Máiría Cahill: Seeking asylum isn’t an offence, yet we treat people somewhere between cattle and criminals

Dublin tent bearing the slogan 'Seeking asylum is not a crime'. Photo: PA

Máiría Cahill

Fair play to the person who painted “seeking asylum is not a crime” on the roof of their Dublin tent, resulting in the GB News drone camera broadcasting shots of it to their viewers on Monday. Sometimes we need to be reminded it isn’t an offence. And yet we treat people somewhere between cattle and criminals.

On Thursday, the Government tidied “tent city” out of sight to another less visible one with toilets. Three days prior, a sizeable enough crowd descended on Dublin city centre roaring “Get them out!”. When did a large section of Irish society lose their humanity? When did our traditional meitheal, of which we are so proud, morph to views that malign people based on their birthplace?