As I write this, the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, is scheduled to debate the question of whether multiculturalism has gone ‘too far’ at Trinity College’s Philosophical Society on 20 October.
Much has been written about the implications of the horrible massacre in Norway. After the initial automatic knee-jerk assumption that the murderer must have been an Islamist terrorist, the discovery that he was one of their ‘own’ – albeit
I was stunned at the news that Pamela Izevbekhai – the Nigerian asylum seeker who highlighted the plight of her daughters facing FGM – had lost her case at the European Court of Human Rights and might be deported after all.
Like everyone else, I was appalled by the revelations on RTE’s Prime Time Invest-igates on 30 May about the impact of Government cuts on disabled people and their carers - so appalled that I felt unable to watch the whole programme.
Not many people today speak about the 5.4 million people murdered in DR Congo in the past decade, due to the invasion of the country by Rwanda. It came in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, when 800,000 Tutsis and many Hutus were murdered in three months
Together with a team of researchers, I am now completing the book that will summarise the Migrant Networks project which was part of the Trinity Immigration Initiative, a philanthropically funded three-year research project.
The creation of the post of Minister of State for Integration in 2007 was welcomed by many migrants, members of ethnic minorities, NGOs and academics working in this field.
On 20 April I attended a roundtable on anti-racism hosted by the Equality Authority in Dublin.
He was a 15-year-old who came to Ireland from Nigeria over a decade ago. He had a lovely smile and a loving family, was popular with his Tyrrelstown school friends and played soccer with Shelbourne FC. On Good Friday he got into a row, sparked by racist jibes,
Religion is fast replacing other ideologies such as communism and anti-colonialism as the biggest determining factor for social and political relations in our post-modern, post-9-11 world.
I suppose we knew most of it: that direct provision hostels for asylum seekers – which I see as refugee holding camps – are totally degrading, and that the ‘comfort money’ allowance paid to asylum seekers is insufficient for even the
In recent months, France has been engaged in a debate about its national identity, not surprisingly initiated by the Minister for Immigration Éric Besson. So lively has it grown that it’s even prompted Prime Minister François Fillon to announce
After weeks of speculation, the Minister for Finance delivered his verdict – cutting expenditure all around him, targeting public sector workers, allowances for children and the unemployed, medical card holders and other recipients of welfare.
Since the onset of the recession and the demise of the NCCRI, not to mention the budget cuts affecting the Equality Authority (EA) and the Irish Commission on Human Rights, no one has been speaking much about racism. Most Irish people feel they have other priorities
I have been in Ireland long enough to have experienced the huge ethnic culinary revolution which swept the country in recent decades. Quite apart from the obvious growth in posh restaurants during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era, and their current demise,
A lot has been written about the pros and cons of the Lisbon Treaty. I confess I have not read it in its entirety, but nothing of what I did read has made me change my mind about a ‘no’ vote.
Barack Obama is being hailed for renewing the Middle East ‘peace process’. A process it is, yet peace it certainly isn’t. If they ever get around to it, negotiations are set to open between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority,
In 1969 I got married in Israel to an Irish citizen. We sent a notarised translation of our marriage cert and my birth certificate to the Department of Justice in Dublin, and I received my passport and naturalisation papers by return of post before I ever set