Address by President Connolly at Migrant Integration Conference
Immigrant Council of Ireland, Dublin, 3 June 2026
A Chairde Uaisle, tá mé thar a bheith sásta a bheith i bhur gcomhluadar ag an gComhdháil fíor-thábhachtach seo faoi chomhtháthú inimirceach in Éirinn.
Is í seo an seachtú Comhdháil de chuid na Comhairle agus é níos tábhachtaí agus níos riachtanaí ná bhí riamh go mbeadh sibhse, saineolaithe agus gníomhaithe inimirce, náisiúnta agus idirnáisiúnta, bailithe le chéile chun cúrsaí comhtháthaithe a phlé agus a scagadh.
It is an honour to be here today with you all today at the 7th Annual Migrant Integration Conference hosted by the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the leading national human rights organisation working to defend migrant rights in Ireland. I would like to thank Teresa Buckowska, Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council, for the invitation.
It is 25 years since the Immigrant Council was established by Social Innovations Ireland, an organisation founded by Sister Stanislaus Kennedy. May I take this opportunity to remember Sister Stan, her extraordinary life, and to acknowledge the invaluable work that she carried out.
Indeed, since 2001, the Immigrant Council has dedicated itself to protecting and vindicating the rights of people from a migrant background living in Ireland. In providing expert knowledge and legal advice, as well advocating for immigration reform and action on racism, your organisation has provided a lifeline to so many people who have arrived in this country.
You provide a shining light, giving us all hope.
In that time, Ireland as a country has changed profoundly and is now a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. More than 1 in 5 people living in Ireland were born outside the country, and migrants now play a vital role across critical sectors including healthcare, education, construction, agriculture, hospitality, and technology.
We simply could not have a functioning country without your work.
Migrants sustain essential public services, contribute significantly to Ireland’s economic growth, and help address structural labour shortages that would otherwise constrain national development.
The change in Irish society and the contribution of migrants to our society and economy has been clearly acknowledged in the Government’s National Action Plan against Racism, which runs from 2023 to 2027. The second action plan of its kind, it was launched 15 years after the expiry of Ireland’s first plan, “Planning for Diversity” which ran from 2005 – 2008. The decade-and-a-half in between saw the impacts of austerity, the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of social media and online hate speech. The plan clearly set out priority actions and objectives, within specific timeframes. It also clearly sets out Ireland’s legal protections from racial discrimination, and it’s important to highlight the legal protections and our legal obligations.
The implementation of this plan is absolutely vital. Indeed, former Minister Roderic O’Gorman, in his foreword to the Action Plan, highlights that:
This National Plan proposes actions to help make Ireland a place where the impacts of racism are acknowledged and actively addressed. It is rooted in a commitment to human rights values, democracy and the rule of law. It recognises the State’s obligation to respect and protect human rights, and the roles of private actors. The plan applies to everyone in Ireland, as we all have a shared responsibility to address racism in our daily lives.”
Significantly, Galway recognised this over 21 years ago in March 2005 when the City Council launched an anti-racism strategy, “Towards a City of Equals”. The most important thing about it, the first strategy of its kind in Ireland, was that it came from the ground up, it was based on evidence and experience of incidents that were completely unacceptable, and it came from the community working in collaboration with the City Council.
It sought to consign racism to the history books. We note, to our detriment, that we are not at that point yet.
In this context, your conference today is very important. The conference brings together government departments, public bodies, local authorities, civil society, researchers, and migrant communities to bridge the gap between policy, strategy and action on the ground.
Topics under discussion today are many and varied, including the diversification of funding streams, effective collaboration between organisations and entities, and building resilience facing an uncertain future. The overriding theme, of course, is the shaping of a positive narrative of the importance of migrant workers to our culture, to our society, and to our economy.
Given Ireland’s unique experience of colonialism, mass emigration, famine, conflict and post-conflict reconciliation, we are well-placed to recognise and understand the reasons that people leave their homes, and the reality of life as an immigrant.
Learning from that experience, and building on that experience, it is crucial that we work together to shape that narrative of inclusivity, and challenge and address racism wherever it occurs. Indeed, this obligation has been clearly set out in our Action Plan, and it applies not only to the State, but to all of us. I fully endorse your aim to anchor our collective commitment to integration, diversity and shared belonging.
Tá sé riachtanach go mbeadh spás sábháilte maireachtála ar fáil dóibh siúd atá ag teitheadh ón éagóir agus dóibh siúd atá ag teacht chun cabhrú linn ár dtír a reáchtáil.
Is féidir linne, in Éirinn, a bheith mar eiseamláir ag am atá an domhan á phlúchadh, beatha á múchadh agus dlíthe a sárú gan iarmhairt.
The opportunity is there for us as a nation, as an independent sovereign republic, to lead the way forward in terms of an inclusive society.
Is féidir linn a bheith fáilteach agus tuisceanach dóibh siúd atá in am an ghátair.
Is féidir linn a bheith buíoch dóibh siúd atá tagtha ag obair anseo.
Tá sé práinneach, a chairde, go mbeadh ar ár gcumas, cine daonna an domhain, fás agus forbairt taobh le taobh, le meas, le misneach agus le dóchas.
My words and this conference have to be placed in a wider context in terms of what’s happening all over the world that leads to people leaving their homes reluctantly.
As I speak there are over 170 million people displaced worldwide, of whom 42.5 million are refugees. Perhaps we need another conference to discuss that and how that is happening in our world, where war has been normalised and where our economies are being driven by a military-industrial complex and where war is now seen as inevitable.
I will never accept that inevitability and I think we have a duty never to accept that, or the normalisation of war, and to speak out at every opportunity and to say that we will stand up for international law, the United Nations, and the structures that were set up out of the horror of the first and second World Wars. That is something we cannot forget and we have to take action.
I want to thank you, the Immigrant Council, for your work standing up at times when it’s not easy and showing us where we can do better as an Irish people.
Guím gach rath oraibh agus ar do chuid oibre inniu.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.