Is Ireland racist nation ??

Chong

I pose this question to you posters is this country of saints and scholars, the land of 1000 welcomes, really just a bunch of rascist, greedy scumbags. I am dutch and have lived here almost all my life, but since the influx of people from foreign countries have arrived here I continually hear smart arse remarks about how I am foreigner, ok I know am but to be continually reminded of it is boring. Fact is if your not from Ireland you dont belong. I feel bad about people from other countries are referred too it makes me sick to my stomach, the irish are stuck in every corner of the world and there is nothing said about it. Can everyone not accept each other for what they are.

Mossy Monk

to a certain degree. you do here the odd comment about the immigrants but also a lot of people do not mind the immigrants being here imo

dmck2886

I think it goes back to when we Irish were invaded by the english and we just fear of being invaded again.

StupidLikeAFox

imo yeah they do. But what a lot of people cant diffrentiate between is the banter and harmless slagging that the irish are used to. Sure some of it may seem racist but fact is that a lot of it may be just gentle ribbing that people misinterpret.

That said, as with everything, there are racists and there are non-racists everywhere

Chong

Well think of all these other countries have been invaded like iraq and afghanistan, they see the need to flee their countries and seek refuge elsewhere. Like the Irish did during the famine and fleeing to America so they could continue to live.

whiskeyman

It's a bit of a sweeping statement...
I just think Ireland is a latecomer to accept a multicultural population..... whereas it was the Irish who went abroad in the past and were accepted (in some cases not so..)into other countries, we now have to bear witness to the reverse.
It's something we're just not used to.
However, its changing... and fast... for the better.
Least we not forget "Cead mile failte"

Chong

Ok I get banter and slagging but sometimes more often then it goes too far.

Gazza22

Willem D wrote:

I pose this question to you posters is this country of saints and scholars, the land of 1000 welcomes,

I'm sorry but this is the land of 100,000 welcomes btw....

Yes it's official i am a nark today

magick

I pose this question to you posters is this country of saints and scholars, the land of 1000 welcomes, really just a bunch of rascist, greedy scumbags

nope never had any probs at all, my gf is from hong kong and she never had any problems here , i think like everywhere else in any country it has its good and bad sides, yes their are scumbags in ireland but their is also good hardworking ppl

Chong

This country is no longer the land of 100,000 welcomes. If 100,000's of people from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan all arrived at dun laoighre next week, there would certainly nobody ready with their 100,000 welcomes ready to greet them. This country has the mentality of cead mile failte and come here to spend your money but don't forget to go back to where you came from.

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

logic

I see a lot of racism towards refugees being generated by the goverment, as the social services give them quiet a bit as they have nothing but when the irish people are refused something all i hear is "the f**king foreigners get it".

ApeXaviour

I have heard this before also from german, swedish, french people etc. So it's not a matter of racism per se but xenophobia in general. If you're looking for in depth answers I'd suggest you post this (or have it moved?) to the humanities forum, as here all you are going to get is off the cuff comments.

I wouldn't call Ireland a racist nation. There are racist people among our ranks no doubt. No more or less than every other country. It is also true that people here on average have become noticeably more tolerant in the past 15 years.

So why the complaints? Why do we find it so necessary to point out and segregate foreigners? You must understand Willem that we were a very isolated country until the 90's. If you saw a black man on the street 20 years ago it'd be something exotic, something to go home and tell your family about. Culturally we haven't adapted to having foreign people around as a regular thing. I wouldn't say among your common person that there is any anger or hate behind it. It's merely the same curiosity that was expressed about the black man 20 years ago, though significantly lesser.

Gross Halfwit

Right.

I do not mind foreign people coming over here to work, to learn, to visit or live so long as they are paying their way. I welcome them. I love going out at night and chatting with peeps from all over the world. I work in a place that is full of foreign nationals and a good few of my mates are from all over the shop! Its great.

However I do have a major problem with spongers. A lot of the refugees that have come over here lately are economic refugees. Basically they cannot get employed in their country and so come over here to live. They are given houses, tax breaks, rent allowance. In essence a free ride. It makes me sick to think of the amount of people that are coming over here and getting everything handed to them on a silver platter when we could be putting that money to better use in housing our homeless, building new schools/colleges/hospitals etc. Charity begins at home but we are ignoring our own at the expense of helping economic refugees. Im sorry but their countries economic problems aint ours. If they put in some effort Im sure they could pull their country out of the ****!

Everytime I'm walking through town and I see a homeless dude passed out on the street or some irish kid going hungry on the streets I feel sorry for them but then I see a non-national blinged up to the ****ing eyeballs and all feelings of pity are out the window and I jus tget well and truly pissed!! Anyone else feel this way?

I could go on a nd on about this as I feel very strongly about a certain nationalities advantage taking ways but Ill stop there.

In closing. Foreigners are ok by me. Economic refugees not.

Duckjob

Personally, I would extend a welcome to anyone who comes to Ireland and works to support themselves, thereby contributing to the wellbeing of the country. I would have a problem with anyone who comes here with the intention of living off the system, but then again I have the same problem with our own indigenous loafers here.

Although you will always have some small minded eejits, I think the majority don't have a problem with people comming into the country.

kasintahan

Willem D wrote:

. I am dutch and have lived here almost all my life, but since the influx of people from foreign countries have arrived here I continually hear smart arse remarks about how I am foreigner, ok I know am but to be continually reminded of it is boring.

Williem - it's the old Irish "wind up".
They are trying to get a "rise" out of you, and by the sounds of it it's working.

If you study their voices and especially the expression on their faces you'll soon learn to tell the difference between it and genuine racism (which also exists, but is not as common as people like to think).

The best thing to do is to reply in a similar manner (with voice and facial expression) - we had a Dane in work who was a master of the art.

Dinner

Willem D wrote:

This country is no longer the land of 100,000 welcomes. If 100,000's of people from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan all arrived at dun laoighre next week, there would certainly nobody ready with their 100,000 welcomes ready to greet them. This country has the mentality of cead mile failte and come here to spend your money but don't forget to go back to where you came from.

Well in all fairness If 100,000's of people from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan all arrived at Holland or anywhere else in the world for that matter, there would be no one to welcome them except for immegration control.

We're not a country of racists, as already said we have become a hell of a lot more accepting recently and will continue to do so. You'll always get racists and to be honest, I'm a little supprised that Dutch people (such as yourself) feel uncomfortable here. I would have thought that the Dutch would have been readily accepted here .

simu

Willem D wrote:

I pose this question to you posters is this country of saints and scholars, the land of 1000 welcomes, really just a bunch of rascist, greedy scumbags. I am dutch and have lived here almost all my life, but since the influx of people from foreign countries have arrived here I continually hear smart arse remarks about how I am foreigner, ok I know am but to be continually reminded of it is boring. Fact is if your not from Ireland you dont belong. I feel bad about people from other countries are referred too it makes me sick to my stomach, the irish are stuck in every corner of the world and there is nothing said about it. Can everyone not accept each other for what they are.

Stop stereotyping my people dude! I'll have you savvy we're not all like that. Yarr!

cuppa

well im getting a bit fed up,im out of work been undercut(my subcontractor cant get sites been uncut by halfprice).six guys living in a 2bed flat working for 350 a week,send half home ,buy a house back home.while i lose my house cos i cant keep up with the 400,000 payments.
And the labour wont give me anything cos my wife works(i got no credits cos i was on the c45).
But the house prices wont drop,the developers get even richer.

Hydroquinone

Ireland has alwasy been pretty racist, ever before there was an influx of foreigners
How were teh travellers always treated? They were discriminated against because of their race. And they're Irish!!
There's been a lot of anti-English racism here for ever. I'm not saying I don't understand the reason for it, but it's still racism, however you cut it.

Karl Hungus

Willem D wrote:

Can everyone not accept each other for what they are.

In that case why can't you accept the Irish as they are?

simu

Hydroquinone wrote:

Ireland has alwasy been pretty racist, ever before there was an influx of foreigners
How were teh travellers always treated? They were discriminated against because of their race. And they're Irish!!
There's been a lot of anti-English racism here for ever. I'm not saying I don't understand the reason for it, but it's still racism, however you cut it.

Well, the Normans integrated pretty well. And travellers are not a different race. And there was good reason for anti-English sentiment in the past (no reason for it these days and it seems to be dying out anyway).

So tharrr!

Chong

Ya well its like saying all Middle Eastern people are Al Queada Members, All Dutch are off their face on drugs, All the swedes are good looking race of blondes and have sex all day long. So what I am saying is their a nasty undercurrent in todays society, in which foreign ppl are simply not accepted here. For example my mother is English , but her parents were both Irish and moved back here some years after the second world war, my mother has lived here most her life but is still considered as the English one by some of her work colleagues. Technically under this country's stupid law because both of her parents were Irish that makes her Irish like nigerian family's have kids here they are considered as nigerian which is wrong. In turn if I move to England with my wife and have a kid, that kid is considered English which is only right.

simu

Willem D wrote:

For example my mother is English , but her parents were both Irish and moved back here some years after the second world war, my mother has lived here most her life but is still considered as the English one by some of her work colleagues.

Um... you're mother is English and her colleagues consider her English and that's ... racist???

segadreamcast

Willem D wrote:

All the swedes are good looking race of blondes and have sex all day long.

Not all stereotypes are bad !


Seriously though - personally, I work in a very multicultural, multiracial environment and I certainly feel as though there is a 'them' and 'us' mentality between the Irish staff and the staff from various other countries.

Racism is - I feel - slightly more prevalent in our country than it would be in most other countries, partially because Ireland is such a small country. However, we are overcoming these barriers and we have to continue these trends by integrating further.

Sure, nobody's a racist now - except when they make that odd joke on the bus, that snide comment in work... etc etc.

Chong

The fact of the matter is she is English for one thing as I said if she was born in this day of age she would be considered Irish. Its not the fact that she is called English and is lived for 30 years yet she is continually reminded that she is English which in turn its made clear to her that she is still not accepted.

Ri_Nollaig

Willem D wrote:

the irish are stuck in every corner of the world and there is nothing said about it.

yes they received a great welcome everywhere they went! :rolleyes:

Scarinae

Hydroquinone wrote:

They were discriminated against because of their race. And they're Irish!!

Those two sentences completely contradict each other. Travellers are Irish, therefore they are not a different race. And they shouldn't be treated any different to the rest of the Irish people - by that I mean that they should have equal rights to jobs, houses, entrance into pubs etc, and they should be made pay taxes like the rest of us

To the OP - I think that a lot of the racism you've encountered is because people just aren't used to the multiculturalism yet, as it's relatively new. It should die down. I didn't think Dutch people would have any problem though, there were a reasonable amount of Dutch kids in school with me when I was there, and they had no problems

solas

There's been a lot of anti-English racism here for ever.

I think that was a little deeper than racism.

I dunno if Ireland is any more racist than anywhere else, I think as an Irish person abroad you will always receieve a cheeky passing comment when an irish accent is heard but no offense is really taken, technically it could be classed as racism but y'know its just banter.

In so far as discriminating against another because of the colour of their skin...Ireland has always had a very small minority of foergin nationals living here but in the past they were a novelty. Much of the current disgruntlement comes from the Irish feeling deprived of their own new found wealth. (we're not used to it)

for a long time the Irish had very little and when the economy took off it came with a population influx to share the bounty with.
In the past when the Irish emigrated they were also on the receiving end of racial discrimination and there's that old cliche about how the Irish worked themselves to the bone in order to make something of themselves, they didnt look for handouts....and the Irish are a nation of begrudgers. Its natural..get used to it.

I became a tad anti-american lately...still am a little, or at least now I'm more inclined to tell Americans what I genuinly think when they gob off...

and willem..come one man, your name is William and your Dutch?
heheh..
(just tell them to fup off)

Chong

My Name is Willem not William, Willem is quite popular name in the Netherlands after Willem of Orange.

solas

sorry..I spelled it correctly the first time.

(that was sarcasm btw I was just pointing out the obvious or at least what I suspected you were feeling ribbed about..try not to be offended)

Deadwing

'no blacks'
'no dogs'
'no irish'

we werent exactly welcomed with open arms everywhere :rolleyes:

nedoo

Will (can I call you that!?)

You seem to me to be the only person that has a problem with where you are from, are you having a bit of an I.D. crisis? Yes there is a bitterness from some of the Irish towards people landing in this country and freeloading off our tax money, having a mouth full of gold and begging or forming dangerous gangs( we have enough of our own)...... but you show me one country in the world that has opened its arms to all, without backlash or bitterness from some of the natives. In all my experance of working and living in different nations have never heard a bad word said about your nationality..are you a little paranoid?

solas

nedoo wrote:

You seem to me to be the only person that has a problem with where you are from, are you having a bit of an I.D. crisis?

nuh..seriously, I could understand why he might be feeling p!ssed off, the Irish are a bunch of slaggers and no doubt give him grief for being willem of orange.

Rozie

I'd say we are.

At the same time, it's bloody annoying when a huge group of foreigners all go on a bus together, chattering so much louder than everyone else, laughing, shouting... once they clogged up the bus and had to be all let off because it was too full.

This group of foreigners always the noisiest on the Dell bus too.

I'm not racist, but I really think people from other countries should have a bit more regard for the Irish, we're not all into the packing places out being noisy.

I really, REALLY hate when I constantly see two asians holding hands walking down the road, a group of asians chattering, but never with any Irish people.

Why can't we mix? I really hate that. I think that it's the racism in the first place that's the cause of loud foreigners clogging up the bus. If they didn't feel the need to stick together so much, and mingle, they wouldn't have such a low regard for other social structures.

Just my opinion, from someone who's a part of more minorities than she can count on two hands.

Catsmokinpot

land of a thousand welcomes to those that they know are going home

mike65

I'm not sure there's anything happening now that was'nt happening before the upsurge in immmigration. The Irish have always looked at outsiders with a sideways glace - and I'm not talking about foreigners either. Its the result of tiny closed communities that engender a certain League of Gentleman type facism. Ireland is, at most only two generations from the bog.

"The valley of the squinting windows" is worth a read, oh yes and they banned it and there was a trial. Its mad, Ted.

Mike.

solas

"The valley of the squinting windows" is worth a read, oh yes and they banned it and there was a trial. Its mad, Ted.

burn em I say..and then we can start on the Brits.

Sparky

theres a black man who lives down the end of our lane at the back of my house, and the neighbour next to him was telling me one time that he arrived here with a battered old rover and now he drives a bright green hyundai coope, i recon he is into drug dealing and prostitution, (theres a new girl in his car everyday) Ive noticed the gards keeping an eye in him recently.
I never really cared about the issue untill one day i took out my dads jeep out of the garage to reverse it up the lane when his car came down, he didnt even wait one moment and shouted out at me move your fkn car before i move it for you, so i said nothing and decided to go slower than usual.
But who the fck is he to tell me what to do in my own country, this is what gets to me, im not raceist at all but when i have to hear this crap, its just not right.

After all i dont got to some other country and tell a born citizen to go and fck off

This is what gets to me.

CerebralCortex

dmck2886 wrote:

I think it goes back to when we Irish were invaded by the english and we just fear of being invaded again.

Common misunderstanding. An Irishman invited them here and he ruled leinster his name Dermott McMurough and he invited Strong Bow.

That leads me to my next point Irelands people are mixture of different europeans. Vikings, Danes, Normans/French/English, Scotts/Celts(Scotti being the latin for Irishman). It should follow that at present we should maintain this tradition of different peoples becoming one. Thats how I see it.
We should develope a love for it.

I find hard to be racist when there is only one race on the planet. Almost none of my friends are racist for the same reason. I would say there are a small but growing number in Ireland who think like me.

solas

Common misunderstanding. An Irishman invited them here and he ruled leinster his name Dermott McMurough and he invited Strong Bow.

common misunderstanding, while mc murrough sought strongbows assistance to help overthrow the Irish high king and promised him lands in return, no one expected deClare to turn about face and hand the deeds over to the British King (as he wasn't exactly working for him at the time). Strongbow did not come here as a representative of the British monarchy,...all in all Ireland had good relationship with Britian under the reign of the british monarchy..until the british monarchy was overthrown by a protestant king. And y'know how those protestants hated catholics and decided to kill them all (british ones too).
We weren't invaded once by the British, Ireland was invaded on numerous occasions by the Brits...remember Cromwell?

simu

Rozie wrote:

I really, REALLY hate when I constantly see two asians holding hands walking down the road, a group of asians chattering, but never with any Irish people.

Why can't we mix? I really hate that. I think that it's the racism in the first place that's the cause of loud foreigners clogging up the bus. If they didn't feel the need to stick together so much, and mingle, they wouldn't have such a low regard for other social structures.

Jebus! You should consider some anger management sessions. What on earth is wrong with holding hands in public? I'm Irish and do it all the time. Same with hanging around with compatriots whilst abroad.

As for the foreigners on the buses - they're mostly teenagers and teens are a plague no matter what country they're from.

Tar.Aldarion

my friends nor i are rascist, that is all that matters to me for now but a lot of rascism does go on yes.

Prior Of Taize

I think Ireland is a very racist country. I also think that others jump on the bandwagon for the sake of it. there is very little "real" racism...just a general "omfg a polish person ffs" or some sh!te like that.

tbh most irish people are f*cking stupid and thats the way it is. the general level of what iw ould call ignorance in this country is extremely high. then again most older people in ireland have never been outside ireland and so have nothing else to think other than we are being invaded again

solas

then again most older people in ireland have never been outside ireland and so have nothing else to think other than we are being invaded again

I'm not sure thats true, there are many of the older generation who had to stay but who have brothers and sisters either in the UK or the States. (why do you think so many Irish have american cousins?)
I know that my own grandmother worked in new york for some time before she was married and her sister was a nurse in engerland during the war. (both came back home btw)
But I agree, most Irish racism is of the stupid kind..silly remarks and what not but not the killing or seperatists kind. (unless your up north)

Coney Island

I am Italian, lived in Ireland for 5 years and never had major problems. Have to say though that sometimes is kind of boring when you meet someone new and the first question is "where are you from?"...it is just not cool.

And I don't mind the slagging, but even then it is kind of boring to hear always the same comments....didn't mind at the beginning, but now it is just boring, and my perception of the person I talk to is that he/she is not used to meet foregneirs or travelling.

But still it is never "nasty racism", whereas back in my country you can have really big problems if you are African or Albanian for example. I think this is due to the fact that many foreigners move to Ireland to work, whereas in Italy or other continental countries many extracomunitary move there without a job and not always try to find one, if you know what I mean....

Blackjack

Willem D wrote:

For example my mother is English , but her parents were both Irish and moved back here some years after the second world war, my mother has lived here most her life but is still considered as the English one by some of her work colleagues.

So if your mother lived here most of her life, and had Irish Parents, should she be considered Irish?. If so, then you yourself should be considered Irish, but state that you are Dutch. Which is it to be?.

Willem D wrote:

Technically under this country's stupid law because both of her parents were Irish that makes her Irish like nigerian family's have kids here they are considered as nigerian which is wrong.

What's stupid about the law precisely?. What's the Dutch version of the law?.

Willem D wrote:

In turn if I move to England with my wife and have a kid, that kid is considered English which is only right.

Ok but:

Willem D wrote:

For example my mother is English , but her parents were both Irish and moved back here some years after the second world war, my mother has lived here most her life but is still considered as the English one by some of her work colleagues.

which is only right, right?.

BigEejit

Gross Halfwit wrote:

.............................However I do have a major problem with spongers. A lot of the refugees that have come over here lately are economic refugees. Basically they cannot get employed in their country and so come over here to live. They are given houses, tax breaks, rent allowance. In essence a free ride. It makes me sick to think of the amount of people that are coming over here and getting everything handed to them on a silver platter when we could be putting that money to better use in housing our homeless, building new schools/colleges/hospitals etc. Charity begins at home but we are ignoring our own at the expense of helping economic refugees. Im sorry but their countries economic problems aint ours. If they put in some effort Im sure they could pull their country out of the ****!

Everytime I'm walking through town and I see a homeless dude passed out on the street or some irish kid going hungry on the streets I feel sorry for them but then I see a non-national blinged up to the ****ing eyeballs and all feelings of pity are out the window and I jus tget well and truly pissed!! Anyone else feel this way?
..............................................
In closing. Foreigners are ok by me. Economic refugees not.

All over the world there is one thing that brings out racism, and thats begrudgery ... if you are working you ass off to afford the basics in life and you see a foreigner get all that for nothing it will change your point of view VERY quickly. So you could say that some racism is prompted by the Irish governments quite generous (when compared with a lot of other european countries) social welfare system
And before anyone starts, that has nothing to do with the OP, just a general observation

Gareth2303

All i know is that when i realise that someone is a foreigner, i get a smile on my face because i'm happy people think the country is good enough to visit...I like chatting to them to see where they're from and then recommend them nice places to visit while they are here...I can't say i'm not racist in any way because over the years i've made numerous comments about different races...I have stereotypes and i'll always have stereotypes

Sparky

Gross Halfwit wrote:

Right.

I do not mind foreign people coming over here to work, to learn, to visit or live so long as they are paying their way. I welcome them. I love going out at night and chatting with peeps from all over the world. I work in a place that is full of foreign nationals and a good few of my mates are from all over the shop! Its great.

However I do have a major problem with spongers. A lot of the refugees that have come over here lately are economic refugees. Basically they cannot get employed in their country and so come over here to live. They are given houses, tax breaks, rent allowance. In essence a free ride. It makes me sick to think of the amount of people that are coming over here and getting everything handed to them on a silver platter when we could be putting that money to better use in housing our homeless, building new schools/colleges/hospitals etc. Charity begins at home but we are ignoring our own at the expense of helping economic refugees. Im sorry but their countries economic problems aint ours. If they put in some effort Im sure they could pull their country out of the ****!

Everytime I'm walking through town and I see a homeless dude passed out on the street or some irish kid going hungry on the streets I feel sorry for them but then I see a non-national blinged up to the ****ing eyeballs and all feelings of pity are out the window and I jus tget well and truly pissed!! Anyone else feel this way?

I could go on a nd on about this as I feel very strongly about a certain nationalities advantage taking ways but Ill stop there.

In closing. Foreigners are ok by me. Economic refugees not.

I totally agree with ya, this is what gets me worked up, i remember hearing a story of our government giving millions out to some far eastern country, only to find out they were spending it on weapons to kill each other.

And its true these economic refugees are scabing off the system, ive always said it, we should take care of our own before some other countrys citizens

mike65

With that in mind I guess all the Irish who are not gainfully employed around the world right now should also be returned home.

Mike.