Are Mayo TD Paul Lawless' views on certain matters all that different from Fine Gael's?

By Dr. Richard Martin

Lately, when I meet people, I find myself continually being dragged into a conversation or a debate about immigrants.

I’m getting tired of it. There is no room for civil discourse anymore.

Here is some objective reasoning.

Ireland is changing. For the better and for the worse.

As a nation we have gone from being effectively a third-world country to a net contributor in the EU.

In 1950, this island was an economic basket case, riven with immigration and TB. Seventy years later the landscape has changed.

But some Irish people have great difficulty in accepting our new role in the world. That as a first-world country we have to meet international obligations in sheltering asylum seekers and Ukrainians fleeing war.

We are a member of the single market and can trade freely with our European neighbours. Our corporation tax revenue was something in the region of €40 billion last year. This corporation tax revenue is our equivalent of the Norwegian Oil Fund.

However, it’s not all one-way traffic. We are bound by international law to provide asylum to people fleeing war and genocide. Our system isn’t perfect, far from it, but we can’t have it both ways.

Irish people want to have their cake and eat it too. We want the benefits of EU membership. We want the CAP. We want low corporation tax rates, but we don’t want to meet our obligations as a member of the union.

The whole debate stinks of hypocrisy.

Am I fair in what I write? I hope so.

I’m critical of Paul Lawless and his approach to politics. Actually, I’m not sure if there is an approach to be honest.

He just doesn’t want IPAS centres and presumably the asylum seekers they hold.

He also doesn’t want the Mayo County Council chamber refurbished. It’s populist politics. He’s a clever man and he knows what he has to do to stay relevant and get re-elected.

Howl at the moon and then howl some more. Do it enough times and the odds are a few more will join in and howl with him. Policy and solutions don’t seem to matter anymore.

His attitude towards the council chamber is particularly bizarre seeing as its refurbishment is not merely cosmetic – it’s required by law - the Disability Act of 2005 and the Climate Action Act 2021. Public buildings must be retrofitted to achieve zero-emission status.

I find it baffling as Paul Lawless is a TD. He is a member of Dáil Éireann. He is a legislator. One of his primary functions as a TD is to vote on Bills and amendments which pass through the house.

Yet, he seems oblivious to the legal statutory requirement of retrofitting our main municipal building. In other words his position is that he doesn’t want the councillors and the executive in the council chamber to comply with the law.

His position is that they shouldn’t comply with national and European directives and legislation and spend the monies elsewhere on this, that and the other.

Frankly, I find his attitude and politics depressing. He’s clever enough to know how the system works but he’s also clever enough to know that most of the electorate don’t. In that space he thrives and remains a public representative.

Here’s a thought though. When it comes to immigration are FG all that different from Paul Lawless? He just has the freedom to say what he thinks. And clearly a lot of people do agree with him.

Watching and observing some of their elected representatives over the years and speaking with them off the record, I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes to immigration, a certain cohort of elected FG representatives and supporters in this country agree with Paul Lawless. Of course, they won’t say it out loud.

They are bound by the party whip and they dare not stick their heads above the parapet. But the bottom line is the sentiment is the same.

Is it all that surprising though? After all, Eoin O’Duffy – Ireland’s ‘30s fascist leader and leader of the Blueshirts - Ireland’s version of Mussolini’s Blackshirts - was a founding father of the party.

I just wonder in the current climate will the party move to its right wing roots to meet the populist demands? I fear it’s only a matter of time. Politicians, above all, want to protect their seats.

It’s not an easy time to be an immigrant in this country. The facts don’t seem to matter anymore.

That without immigrants, our hospitals would close overnight. That immigrants contribute to the tax system. They pay PAYE, PRSI and USC like everybody else.

I worry about where this country is headed. Far right agitators are whipping up hysteria and fear on social media. Urgent legislation needs to be enacted to stop this. If it doesn’t stop someone is going to get hurt.

A shoplifter died in Dublin recently. He committed a crime but the response was in no way proportionate.

Here’s an uncomfortable thought. If a white person committed the same offence and was apprehended by security, would there be the same outcome?

If I was to venture an opinion I would say no.

At the end of the day, all of this is beyond my control.

Maybe it’s time to go home and sleep.