There are regular suggestions from extreme voices that Ireland, north and south, has a population which is somehow bursting at the seams, cannot accept any more migrants and should effectively seal its borders.
A comprehensive report just issued by the Stormont Assembly’s Research and Information Service paints a very different picture, and establishes that only 3.4% of Northern Ireland’s residents (65,600 people) are from a minority ethnic group.
The latest census data from the Republic indicates that 12 per cent of citizens are from similar backgrounds, considerably lower than England and Wales, where the figure is 18.3 per cent, and also behind Scotland (12.9 per cent).
Ireland is clearly far from full, as has been wrongly claimed, and the north in particular, which the report described as the least diverse part of the UK, is easily capable of accommodating substantially more new arrivals.
It also needs to be stressed that the appalling racist campaign of organised violence and intimidation which was witnessed across Belfast last summer was based on complete disinformation.
While it was largely coordinated by loyalist elements, there have recently been sporadic but equally disgraceful episodes in nationalist districts, with a courageous individual who organised a rally against racism in the Beechmount area having his car vandalised by a masked thug.
Any reasonable analysis shows that a trickle rather than a flood of migrants have been making their home in the city, and there is no evidence whatsoever that they have been given preferential treatment over the allocation of housing and other benefits.
Many of them play a vital role within our health service, which almost certainly could not cope if they were forced out, while others have opened a range of new businesses which benefit the economy and provide much-needed employment.
The report pointed out that racist incidents across the north reached their highest ever level in the 2023/24 period, with a shocking 1,353 recorded, well ahead of the number of sectarian offences.
It has to be a matter for considerable concern that a review of the Executive’s official Racial Equality Strategy has indicated that it has been undermined by a lack of an action plan and a budget.
The review was carried out by Dr Sabir Zazai, the head of the Scottish Refugee Council, who told the BBC last month that resources had been invested in the initiative but were not properly aligned to a blueprint.
It is essential that our ministers and MLAs take on board the message from Dr Zazai, and ensure that the Racial Equality Strategy is not just discussed but fully implemented.
