Deterrence doesn’t build belonging - communities do

Published in the Indo, Saturday, 27 Sept 2025

By Angie Gough, CEO & Co-Founder HIH

This week the Minister for Migration went on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne to announce that international protection applicants will soon have to pay towards their accommodation. Days earlier, new restrictions were introduced on Ukrainians’ access to State housing. At the same time, the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) for households hosting refugees has been cut, and Helping Irish Hosts, the organisation that supported hosts and safeguarded thousands of placements, has had its funding withdrawn.

Step by step, the State is pulling back. Payments cut. Services withdrawn. Access restricted. Communities with lived experience are being frozen out. The message is clear: deterrence.

But deterrence doesn’t make people stop moving. It doesn’t ease pressure on housing. And it certainly doesn’t help communities cope. What it does is fuel resentment, weaken solidarity, and pile the burden on ordinary people - and local authorities - who have already done the heavy lifting.

Migration is not a new “crisis.” It’s part of life. Ireland has always been on the move - leaving and arriving, seeking safety, work, experience and opportunity. The only thing that changes is how we respond.

And when people fleeing conflict or persecution arrive here, the first responders aren’t government departments or big NGOs. They are communities: neighbours, families, local groups. Spare rooms open. Schools welcome new pupils. Sports clubs find space on their teams. Choirs, parishes, libraries - all quietly doing the work of welcome.

That instinct for solidarity is who we really are. You see it not only in the thousands who open their homes, but in the way Ireland has spoken out on the world stage, taking a principled stand on Palestine when so many others stayed silent. It’s the same impulse: to see the human cost of conflict, to call for dignity, and to act with compassion.

Solidarity is powerful, but it isn’t simple. Housing is scarce. Services are stretched. Communities often feel abandoned, left to fill the gaps. And in those moments of strain - even here in Ireland - it’s always tempting to blame the newcomer. It’s the oldest trick in the book. But it isn’t true. The shortage is the problem, not the people.

With payments reduced and support structures stripped away, communities and newcomers are left to figure things out alone. It might look like efficiency on paper, but deterrence in practice doesn’t just hurt those seeking refuge - it erodes the generosity of Irish communities, ignores lived experience, and makes it harder for the next person to step up.

Deterrence doesn’t only shut people out, it weakens the social fabric we all rely on.

Meanwhile, the public conversation - from headlines to social media feeds - is awash with negative sentiment, and too often government policy follows that lead. But communities are quietly living another story: one of generosity and resilience. We need to shine a light on that, or we risk letting only the loudest, most hostile voices set the tone. 

We’ve learned something important these past three years: communities are not powerless. Given half a chance, people step up. They share skills, open doors, and make connections no top-down system could ever design. That’s what belonging looks like in practice - messy, human, hopeful.

Which is why cutting communities out of the conversation is such a mistake. Every time we bow to anti-migrant sentiment by reducing supports or tightening conditions, we undermine the welcome that has carried us this far.

There is another way. Instead of turning the screw, we can choose to listen. Ask the people who’ve opened their doors what works and what breaks them. Ask newcomers what makes them feel they belong, and what shuts them out. Ask communities what they already have, and what’s missing. Then act on it.

Yes, resources are tight. But communities have resources too - and newcomers bring solutions as well as needs. We see it every day: teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, volunteers. The trick is joining the dots.

That’s the principle behind Co.Here, a new EU-funded project we’re launching in Kildare with UCD and Pairity. It’s about listening to lived experience, mapping what already exists, and using ethical technology to help communities and newcomers connect in ways that work for both.

The challenge of migration isn’t going away. It never has, it never will. The real choice is whether we make it harder, meaner, and more divisive - or whether we choose to build belonging.

And let’s be honest. Deterrence will never build belonging. Communities will.

Angie Gough, CEO & Co-Founder, Helping Irish Hosts (HIH) To learn more about Co.Here, visit www.helpingirishhosts.com/co.here or call the HIH Support Line on (01) 263 0360.