By Rachel Stewart

What the hell’s happening in Ireland?

We all know that migrants are swarming Europe and Britain like flies on shite, but Ireland’s plight feels uniquely dire.

Green fields, welcoming pubs, Irish whisky, a proud literary history. It was a great place once upon a time.

And like New Zealand, it’s an island nation with eerily equivalent demographics and population.

But the Emerald Isle is experiencing an unprecedented surge of violence and social unrest amid anti-migrant sentiment.

The stark increase in immigration—nearly 300% over the past five years—has strained communities and fuelled tensions across the nation. Couple that with an Orwellian clamp down on free speech, and it has become unrecognisable.

It is estimated that around 80% of people applying for asylum in Ireland are coming from Britain over the land border with Northern Ireland.

A disturbing picture of chaos has emerged. Clashes between groups of men, knife fights, and mass street brawls are happening in residential neighbourhoods, furthering an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among locals.

Naturally, in response, vigilante patrols have emerged, while the police use riot shields and pepper spray to quash protesting citizens. Trust between the people and the Irish Government has all but collapsed.

Once again, as in England, dissenters are swiftly labelled “far-right” and the Gardai labels protesters “lunatic hooligans”. Any online criticism about the situation is met with swift recourse where – like England – police turn up at people’s homes with either warnings or arrests.

Criminalising the genuine unease of your fellow countrymen is only ever a recipe for disaster. Or an opportunity for radical remedies.

Have you heard the one about the Irish UFC fighter who went to Washington on St Patrick’s Day?

Or the one about the popular Irish comedian who opined online about the Irish UFC fighter going to Washington on St Patrick’s Day?

Garron Noone has now returned to social media and explained his thoughts in more detail but has not apologised to the woke tyrants who made his life hell. Which is good, because he had nothing to apologise for.

Colin McGregor made his views plain, and whatever anyone thinks about his comments, you can genuinely feel his palpable desperation for the fate of Ireland.

Since visiting the White House, he has now announced his political intentions. And if you think he couldn’t possibly make it to the lofty heights of Irish President, well, you’re a leprechaun who’s been living in a shoebox.

Watch this guy on the street saying he wouldn’t vote for McGregor until he unwittingly talks himself into it. It’s priceless.

Like I said, when people feel unheard anything can happen. They can vote for someone really unorthodox. They can torch cars in the street. They can even become allies with the unlikeliest lot. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, sort of thing.

All I know is if Catholics and Protestants are banding together over the migrant crisis, then anything is possible.

The world’s a rather strange place at the minute. Have you heard the one about ex-professional kickboxer Andrew Tate and his newly formed BRUV Party? That’s short for ‘Britain Restoring Underlying Values’. Which really is a joke considering his self-confessed sex trafficking credentials.

Whether a couple of ex-professional fighters with dubious backgrounds can bring Ireland and Britain back from the brink of civil way remains to be seen. It is unlikely. But their mere presence is creating huge awareness of the predicament their two countries are in.

Back home, New Zealand’s geography means we don’t have the problem of illegal migrants. Yet.

What we do have is a Government who appear committed to ensuring that even more Indians – who have now surpassed Chinese as the third largest ethnic-group – arrive on our shores as part of an upcoming trade deal. Christopher Luxon is fair fizzing at the prospect.

There are some salutary lessons from Ireland in all of this. Lack of housing, infrastructure, competition for jobs, stark cultural differences, and the undeniable social tension because of it.

All I know is that unfettered immigration is the issue of our time, and it’s clearly unsustainable. It is explicitly hard on the working class, and girls and women – who often bear the brunt of the variance in values around how they are treated by male migrants.

And having these beliefs does not a racist make. They are legitimate, human worries worthy of careful consideration by our political leaders.

None of which is happening in Ireland. Sadly, the luck of the Irish appears to have run out.