Ireland, land of a thousand welcomes…. The home of the craic and of open arms. That is how we sell our brand, the pitch for our little emerald isle. However is that today as accurate as the pig and the cloth capped farmer picture on the postcards would lead you to believe?

Sadly it is not in my book, “the land of a thousand welcomes” but the land that stays silent and casts a suspicious look at those it deems ‘foreign’. I stood today at an ATM, a queue of people already had gathered waiting on the bank to open, and three non Irish women were struggling with the ATM. No one said a word, or muttered a comment, however the glances, the under the eyes scorn and silent nods of middle age women as they viewed these “foreigners” obviously spoke not a thousand welcomes but a thousand words that could be summed up in “Your not one of us!” An amazing thought process for a country and a generation that spawns across the globe.. and we are proud of it(cue St Paddy’s parades worldwide)

Was it not racism or indeed prejudice or bigotry but was it just history and genetics I began to wonder. You see Ireland has not had the best house guests over our last 400+ years, they seemed to arrive-make themselves at home- take over the house-then never leave. 

Do we embrace emigration and fear immigration simply because our history has seen the visitor become the master? (Our African neighbours may have more in common with you than you think—Engage them!)

We should understand the African history and the forced migration of it’s inhabitants possibly more than any European nation. In that understanding of our own recent exodus and the ‘Irish abroad’ success though, do we fear losing our own ‘homeland’? 

There will be a multi-cultural party system some day, and it will be a great day for our nation when it comes. For then we will see that the skin, the accent and the culture has not conflicted but complimented the nation and in the words (somewhat) of Padraig Pearse  Out of the graves of many nations came the soul of a new Ireland. An Ireland so vibrant, versatile and influential that no one can ever say Ireland is not free, because Ireland is freedom!

Peace and Be Wild!