Gerard Howlin

shorter life expectancy than any other immigrant community that went to London and that this, they were, you know, suffering essentially and that there wasn't responsibility or a handout from the Irish government and the Irish state official Ireland looked away, she said, and that they didn't get help from Ireland.

And that, you can see it in the story we're reading about Eve Sikila, you know, about his life, you know,

To take out his death out of this, which is, you know, and we saw the video was tragic.

And but tragic details of his life, you know, coming to Ireland from Congo, I think 20 years ago when he was a young boy, essentially with, I think, in the custody of his aunt or living with his aunt and that he had sponsored him.

Yeah.

And that he's.

you know, he was living in a hostel up to recently, had issues with addiction.

But you could, that story goes across people, across Dublin Central, across colours, across class in some cases, that people fall into those situations.

And the question is not, who am I pointing at on my street of a different colour to blame?

The question is what policy and resource allocation fail to you?

You know, the times in those 60s and 70s and 80s when people went over, they are our uncles and our aunts or our cousins.

And we know their stories.

And they're the same stories of people like Eve Sikila in Ireland now.

And that's, you know, a really important part.

for people to keep in mind and particularly around the conversation on immigration and to point to I think a poignant line in Colin Murphy's piece if I can I don't think I can find it now towards the end saying about you know giving a voice to people and listening I suppose rather than jumping to assumptions around people's opinions and giving space I suppose I think sorry I have it here now apologies

saying that, you know, sometimes voices will be loud and divisive.

The answer lies not in suppressing them, but in the patient and generous work of ensuring other voices do not get drowned out.

And that's, I suppose, where you were talking about there, Gillian, about the work that that school is doing and that idea as well about the hyper-local politician and that TDs are on the ground doing the work.

And I think it also chimes back to in this by-election.

Yes exactly this was in relation to protests in East Wall against a asylum accommodation or IPAS International Protection Accommodation Service being located in East Wall and there were and there still are a lot of tricolours up on flagpoles in East Wall and actually something I asked Janice Boylan about during the canvas as well about what that means is it anti-immigration and she was kind of saying that there is