Taoiseach Leo Vardkar has warned TDs not to “make excuses” for the far-right as he warned that they will “blame whatever problem” they can on migrants.
He made the comments after several TDs raised concerns in the Dáil on Wednesday that far-right groups were using the housing crisis as an excuse to protest against international protection seekers.
There have been a number of protests in recent weeks outside places that are accommodating asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees.
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Speaking during Leaders Questions, People Before Profit’s Mick Barry said that “the housing crisis is a gift” to the far-right.
He said: “I want to preface this by saying unambiguously that refugees are welcome here. “When many people compare the efforts your Government have made to house Ukrainian refugees, inadequate as those efforts are in many respects, with the lack of effort and the lack of urgency in housing the victims of this housing crisis, they feel aggrieved.
“The door opens up for the racist messaging of the far-right, facilitated by your Government.”
In response, the Taoiseach said that while he did not doubt that Mr Barry was “well-intentioned”, he needed to be mindful of the language he used.
He said: “I just asked you not to inadvertently play their games. Don't make any excuses for them.”
Mr Varadkar said that there “is absolutely no excuse for racism of any form”.
However, he denied that the housing crisis was leading to racism, saying that the far-right would use any problem they could to get their problem across.
He said: “Racists and the far right will blame whatever problem the country is facing on migrants. That's the way it works. That's the way they think.
“If we have a housing crisis, it'll be, ‘the foreigners are taking our homes’. If we have an unemployment crisis, it will be ‘the foreigners are taking our jobs’.
“If we've got high levels of crime, they'll blame the foreigners for the high levels of crime.
“If there's violence against women, one of the oldest tropes in the book, they will blame that on migrants and people who've come here from overseas, particularly those who are brown or black.
“We shouldn't play into those arguments. I think inadvertently you're actually doing that. “Whatever problem any country faces, they're going to blame it on the brown man or the brand.
“It's housing now, it could just as easily be unemployment, it could just as easily be crime.”
Independent TD Thomas Pringle also asked Mr Varadkar if he agreed that it was the Government's “failed politics that have caused the housing crisis and healthcare crisis in this country that is leading to the rise of the alt-right”.
The Taoiseach once again warned about “inadvertently making excuses for the far-right”.
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