"If we didn't have immigration, we'd need to invent it" - Fintan O'Toole speaks at DCU lecture
27th May 2002

At a public lecture on 'Interculturalism in Ireland today' held at Dublin City University last night, Fintan O'Toole said that if Ireland didn't have immigration, it would need to invent it. The lecture, attended by representatives of organisations directly associated with social, racial and intercultural issues, followed on from a day-long seminar which heard contributions from speakers such as John Lonergan, Governor of Mountjoy Prison who told his audience that 36% of the female inmates of Mountjoy Prison are foreign.

The seminar and lecture were organised by DCU's Applied Language and Intercultural Studies department, which offers specialist modules on interculturalism on a number of its degree programmes. According to Dr Bill Richardson, head of the school, "Academics do not work in a vacuum. It is important for us to collaborate with the sections of our community that deal directly with the racist and discriminatory issues of today - practitioners and activists from government and non-governmental agencies, the Garda Siochana, journalists, and ethnic minority groups".

Fintal O'Toole suggested that racism and intolerance are not about 'the outsiders' or 'the others' but about 'us' as a people. 'We' become bullies and victimise others, using race as an excuse to meet out violence to others because of our own insecurity. The only solution to this problem is self-examination. Irish identity is neither monolithic nor unitary, but rather complex, fragmentary and changing. With our history of emigration, we need to acknowledge the fact that Irish identity is as much at home in Boston as it is in Ballybofey.

As a result of this seminar, DCU is to set up an electronic noticeboard called DIN (the DCU Intercultural Network) which will allow for ongoing discussion of multicultural and intercultural issues in Ireland today.

ENDS

For further details contact:

Bill Richardson,
Head of School,
School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies,
DCU.
Email : bill.richardson@dcu.ie
Phone: 01-7005193