The Ireland of today is very different to the Ireland of yesteryears. Irish eyes are not smiling, and for good reason. Today, my homeland is a horrific place to live: riots on the streets, vehicles ablaze, innocent children being stabbed, and women being raped and murdered.

Crime statistics released earlier this year by the Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police force, paint a rather troubling picture. Since 2019, serious criminal offenses, including murder, rape, and sexual assaults, have skyrocketed. As the statistics show, in the space of four years, reports of rape have increased by 13 percent. Moreover, over the past 12 years, the number of sex crimes have increased by a whopping 75 percent. Last year, 44 cases of murder or manslaughter were recorded. In 2021, 25 cases were recorded. That’s a significant jump.

What’s going on?

Although Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) has pleaded with citizens not to associate mass migration with crime, it’s difficult not to. According to the Irish Prison Service’s most recent report, over 20 percent of individuals incarcerated last year were not of Irish nationality. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Seventeen percent of the population (1 in 6 people) was born outside of the country.

In the city of Galway, not far from where I was raised, Muhammad is the most popular name for new baby boys, a far cry from more traditional names like Ciaran, Sean, and Michael.

Interestingly, in 2019, the year violent crime started to spike, the number of people leaving Ireland surpassed the number of people returning. In 2022, as a result of an influx of foreigners arriving, the population of Ireland reached an all-time peak of 5.1 million. In recent times, the Irish government has provided refuge to at least 75,000 individuals fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

The influx of this many Ukrainians is somewhat understandable. Ukraine was, after all, invaded.

But why so many people from Algeria?

As Gript’s Matt Treacy recently highlighted, there is a disproportionately high number of Algerians residing in Ireland compared to other E.U. countries. In fact, in 2022, more Algerians applied for asylum in Ireland than in any other country worldwide, without any clear justification for this trend. Treacy’s decision to focus on Algerians came shortly after a man of Algerian descent stabbed three children and a woman outside a school in central Dublin. One of his victims, a young girl, aged five, sustained severe injuries to the chest.

The attacker had successfully appealed a deportation order and was granted Irish citizenship, despite being arrested for another stabbing incident earlier this year and reportedly not being employed during his two-decade stay in the country. As of November 19, added Treacy, over 3,000 Algerian nationals were being accommodated by International Protections Accommodation Services (IPAS).

My interest here is not to pick on Algerians specifically; it’s to shine a light on the incompetence of Ireland’s leaders, who have chosen to embrace mass third-world immigration to a tiny island republic with no strong history of welcoming immigrants.

Shortly after the stabbings, the city of Dublin experienced severe riots, the worst in recent history. Close to 50 individuals were apprehended, and numerous others sustained injuries. Flames engulfed a number of buses and at least 11 police cars, leaving them in ruins. Rioters burned and looted numerous shops and threatened to burn down a migrant residence hotel.

Although such behavior shouldn’t be condoned, the frustration is understandable. Ireland is a beautiful place, full of great people—but it is being ruled by imbeciles. Moreover, the needless stabbings came shortly after another foreign-born criminal, Jozef Puska, was found guilty of killing Aishling Murphy, a 23-year-old teacher and musician who was tragically attacked while jogging in broad daylight. This shocking case rocked the country. After being stabbed at least 11 times in the neck, Puska left Murphy to perish in a nearby ditch.

The people of Ireland are fed up. They have had enough. But those who wish to speak out risk being met with the full force of the law. Varadkar and his colleagues are working on a series of “hate speech” laws that will radically transform a country once renowned for its freedom of speech. The laws will criminalize the “offense of preparing or possessing material likely to incite violence or hatred against persons on account of their protected characteristics.” This means that having the wrong kind of meme saved on your phone’s photo roll could subject you to criminal penalties.

Varadkar’s right-hand man, Tanaiste Micheál Martin, has promised that the hate speech laws will be implemented before the Christmas holiday. If signed to effect, the country may very well become a totalitarian state, where statements once considered routine could land a person in prison. 

A place once known for its céad míle fáiltes, craic, and its ceol (a hundred thousand welcomes, fun, and music) is morphing into something truly monstrous. The Irish people are still, by and large, a great bunch. However, they are being governed by elites who have little, if any, interest in protecting them from the very real—and very new—threats that they currently face.