Tomás Ó Flatharta

Here is pictorial evidence justifying a stark headline :

We republish one comment which sums up the appalling news :

You should be ashamed of yourself. Bet you’re going to mass on Sunday praising a white washed Middle Eastern man who told you of all things you should help a stranger. Is that Sinn Féins new policy? No wonder the younger members leave in droves.Mary Lou McDonald – Sinn Féin that’s the reason right here

We have a policy on this site of refusing to publish links with sites full of racist poison. The facebook site of Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin TD (Sinn Féin, Wicklow-Wexford) easily qualifies for this prohibition.

Is the racist policy of Fionntán Ó Súilleabhán TD an isolated Sinn Sinn Féin example?

The answer to this question is a resounding No.

Context at these links :

That SF International Protection policy

Ballaghaderreen, Fractures Over Immigration – Irish Times Report
Facebook link; Irish republicans opposed to SF anti-immigrant policy

On Friday May 11 the Irish Times published an article stating that
Deportation orders triple amid hardening of asylum policy.

Reporters Harry McGee and Cormac McQuinn tell us that

As part of what the Government describes as a tightening of asylum policy, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan told The Irish Times he wants immigration laws that are “robust, fair, efficient and enforced”.

Mr O’Callaghan is drafting a new Bill which he says will be the biggest reform of the asylum system in the history of the State. It will repeal the International Protection Act 2015 and also provide for the full implementation of the European Union Migration and Asylum Pact.

In a second article on the same subject

Asylum Seekers Overhaul – What is changing beyond all the talk of reform?

Reporter Harry McGee notes that the Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin parties are singing off the  same anit-immigrant hymn-sheet

Over the past 18 months, how to respond to the growing number of people seeking refugee status in Ireland has become a “ratchet” policy area for the Coalition and also for Sinn Féin.

Twenty years ago it was crime where parties tried to outbid each other on being “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.

Now, there are clear policy signals from both the Coalition and the main Opposition party of an intent to implement a system that is “robust, fair, firm and enforced”, as Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has put it. In other words, a much tougher and restrictive system to process international protection applications.

Fortunately other parties on the Irish left are opposed to the SFFF (Sinn Féin Fianna Fáil) racist turn

But for some Opposition politicians, both the Government parties and Sinn Féin are pandering to populist sentiment.

Sinéad Gibney of the Social Democrats has said there is a need for a rules-based system that respects people’s rights to seek asylum. She criticised the increasingly restrictive measures and said they could lead to more illegal entry, as has happened elsewhere.

“If people know that they’re going to face the potential of the border, they’re going to find other ways to come into all countries,” she said.

Gibney criticised the premise of the arguments used. “The implication is that we’re taking in more than our fair share: that’s the term that’s often used.

“In fact we are not taking in any more than is equivalent to our counterparts across EU member states. And for a long, long time we were well below that number,” she said.

“We have an ageing population. We need people to come into our country for economic reasons, for labour market reasons.”

There are many sincere anti-racists in the Sinn Féin party. They need to speak out and organise against the party leadership’s racist pandering.

John Meehan April 13 2025