POLITICIANS HAVE BEEN “a little afraid” to talk about immigration in the past. Those were comments made by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar nearly a year ago. 

It appears they’ll be left with little alternative over the coming months, however. Immigration topped the list of issues getting the attention of voters in the past month, according to a sentiment survey by The Irish Times and Ipsos B&A.

As we head towards the local and European elections in June, there is no doubt that the  issue will be raised with candidates on the doorsteps. 

So how will the three government parties prepare their candidates?

As reported by The Journal this week, Fine Gael is updating its local election canvas guidebook for candidates to include further guidance on how to discuss the issue with potential voters.

As part of the party’s approach, local election candidates will be informed on how to avoid engaging with conspiracy theories around immigration.

The re-draft of the canvas guidebook comes as TDs and Senators at a recent the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting were given a Q&A factsheet explaining Ireland’s immigration policies. 

Ireland has seen a surge in migration since the start of the war in Ukraine, with more than 100,000 refugees being welcomed to the country and accommodated since February 2022. There has also been a significant increase in the number of people seeking asylum in the country in recent years, with the number of applications reaching 13,600 in 2022.

There has been an increased number of local protests against new accommodation in the past year. During the same period there has also been an increase in activity among members of the far right, culminating in violent scenes in the capital on two occasions in recent months – in a protest outside the Dáil and in November’s Dublin riots. Gardaí have also been criticised for a lack of arrests over a series of arson attacks at locations earmarked (or simply rumoured to be earmarked) for refugees or asylum seekers.   

Late last year the government announced cuts to welfare supports to new arrivals coming from Ukraine. This week Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced that her department was expanding its list of ‘safe countries’ with a view to expediting asylum applications from people arriving from those countries.

Fine Gael 

Speaking to The Journal, director of local elections for Fine Gael TD Damien English said he meets local election candidates each week and the issue of immigration has been coming up “intensively” over the last couple of weeks. 

Fine Gael began their selection conventions rather early, with English stating that the issue of migration was increasingly being raised on the doorsteps from the middle of last year. He said: 

It would be one of the top five issues that comes up.

“So I think it’s important that everybody has the full information. I think, to be fair, all our candidates want to be able to give people proper information, tell the full story and have all the details.”

Fine Gael has held 155 selection conventions so far, with a 70:30 split between male and female local election candidates. He said the feedback from all Fine Gael candidates is that people want the facts.

“They want the information and they want to know the truth and want to know the processes involved, and reassurances then around supports and services for the new residents. And I think that is all fair enough.”

Green Party

Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman – a man used to be being at the forefront of the migration issues facing the country – has been appointed director of local elections for the Green Party. 

When asked by The Journal if he believes immigration will be one of the leading issues in the election, as was suggested by the recent survey, O’Gorman said: 

I think it will be an issue with the locals. I think it will be a greater issue than in previous local elections, but I don’t think it will be the sole focus.

Across communities, there are various challenges and issues that are coming up with voters, he said.  The Greens won 49 seats in the 2019 local elections, which was the party’s biggest local election success ever.

108 candidates have been selected so far, and more selection conventions are due to be held before June. The breakdown between male and female candidates so far is around 50:50. 

O’Gorman said the party will be highlighting the rural public transport links established around the country and green initiatives such as cyclepaths and improved footpaths, but he acknowledged that candidates will come up against questions about migration. 

“On any issue that’s the focus for the public, we would be very much sure that our candidates get accurate information. So whether it’s the facts on migration, whether it’s on International Protection or Ukraine, whether it’s the facts on housing and government schemes that are actually delivering.”

O’Gorman said his party holds weekly workshops with their candidates on specific themes, stating that they had a recent one on the upcoming referendum. 

“So we bring together our candidates online, on a lunchtime, and someone with expertise on the issue will talk and we’ll have some candidates come in with questions or queries or kinds of scenarios that they face in terms of their canvassing.”

Written material and the online workshops provided have been “really useful” to local election candidates, he said. 

Quite a few Green candidates would be involved in their local welcome group for either Ukrainian or International Protection applicants, the minister said, stating that many of them are aware of the facts around migration already.

However, he said the party is providing clear information, “particularly to combat some of the misinformation out there, and in terms of the processes and how they work”.

Candidates are being told exactly how Ireland’s International Protection system operates, such as what happens to someone when they apply for International Protection, and the various steps in the process such as fingerprinting and checking databases.

“Most people on the doors I find when you put out what the facts are, they accept that and engage with that,” said O’Gorman, adding: 

I think most people don’t know how the International Protection process works so it is incumbent when our candidates are asked that they’re clearly able to explain how it works and what are the numbers it’s dealing with at the moment.

“But also to know what are the reforms that myself and Minister Helen McEntee are bringing into the system to make it work better.”

Fianna Fáil

Turning to Fianna Fáil, it is understood that it has already held ‘bootcamp-style’ training with its candidates on canvassing and how to approach the media. 

Sources within the party said that it is difficult for headquarters to issue a blanket answer as to how a candidate should respond if the issue of immigration is raised on the doorsteps. This fact was thrown into stark relief in recent months when party leader Micheál Martin clashed with councillors over their response to the fire at the Ross Lake Hotel in Co Galway.

The party’s director of local elections, Minister of State Jack Chambers, said Fianna Fáil had 297 candidates selected, of which 25% are women and 30% are non-incumbents. 

While migration is an issue in the public domain right now and will feature to an extent, he said “people on the doorsteps want to see continued delivery on social affordable housing, which is an absolute focus for the party”.

“They want to see representatives that are responsive and engaged and care about delivery and are bringing that energy. I think there’ll be a combination of many local factors and and also different national issues at play.”

Immigration is “certainly something that people are discussing, but it’s one of many issues that candidates engage with”, said Chambers.

The local elections are expected to take place on Friday 7 June, the same day as the elections for the European Parliament. The exact date, however, has not yet been officially confirmed.