Analysis: Migrants make up 12% of the population here but are vastly underrepresented in local politics for a variety of reasons
With local elections approaching, it's time to ponder: does Irish politics reflect current society? This issue isn’t new: we've seen years of advocacy for increased representation of women and members of the Traveller community, but progress has been slow.
Migrants are often overlooked in discussions about diversifying mainstream politics and democratic institutions. This is despite their significant presence in Irish society, where they make up 12% of the population (and that’s without including migrants with Irish citizenship).
People who've migrated here are vastly underrepresented in the political landscape. Take local elections, where all individuals legally residing here, irrespective of nationality, can run (and vote). In the 2019 elections, only 53 out of 1,900 candidates were naturalised or non-Irish citizens and just nine were elected. Proportional representation suggests there should have been between 86 and 114 'New Irish’ councillors.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Sean O'Rourke in 2019, interviews with newly elected councillors People Before Profit's Madeline Johansson (Sweden), Fine Gael's Yemi Adenuga (Nigeria) and Fianna Fail's Abul Kalam Azad Talukder (Bangladesh)
At a national level, none of the members of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann is a naturalised Irish citizen. Reasons underpinning this imparity in political participation include infrastructural, socioeconomic, motivational and cultural factors.
But Ireland also stands out compared to most countries, with an Irish-born politician with migrant ancestry, Leo Varadkar, in the highest political office as Taoiseach. A similar trend can be found in the UK, where non-white second- and third-generation migrant politicians Rishi Sunak, Humza Yousaf and Sadiq Khan are currently Prime Minister of the UK, First Minister of Scotland and Mayor of London respectively.
This appears to signal a shattered glass ceiling in political mobility, with factors like foreign names, skin colour, religion and sexual orientation no longer dictating political success. However, while these examples are laudable from a democratic perspective, the reality is not always one of triumph.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Una Kelly reports that over 6,000 people have become new Irish citizens at ceremonies in Dublin
First-generation migrants and their descendants face significant challenges in the political arena and other social domains. Beyond being male (and the first three having non-working-class backgrounds), Varadkar, Sunak, Yousaf and Khan all share another feature: they possess the 'right' accent. Sunak’s revelation that his parents enrolled him in drama classes to ‘speak properly’ without an accent to ‘fit in’ underscores the pressure to conform to a dominant linguistic standard.
The fact is everyone speaks with an accent, whether you’re a monolingual speaker of Hiberno-English from Drogheda, an Irish-English bilingual individual from Monaghan or a multilingual Irish-born child of Polish parents. We can wonder whether these four politicians would have made it to the top of the political ladder if their accents were different from the dominant ones in their respective nations.
In 2022, 751,507 people usually resident in Ireland spoke a language other than English or Irish at home. This is 14.5% of Ireland’s population. Language forms part of our inner identity. Our accent, voice tone, vocabulary choices and other linguistic features represent us and shape how we are perceived by others.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, is Ireland more accent-diverse than other countries and if so, why?
But accent is rather an anecdotal topic in public discussions about politics. Given the limited visibility of migrants in institutional politics, it’s unsurprising that the sometimes heated debates are primarily focused on Irish accents, such as rural versus urban or working-class versus non-working-class accents.
Against this backdrop, a new study focusing on individuals of migrant origin who are active in Irish local politics underscores the hurdles they face due to linguistic (and other cultural) barriers. In particular, it finds that candidates with distinct identity markers face greater challenges in garnering support from local constituents. While most experiences are positive, migrant politicians often encounter micro-aggressions and unconscious or intentional bias, particularly while canvassing and on social media.
This is probably unsurprising considering that, compared with native Irish politicians, migrant politicians are more prone to experience discrimination and racism. The bias is not directly connected to their English proficiency, but to stereotypes attached to their ethnic background or skin colour.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Late Debate, what's coming up on the doorsteps for those canvassing for Local Election 2024?
As sociolinguistic research shows, language-related discrimination often reflects perceptions of social class, education, socioeconomic status and 'foreignness'. Foreign accents and other linguistic and identity markers can unfairly impact migrants’ perceived trustworthiness and political competence. A person may face prejudice simply because they are perceived as not being ‘one of us’.
Given the recent entry of migrants into Irish politics, it’s plausible to speculate that negative reactions from constituents may simply arise from unfamiliarity with political actors of non-Irish origin. Political representation is steeped in symbolism and convention, and we might expect that as the participation of migrants becomes more widespread, diversity in Irish politics and public life will become normalised.
Voters employ various forms of reasoning in the complex process that results in them selecting who to vote for
However, we should be cautious not to rely too much on ideas of the inevitability and linearity of social progress, as recent xenophobic and racist events remind us. Moving forward, more active institutional involvement, including from political parties, is essential to address structural barriers to inclusivity in Irish politics. Increased public awareness of the linguistic and cultural diversity present in contemporary Ireland is also crucial.
Voters employ various forms of reasoning in the complex process that results in them selecting who to vote for. That said, voters should exercise their judgement in good faith. Not all forms of judging candidates are equally acceptable. The exclusion or dismissal of political candidates based solely on questions of gender, race, religion, disability or language is morally reprehensible in a healthy democratic system. Let’s hope that the outcomes of the upcoming 2024 local elections better reflect the diversity and complexities of our community.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
