Oh, So Now You Want to Go to Ireland?
It's becoming increasingly difficult to move away from the rising far-right.
Apparently, yes, you do.
Apparently, yes, you do.
Since Donald Trump won the U.S. election, the number of Americans looking for jobs in Ireland has nearly doubled, according to Indeed, an employment website. It says that the number of Americans looking for jobs there saw a 91 percent increase since Nov. 8. It is unclear why you chose Ireland — perhaps you are of Irish descent, or perhaps you yourself are one of the 50,000 undocumented Irish citizens now living stateside — but Ireland you chose.
But to those of you planning on sitting out the Trump years over a pint of Guinness in a cozy sweater while pretending that life is just a scene from Once, consider this: The leader of Ireland’s brand new (and, admittedly, not yet mainstream) National Party supports racial profiling.
Yes, that’s right. On Friday, Justin Barrett, formerly of an avidly anti-abortion group, told Cork’s 96FM radio that “there needs to be check of all people coming into this country. Most people, at a quick glance, you can tell they are no threat.”
“Profiling,” he continued, “is something that police throughout the world use as an instrument of law and order.”
To be fair, though, Barrett did clarify earlier Friday to Radio Kerry that he does not believe Ireland needs a complete ban on Muslims entering the country.
The National Party, which Barrett helpfully says is not a “Nazi party,” seeks to “remind the political elites and the general commentariat . . . of the extent to which the promise presented by the Proclamation of the Republic [the 1916 proclamation through which Ireland declared independence] remains unfulfilled.”
To be clear, Barrett’s leadership for now extends just to the newcomer National Party, not the national government. But if you’re now rethinking your Irish goodbye, note that the Emerald Isle was only the third most popular escapist destination for would-be American political exiles.
The second was Canada. Its immigration website crashed on election night, but it’s now fully functioning; its own populist movement, however, might get up and running soon, too. The most popular place for desperate Americans looking for a lifeboat is New Zealand — which, earthquakes apart, simply cannot fit all of you.
Photo credit: David Cannon/Getty Images
Emily Tamkin is a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews. Twitter: @emilyctamkin
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