Tomás Ó Flatharta

Ireland’s Open(ish) Border – Sinn Féin on the Warpath

Sinn Féin’s is warning Irish voters about “Open Borders”.

The party is promoting relentless propaganda in the run-up to the June 7 2024 European and local elections in Ireland.

This leaflet from Balbrigggan (Dublin) is a local version of statewide propaganda.

Let’s ask ourselves a question : What’s wrong with Open Borders?

Andrew Flood calls the border in Ireland Open(ish) – and he is spot on. Here is why :

I say Open(ish) because for two decades black or brown people crossing that border have been stopped and told to produce ‘papers’ by the Garda (claiming to be doing random checks). Maybe they want such checks stepped up, if not what is the demand here?

The border between the EU and the rest of the world is so closed that 3,000 people died trying to sneak across it last year. Over 20 times the number of people killed crossing the Berlin Wall in the 28 years it existed. The border with the 6 counties is Open(ish) – is it that?

OK we all know this is a response to the far right working with FFFGGP to blame Sinn Féin on the government’s failure to plan & communicate for large number of Ukrainian refugees. But this shite is just going to underline that Sinn Féin are no more principled that the rest.

And as we’ve seen elsewhere when all the mainstream parties legitimize far right dehumanization in agreeing certain categories of people are a problem you then see Far Right electoral success – they after all offer ruthless ‘solutions’

Sinn Féin on Open Borders (1) – Andrew Flood

Sinn Féin on Open Borders (2) – Andrew Flood

The border in Ireland separates the 26 county bit (administered by the Dublin government) and the 6 county bit (controlled by the British state, partly controlled by the Stormont assembly in Belfast).

Martyn Turner Cartoon, Irish Times, May 1 2024 – Ireland’s Open(ish) Border

The Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, sometimes referred to as the Irish border or British–Irish border, runs for 499 km (310 mi)[1][2] from Lough Foyle in the north-west of Ireland to Carlingford Lough in the north-east, separating the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland.

Border markings are inconspicuous, in common with many inter-state borders in the European Union. As the two states share a Common Travel Area and (as of 2021) Northern Ireland (the only exception within the UK and only in some respects) and the Republic of Ireland are participants in the European Single Market, the border is essentially an open one, allowing free passage of people since 1923 and of goods since 1993. There are circa 270 public roads that cross the border.[3][4] Following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, this border is also the frontier between the EU and a non-member country. The Brexit withdrawal agreement commits all involved parties to maintaining an open border in Ireland, so that (in many respects) the de facto frontier is the Irish Sea between the two islands.

Link :The “Open Border” of Ireland

Let’s spell this out very starkly. The Irish state is a European Union (EU) member, which means that any citizen from an EU member state can cross the Irish “open border” without a visa. The Irish state has a Common Travel Area with Britain – another “open border”. Racists want to end these arrangements – the Sinn Féin propaganda is playing into their hands.

Some months ago Donnacha Ó Laoghaire TD (SF, Cork South-Central) the party spokesperson on immigration issues, targeted Ukrainians living in Ireland, endorsing shameful government welfare cutbacks :

“Sinn Féin support an immigration system that is fair, efficient and enforced. We supported the legislation that led to the reduction in payments of social welfare because it has been clear for some time that the number of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland is placing massive pressure on the system. We agreed that payments should be brought down in line with the payments made to international protection applicants.”.

Link :

SF supports welfare cuts for Ukrainians in Ireland

More recently, hammering the anti-immigration point home, dog-whistler Ó Laoghaire stated :

Sinn Féin opposes open borders and advocates for a fair, efficient, and enforced immigration system that respects the human rights of those fleeing conflict and persecution. This is why we have voted against much of the EU migration pact.

Link :

Donnacha Ó Laoghaire TD – Open Borders

In this respect criticism issued by the Derry Westminster MP Colum Eastwood (the SDLP leader whose politics are distant from the radical left) is extremely accurate :

“I’ve heard similar comments from right wing Tories in Westminster

There’s nothing progressive about this politics – it’s populist dog whistling and people can see it from a mile off.”

Colum Eastwood MP, SDLP, Derry

A positive, broad-based, and principled political alternative to the cancer of racism and fascism is urgently needed across all of Ireland today.

We could start by asking ourtselves, in the words of Irish Refugee Council Chief Executive Nick Henderson, “Have we forgotten that migrants are people?”

Have We Forgotten that Migrants Are People?, Nick Henderson, Irish Times, May 1 2024

Many shades of the anti-racist left should seek to come together around a set of concrete anti-racist policies and initiatives – which puts first and foremost the idea that a Common Travel Area and immigration are positive. We must fight to keep the “open border” between the Irish state and the EU (and between the Irish state and Britain).

Sinn Féin is playing a very dangerous game; the rest of the left – social movements, trade unions, political parties – should not allow themselves to be dragged down with them.

John Meehan May 1 2024