Fraying Welcome

Ireland likes to think of itself as a land of céad míle fáilte or ‘a hundred thousand welcomes.’ However, in the past few months, a string of vicious racist assaults on Indian nationals has cast a shadow over that cherished self-image. The violence has been both targeted and brutal: a senior data scientist beaten by a gang of teenagers; a 40-year-old stripped and humiliated in a Dublin suburb; taxi drivers pelted with bottles and most disturbingly, a six-year-old girl in Waterford punched in the face and told to “go back to India.”

Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins, has condemned the attacks as “despicable,” praising Indians for their immense contribution to Irish life. Yet, official warmth contrasts starkly with ground reality. The India Council of Ireland now receives at least two hate crime reports daily. Victims describe slow or inconclusive police action. Perpetrators, often in their teens, act with impunity.

The bond between Ireland and India is neither recent nor superficial. In the early 20th century, both were struggling to loosen Britain’s imperial grip. Both peoples saw in the other a mirror of their own colonial experience. In the 1990s, when Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy began roaring, a shortage of skilled labour prompted hospitals, universities and technology firms to recruit heavily from India, particularly the southern states. Nurses and engineers arrived in large numbers, filling labour gaps in critical sectors. Today, Indians are among Ireland’s largest non-EU immigrant groups, prominent in fields without which the country’s public services and export industries would be weaker.

That history makes the current wave of hostility all the more jarring. Many of the attacks have been carried out by boys scarcely into adolescence. Far-right groups, until recently a fringe presence in Ireland, have capitalised on the country’s acute housing shortage to fuel resentment against migrants. Social media has amplified their message, borrowing tropes from Britain and America about “taking back” communities.

The irony is that Ireland’s own history should inoculate it against such sentiments. Millions of Irish emigrated in the 19th and 20th centuries, fleeing famine, poverty and repression. They encountered signs reading “No Irish Need Apply” and faced systemic discrimination.

The official stance remains broadly pro-immigration. Civic marches have drawn crowds demanding an end to racist violence. Yet the gap between rhetoric and enforcement is wide. Hate crime legislation passed in 2023 has yet to be applied robustly in many of these cases.

Ireland competes globally for skilled migrants. Indian nurses, doctors and engineers are in demand across the Anglosphere. A perception that Ireland is indifferent to their safety will undoubtedly compel them to go elsewhere. That would hurt not just hospitals and tech firms, but the country’s own narrative of being modern, open and globally engaged.

Repairing the frayed welcome will take more than presidential speeches. It will require better policing and confronting prejudice early before it hardens into hatred. For a nation that once depended on the kindness of strangers abroad, the stakes could hardly be clearer.