joe Plunkett died for a free Ireland. A self determining democracy, where Irish citizens could live free of oppression.

That a song about his wife, Grace Gifford, and his sacrifice is being used as an anthem by these alt-right gombeens is disgusting. Its bad enough that they wave the tri-color and the flag of the Irish Republic, but this is really a step too far.

I was 23 when I moved to Ireland from India in 2016 to work in IT. I didn’t overthink it , Europe sounded exciting, I wanted to travel, and I fully assumed I’d be gone again in a year or two.

At the time, I was working for a consulting firm in India, contracted to an Irish bank. After a couple of years on the account, I had an opportunity to move so I took it. No major planning or thinking. Just a suitcase, a visa, and the carefreeness of your early twenties where responsibilities are limited to non existent.

I still remember boarding the flight in Calcutta, India where it was a comfortable 17 degrees C, then landing in Dublin in early January to something closer to 3 degrees C. That cold wasn’t just cold , the wind felt like it was cutting through me. I’d never experienced anything like it and briefly questioned this life choice as soon as I came out of passport control. Will never forget the immigration Garda asking me about UFOs as I was wearing a NASA t shirt.

I made my way to the Lansdowne Hotel on Pembroke Road. Someone helpfully told me to “turn on the radiator”. I nodded with confidence I did not possess. I had absolutely no idea how radiators worked, and far too much pride to ask. So I slept in a freezing room that first night and only admitted defeat the next day.

On my first day at work, I asked a question to my boss who kept paper based information in a big red folder, pointed to it and said, “Have you asked Eamonn Andrews?” and laughed but I didn’t get the joke, learning quickly this was going to be a recurring theme.

This was back when AIB was still in Bankcentre, Hume House and Burlington Road, when you could hop off at Lansdowne Road and walk down a road reserved just for AIB staff. Lunch meant a three-course deal for €10–12 at the Jewel in the Crown if I was feeling like treating myself, or a breakfast roll at the Centra on Shelbourne road. After-work drinks were at the Searsons, the Horse Show House, the Barge, or if we were feeling energetic, the Confession Box or the International. Weekend nights started at the Living Room and often transitioned to fibbers or the surrounding pubs through the back doors and shared beer gardens.

Fast-forward ten years and I’m still here. I did spend four of those years in Donegal (that’s a whole other post). I now know how radiators and thermostats work. I understand most Irish slang, some Irish humour, and a little bit of GAA, enough to nod along convincingly. I also no longer live in the Lansdowne Hotel, which feels like progress. And I have watched all episodes of Father Ted!

In your bleak winter afternoons rolling into cold winter nights, in your long gorgeous summer days ending in lengthy walks by the canal, in the unassuming kindness of your people manifested in giving me advice like “live near a Luas line”, or asking sincerely, “Why do you want to see Stonehenge when we’ve Newgrange and the Hill of Tara?” and the caring “are they paying you enough to live with this shite bunch in this shite weather” , Ireland, you gave a twenty-something from a sleepy Indian town some rare things - space, stability, and the confidence to build an adult life. My first Guinness. My first car. My first home. and maybe someday, my own little family too!

For everything I was given, and everything I became along the way - Go raibh maith agat, Éire 🇮🇪

I'm sure some of you have heard about the new immigration clampdowns that are proposed to be rolled out soon. The new Citizenship Bill is set to increase the residency requirement from 5 years to 8 years, along with the introduction of comprehensive language tests, civics exams, and even stricter background checks than ever before.

The government says they want to make sure Irish citizenship requires a 'sustained connection' to the country, but does anyone else feel like the new rules ignore a massive double standard? While the Irish government makes it even more challenging for people who actually live, work, and contribute extensively to Irish society to get a passport, the grandparent rule for citizenship by descent is being left completely unchanged.

Granted, the whole citizenship by descent thing is pretty self-pruning. Between messy ancestral paper trails and generations forgetting to even register in the first place, it tends to naturally phase itself out, but the logic still feels a bit backwards. Why squeeze the people physically contributing to local communities while leaving ancestral pathways wide open to a tiny percentage of people who have zero affinity with Ireland and simply want the perks that come with wielding an Irish passport?

If the current system is being upgraded to demand even deeper integration, shouldn't the rules be consistent across the board? What's everyone's thoughts on this?

You have a right to protest. Thats all. Don't destroy neighbourhoods. Don't fight immigrants. Dont torch buses. Don't assault police. If you feel disregarded by politics, then become the politician. Your voice deserves to be heard and I'm sorry that you feel you may need violence, but you don't. Take a break from the internet. Enjoy life.

Posted previously on [r/AskIreland](r/AskIreland), but the mods advised it would be better discussed here

Having recently been thinking about the issue I came across this post and wanted to ask more.

Before I start I would like to say that I really don’t intend any nastiness or hatred by posting this. Some people on the last post left snarky comments which has no place anywhere.

I’m in my early 20s, just finished my degree, new grad role, starting out in life.

Over the past few years, especially since Covid, I have noticed quite a rapid change in the demographics of where I am living in Cork. I have noticed quite a dramatic increase in the proportion of non European people living in the area - walking around, driving around, in the shops, and at my siblings school. In some of these places I have actually noticed they can represent the majority, especially the new build estates near me.

At first I thought it might just be a specific area like a housing development, or near a multinational workplace. But even in the depths of west cork I am noticing this too.

As a lot of you know, the job market has got extremely bad, especially for graduates. I had a very difficult time getting my role despite having a good grade in a professional degree.

And the elephant in the room, housing. I simply cannot afford to move out, or justify renting a room. I am currently on €35,000 and expecting to rise to €60,000 in the next 5 years. Saving for a deposit and getting a mortgage is going to be very difficult seen as how anything remotely decent near the city is €350,000+.

So with those two issues in my face, I feel a little left behind and confused. If the cramped new build 3beds in my area are selling for 500k, and it’s impossible to get a job - why would the government try and make it harder by increasing the resources? Did we really need to bring in thousands of extra people needing houses and jobs?

I suppose on the other hand, I’ve noticed the community bond in my area has also fallen a bit. A lot of the new arrivals in my area are from the same country/ region, and haven’t been socialising or integrating with the locals. It’s actually been the opposite. I noticed my local petrol station quietly changed its staff to 100% non national in this time period, with the nearby supermarket quite similar. This is happening at the same time my younger brother cannot get a summer/ part time college job for love nor money.

There is/was to be a huge polish population in my area and this was never an issue.

It’s making me stressed as I feel I haven’t got a chance to set myself up in life, and a change is being imposed on me. I love the benefits of living in a diverse place, but at the moment it seems like the effect is to just make my life harder in quite a tough time for young people.

Has similar happening in your town? I don’t really know what can be done about it. I can’t exactly see the government turning away thousands of people who have arrived in the past 5 years on the basis of a housing shortage. It also seems quite harsh.

Thanks for reading, I’d love to hear what you think, even if you disagree

I recently returned home from a trip to Aus. I was visiting friends in Melbourne (who are coincidentally from England and Ireland themselves) but travelled a fair bit around the country. It didn’t matter if I was on a random street in Melbourne or in a pub in some provincial outback town- other Irish people were everywhere. I know that working holidays to Australia have been a rite of passage for young people from the UK and Ireland for decades now, but the amount of people I encountered from this part of the world when I was over there was just insane. We’ll eventually outnumber the Aussies at this rate. It honestly felt like colonisation 2.0

I am a brazilian immigrant, came here 10 years ago, and used to feel the irish were nothing but welcoming and kind. Of course, there were the "scumbags", but to me they were the same as in every country in the world.

As of one year back, my opinion has been slowly changing, and today, let me tell you... i fear being an immigrant here. I am sensing a LOT of hate towards us, and according to another post here, +70% of irish have that sentiment, so it's not a far-right exclusive hate.

Yesterday i was shopping around dublin, and i asked a hungarian saleswoman her opinion on this. She immediately agreed with me, and even said it is a conversation that the non-irish staff was having on a very frequent basis.

You'll say "oh, but it's just against a 'certain type' of immigrants". Well, that's how it starts, isn't it?

All those 'look at this idiot' posts you share here; we (immigrants) aren't laughing. We are getting more and more afraid.

Has anyone else noticed over just maybe 2 months a massive shift in the tone and opinion of the majority comments on posts about immigration?

It’s sus to me.

Edit: to clarify - I don’t care what your opinion on immigration is. The point is that recently any immigration post was almost exclusively swamped with pro immigration comments. Almost overnight now the opposite opinion is almost exclusively represented. That’s not how opinion changes usually happen en masse .

🎥 Fact check: This viral video does not show a dog being cooked by immigrants in Dublin

A widely shared clip claims to show “third world” immigrants in Dublin roasting a dog. In reality, it’s a pig being cooked at a community event to feed homeless people, refugees, and locals.

This exact footage has been misused before fact checkers confirmed the meat was pork, not dog. The event was even posted about publicly by the organiser, a chef, in 2023.

Source - Full Fact