Poll shows Govt and Sinn Féin seriously at odds with public on immigration

A new poll published by the Business Post has shown that the government parties – and the largest opposition party, Sinn Féin – are seriously out of kilter with the public on immigration, with a huge majority believing that Ireland is taking in too many refugees, and saying they “appreciate” the anger that people feel about asylum seekers being moved into their local area.

Last week, Taoiseach Leo Vardakar insisted that there would be no cap on asylum seekers despite the crisis and the acute shortage of accommodation leading to arrivals sleeping in tents in the city centre.

Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, has also claimed that Ireland could not limit numbers of refugees arriving to the country.

Yet,  the Business Post found that

“75 per cent of people believe that the number of refugees Ireland is taking in is “now too many” with 19 per cent disagreeing and 6 per cent saying they did not know.”

In fact:

Around 74 per cent of Fianna Fáil supporters and 70 per cent of Fine Gael supporters believe that Ireland is taking in too many refugees, in a finding that will alarm both parties.

This attitude is even stronger amongst Sinn Féin supporters, 83 per cent, and supporters of independents, 88 per cent.

Most of the parties also seemed at odds with the public on local communities expressing opposition to migrants being brought into their community.

The Red C poll found that 76 per cent of people agreed with the statement “I can appreciate some of the anger people feel about asylum seekers being moved into their local area.”

Around 21 per cent said they disagreed with this, and 3 per cent said they did not know.

Mr Vardakar has insisted that local people could have no veto on who was brought to live in the area.

“People do want to know what’s happening. They want certain assurances and we have a responsibility to do that. But that doesn’t mean that anyone can say that certain types of people can’t live in their area. We can’t tolerate that,” he said.

Justice Minister Simon Harris has been sharply critical of protests opposing migrant centres, and said some scenes were “abhorrent” and “utterly despicable”.

Sinn Féín TDs have also criticised local protests against the government’s migration policies, and joined the condemnation of recent demonstrations, with TDs saying that no community could refuse asylum seekers.

Many media commentators have sought to describe the protests as being driven by the ‘far-right’, but the poll found that more than 3 in 4 of the public understood local anger.

Three in four people believe that Ireland is taking in too many refugees, according to the latest Business Post/Red C poll, after the arrival of almost 100,000 people in the space of a year. https://t.co/svDhT55GRY

— Business Post (@businessposthq) May 27, 2023