To the Irish posters:
Is this and the riots in November indicative of a significant change in Ireland's mindset towards refugees and migrants, or are these more isolated events?
The vast majority of people are rightly horrified at these events and tbh, the protestors you see at these protests or involved in the riots would be called by many as 'scrotes' - basically an equivalent of 'white trash' as they say in America. Helen McEntee was definitely playing to the crowd when she called them 'thugs' (this however definitely plays into their mindset that they're marginalised). That said there is a certainly growing discontent towards migrants/refugees, though nowhere near the level seen in much of the rest of Europe.
Certain issues like the housing crisis has contributed this - some are put out about accepting so many refugees when Irish people are struggling to find accommodation themselves (which has led to growing emigration among young people).
There is also the obligatory 'safety concerns'. The recent conviction of Ashling Murphy's murderer, Slovakian national Josef Puska has certainly fanned the flames. For those that don't know, Ashling, a 23 year old teacher and talented musician, was murdered as she went for a walk during the day in the rural town of Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Puska had been pretty much unemployed for the 10 years he'd been here and claimed disability benefit and attacked Ashling Murphy seemingly at random. What's more his family tried to cover up his crime (and several members of the family are currently being prosecuted for this). Then of course, there was the attack on the child in Dublin that led to the riot - the 'protestors' believed it be an Algerian asylum seeker but he is in fact an Irish citizen who's lived here for 20 years.
Unsurprisingly, Irish 'patriots' and far-righters have cited these of examples of the dangers of immigration. But yes, there's certainly growing reservations among the general public towards immigration. However, it shouldn't be overstated either - I think generally speaking Irish people have a better grasp than many European contemporaries that these represent a small minority and there's always been sort of attitude that the Irish were in the same boat once upon a time.
