Dublin Riots – Part 3

Dublin and Ireland in general is very peaceful. This is the land of million welcomes. There has been no riots in Dublin for almost 20 years, the last Dublin riots happened in 2006. This is to put into context why the riots this time around made it to international headlines. For those who bought into the narrative of the riots, the event was a success that the government is now put on a backfoot to “do something”. They claim that their peaceful protests for migration control has fallen into deaf ears and they have to resort to riots.

Compared to Part 1 and Part 2 of the Dublin riots, this section is hard for me to write. In the aftermath, there’s a lot of criticism and uncertainty in the social medial and press. Although the government, police and businesses in Dublin is painting a picture of safety, Dublin is not as bustling as it should be at this time of the year. I have also taken a few days to reflect in the past few days and calm down the nerves. I want to say that support from colleague and friends in Dublin has been very encouraging.

Colleague’s Journey

The colleague who was with me in the City took a different route to go back. We split up in Dame Street, he was heading towards the Liffey to get the bus home. When he reached the bus stop, he found that a lot of people were waiting for the bus. Found out that the bus has stopped their services all over Dublin. His next move was to walk to Heuston Station to catch the train. When he arrived, he just missed the train and the next one is one hour away. He then continued to walk west towards to Memorial Park and called his wife to pick him up. Wife had to leave the daughter at home, the first time they have to do that, as it was already late. I got a message from him that his wife has picked him up when I reached home.

Narrative

Was told that the best resource to learn about the triggers for the riots is from Guardian.

Ireland, according to this narrative, has opened the floodgates to foreigners with no controls or checks, leaving rapists and murderers to prowl the streets, and no one – not the government, not opposition parties, not the media, not the police – is taking it seriously.

“It’s not right but it had to be done. The government is not listening,” said one man in his 20s, a bystander rather than a looter. “This isn’t against foreigners. We were the first emigrants. Immigrants are driving our buses, cleaning our hospitals – we need them. But they need to be vetted.”

Ireland’s demography has been transformed in recent decades as a booming economy reversed the historical flow of emigration. A fifth of the 5 million people now living in Ireland were born elsewhere. A recent increase in refugees from Ukraine and other countries fuelled a backlash amid concern over a housing shortage and straining public services. The number housed by the state jumped from 7,500 in 2021 to 73,000 in 2022.

In summary, the people who started the riots claimed that there’s too many migrants. Migrants bring social ills and crime. They take away precious resource like houses, schools and hospitals. Their claims are vindicated by the stabbing of 5 people earlier in the day by the (false) claim that he is a unvetted non-national migrant. As of time of writing this blog, government has not released details of the perpetrator or the victims.

Coming from Malaysia, I can related to this narrative where we look down on the Bangladeshis. Napalese and Indonesians coming to Malaysia to earn a living. Yet we rely on bringing in foreign workers to make our economy run. We also want more controls of Rohingya refugee yet we do not have a way to integrate them into society, leaving them to live in their own kampung.

Trouble in the neighbourhood

The following day after the Dublin riots, the neighbourhood facebook group is asking about the huge presence of police in the nearby apartments. News and videos later came out about someone going into the grocery store and tried to attack the security guard with a knife. Fortunately no one was harmed. The community is shocked with the incident as this area is very diverse.

Day after the incident, Senator Emer Currie and her team knocked on my door. She wanted to assure us that Garda has identified the perpetrator and now looking for him. I am touched that the Senator came to each house in the neighbourhood to re-assure us. I will never see such thing with our elected rep let alone senators in Malaysia. Like Malaysia, senators here are appointed.

On 28th Nov, Garda came to collect the suspect in the knife attack.