Small town of 300 people in County Clare Ireland fears being deemed ‘racist’ about EU-inspired forced migration

The 300-strong rural community of Lisdoonvarna, known for its popular summer matchmaking festival  could be radically changed by a large and sudden influx, of EU-inspired migration reports Breitbart.

However, Michael Walsh, screenwriter, author, filmmaker, and former Breitbart News editor has a few things to say about this. An American with roots in the isolated village of Lisdoonvarna, he returned to the area to ‘reconnect’ with his roots and now fears life in this traditional community will radically alter with the influx. 

“Ireland is under the impression that these people will all become Irish, pretty much overnight, and everything will just continue on to be terrific. But, in fact, as history is showing us – in Sweden, France, and Germany – this is not necessarily the case.

“Very many people are concerned, but they’re also concerned about being called racist, and the town is in a real pickle right now,” he said.

Blasting the lack of consultation on the new asylum-seeker home, he said: “It was all done in complete secrecy. No one knew about this until two weeks ago!”

Despite the fact that the Irish government said there could be “no delay” to the transfer last week in fact, more than 93 % of residents (that’s 9 in 10) voted against plans to move 115 migrants into a local hotel, turning it into asylum-seeker accommodation.

Originally the owner of the King Thomond Hotel, Marcus White offered to put the incomers up at his hotel, but after the vote told residents, “If the village is not able to accommodate 115 people, so be it. I’m not going to do something to hurt this town”.

Lisdoonvarna Fáilte chairman Paddy Dunne commented in a local newspaper “I hope Marcus will listen now and reconsider. We really appreciate everything he does for the village bringing in tourists. but it is too much for the community to handle.”

 “People in the village will be welcoming to a lesser number, but not 115. It is not about the asylum seekers coming, it is about the way in which the Government has conducted this, having no consultation and no facilities in place,” Dunne said.

In an essay on St. Thomas Aquinas and Immigration, Catholic writer John Horvat looks both at Biblical scripture and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas to see what they say about the matter. In summing up the essay Horvat says:

A proportional immigration has always been a healthy development in a society since it injects new life and qualities into a social body. But when it loses that proportion and undermines the purpose of the State, it threatens the well-being of the nation.

When this happens, the nation would do well to follow the advice of Saint Thomas Aquinas and biblical principles. The nation must practice justice and charity towards all, including foreigners, but it must above all safeguard the common good and its unity, without which no country can long endure.

You be the judge of whether the Irish government is taking theological or Biblical principles into account in its immigration policies.