I don’t want to derail the thread but I do think these wider discussions need to be had because I refute the idea that objection to mass illegal immigration is ‘rooted in racism,’ either in the UK or ROI.
I’ve lived in many countries in my life and in my experience these two countries are exceptionally liberal, open-hearted and generally very welcoming to strangers, especially on an individual level.
We would not, for example, in 2024, set about a woman with sticks for not dressing in a conformist manner.
The issue, I believe, is the mass importation of young men whose beliefs differ so radically to our liberal, pluralist and equal society. (Equality enshrined in law, at least.)
One of the many reasons I have chosen to live here is that I can walk down the street without fear of physical attack on religious grounds.
I feel desperately worried for women, like the one I quoted initially, who was attacked as a racist for expressing fear of walking past catcalling sexually aggressive groups of strange men in a village she’d lived safely all her life.
It’s the same across Europe and pretending the problem is the so-called ‘racism’ of indigenous women, will not end well.
The Finnish study quoted a policewoman who’d worked with male economic migrants from a variety of countries in a language capacity who reported that the group with which she’d worked for a year still firmly believed Finnish women were easy and good for one thing only and they would only consider marrying women of their own background.
Leaving aside whether that constitutes ‘racism,’ these deeply held beliefs arrive daily on our shores and go unchecked and unchallenged.
I entirely understand that we all have deep rooted cultural beliefs and that moving around the world, for whatever reason, we bring them with us. I don’t see assimilation happening in this case. I’d love to be proved wrong on this because I love the welcoming and humorous nature of these two countries and it would be a tragedy if were spoiled.
There are countries where these young men would be at home and where their cultural
norms are shared. Not to mention extensive resources currently being deployed to attract tourism. Plenty of jobs available. Pressure could be brought to bear to give them a start in a place where the culture clash would be less problematic.