Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin has responded tepidly to appallingly bigoted remarks by his predecessor Bertie Ahern on a voter’s doorstep. The voter recorded the ex-Fianna Fáil leader saying he didn’t approve of Africans entering Ireland, and vilifying the next generation of Muslims who he said were set to cause “problems.”

Instead of condemning Ahern’s overt racism and Islamophobia, Martin said the remarks were “not appropriate,” “correct, or proper” — a slap on the wrist at best.

Ahern vomited out the racist sentiments while canvassing for Fianna Fáil in the run-up to a Dublin Central bye-election, scheduled for 22 May. The woman recording wasn’t trying to catch out the former Taoiseach. If anything, she can be heard muttering comically incoherent xenophobic beliefs in a lengthy rant. She said:

I’m really disappointed in you and your party and all the other parties on the globalism, hordes of foreigners coming into our country. Can we not close our borders?

Can we not be like Poland and have safe clean streets. Can we not have that, Bertie?

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She then swiftly changed her mind, and decided that Ireland did in fact have:

…lovely streets now with bicycle lanes. That’s great for the homeless to sleep on.

This will be a boon to urban planners, who may not have realised that cycle lanes apparently make great dormitories for people without shelter. We can seemingly achieve greener transportation and solve the housing crisis all at once, using a narrow strip of tarmac. More fool them for not realising there’s no better place for a kip than a spot which might see you becoming an impromptu speed bump for a 30kg piece of metal on wheels.

Backing Ukrainian but not African migration

Ahern made it clear he had no issue with immigration, as long as those coming in are the right colour:

I have no problem with the Ukrainians. Because, you know, in fairness, Russia moved in and war in their country.

He wasn’t so keen on people with more melanin, however:

The ones I worry about are the Africans. I agree with you on the Africans.  We can’t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there’s too many from those places.

Now, one might say old Bertie cited the Ukraine war as the reason for the discrepancy. That might sound fine until we remember there’s a hardly discussed war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). One driven by resource conflict over the minerals that power technology such as smartphones. Wealthier nations that extensively consuming this technology bear a large responsibility — including Ireland. When people flee the DRC as a result of the violence, we have a responsibility to take in those seeking refuge.

Ahern’s ugly views of Muslims were also clear, with him saying:

The Muslims…I don’t worry about this generation. The next generation when the kids start growing up, that’s when I think the problem would be. I said this to Jim O’Callaghan. That’s when the problem comes.

It’s bad enough that the former leader of the Irish government holds these views. It’s more concerning that he appears to be trying to influence policy by speaking to minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan.

Doorstep conversation exposes Irish politics

The discussion was quite revealing of the current zeitgeist in Irish politics, as the woman’s rant took in republican elements, the citing of genuine issues, alongside the confused racist shite with which she sought to apportion blame.

She referenced how Ireland had “only been free for 100 years,” and now supposedly overrun by foreigners again. Later she cited 1916 revolutionary Patrick Pearse, executed by Britain, as saying “Ireland belongs to the Irish”. This is an anti-colonial quote aimed at the British, now being repurposed by the Irish far right for anti-migrant purposes. This disingenuous leveraging of Irish freedom fighters is apparently achieving some cut-through among voters.

The genuine issues she identified were housing:

I’m worried about my kids because they’re never going to be able to buy a house…

Emigration due to the cost of living:

…our taxpayers are paying for the education of the youth and they’re having to leave.

Finally, inequality. As Ahern walked away, she said:

God forgive you. God forgive you. You never spoke up for us. You’re walking around here lying to everyone. You’re a liar. You’re a liar. We never do that. And you have all your money. When you die you can’t bring your money with you.

Ahern was of course forced to leave Fianna Fáil in 2012 as a result of:

…failing to truthfully explain the source of large sums of money that passed through his bank accounts.

People Before Profit hammer Martin

These funds were linked to property developers, bringing us full circle back to the disaster of housing in Ireland. People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy pointed this out to Martin’s face in the Dáil, saying it’s:

…very blatant what the agenda is. Scapegoat immigrants, divide ordinary people. Why? So nobody blames Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fáil and the landlords and developers you have allowed to profit from the housing crisis.

People from the Congo didn’t take corrupt payments from developers to blow up the property bubble. They were never found by a tribunal to have been untruthful in explaining how 400,000 euros in today’s money pass through their bank accounts.

Muslim children didn’t crash the economy causing years of misery and austerity for ordinary people. Unlike Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael, they never rolled out the red carpet for developers and vulture funds.

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They weren’t the ones who sowed the seeds of the current housing disaster and they weren’t the ones who refused to maintain council flats and then voted to increase council rents.

This is the straightforward message that needs to get out to voters like the woman confronting Ahern beside the flaking paint of her front door.

It isn’t “Sharia law” and Congolese people harming Ireland. It’s the likes of greedy developers and landlords, alongside politicians such as Ahern and Martin who are only too happy to do their bidding.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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