Irish intolerance, Gary Lineker and “humanising” the refugee journey

This ambitious project will compare and contrast the experiences of refugees in the South China Sea and the Mediterranean, interrogating whether factors like  ethnicity, religion, gender and economic capital determine who survives. It will also examine legislation and attitude changes pertaining to boat refugees over time.

“And we will be looking at whether these people get the asylum or sanctuary or protection that they are in search of. We are particularly interested in what certain authors have called the ‘carceral wet’ (Dixon 2021); detention centres used to house these people, that are sometimes on islands, like Lampedusa and Nauru, for example,” he says, of such centres in Italy and Australia, respectively. “We want to see whether this leads to actual asylum in the long run.”

Glynn’s project will trace the fates of boat refugees since the end of World War II. But, of course, it is as much a current issue as a historical one. 

Last month British Home Secretary Suella Braverman introduced the Illegal Migration Bill, cracking down on the number of small boats crossing the English Channel. Soccer pundit Gary Lineker tweeted his criticism of the Tory government's immigration plan, calling it an “immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”. 

The BBC initially suspended Lineker but when several of his colleagues refused to work in solidarity, the broadcaster climbed down and reinstated him. 

Glynn says it was “quite honourable” for Lineker to have the courage of his convictions, but feels that support for the footballer in this stand-off had more to do with his popularity.

“I wouldn't hold my breath about whether all the support Gary Lineker received was because everyone is against these policies that are being developed.”

Meanwhile the Irish State is now accommodating some 53,700 Ukrainians and almost 20,000 international protection applicants, most of whom come from Nigeria, Georgia and Somalia. Last November a series of anti-immigration protests began, many outside facilities housing these latter refugees. 

Protest posters asked questions like, ‘Are these people vetted?’ and ‘Are our kids safe?’ and Ireland’s current housing crisis fed into the tension.

Glynn suggests there needs to be more of a collaborative approach with these communities.

He recommends having “strong leadership from the top down and also community involvement from the bottom up” in facilitating refugees integrating, giving the example of how Vietnamese boat refugees successfully integrated into societies in America, Canada and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. 

“Firstly, the governments were very positive towards these people. There were also decent integration programmes put in place in terms of language learning and community involvement. In Canada, for instance, you had a lot of communities who were pledging to support refugees. They would set them up in society with jobs or traineeships or mentorships and help them integrate themselves. So, not all the emphasis was on the State; there were private and public partnerships taking place. That could be something that maybe Europe can learn from North America.”

Glynn teaches a class on nativism and xenophobia in UCD in which he explains how people tend to “hugely overestimate” the numbers of immigrants in their communities. He also discusses how some people’s concerns about immigration potentially altering a country’s culture are “more powerful” than their economic concerns, like competing for jobs and houses.  

“If it's economics, you can show with statistics that this can often lead to a lot of benefits for a State's economy. But it is harder to reassure people's cultural concerns. This is something that certain political parties and personalities can place a lot of emphasis on, putting forward quite restrictive views.”

Looking at current immigration issues through the prism of the past is illuminating. 

“Irish attitudes towards non-Irish people or people of colour were very questionable or could be very intolerant. So this isn't something that's just emerged in the last 12 months. This is there in society. Maybe what's different today is that it seems to be getting more political traction,” he adds. “But I think working together, listening to people and dialogue can help overcome these issues over time.”