The country needs migrants: to build houses; to work on the MetroLink (if it ever gets started); to fill vacancies in our health and social-care services.
We also have a solemn obligation to offer refuge to those genuinely fleeing persecution.
The greater the increase in population, the more pressure is put on the system, increasing the need for further immigration to plug the gaps. The boulder keeps rolling down the hill.
Ireland is no different from other European countries in the resentment that this can foster among those who feel left out and left behind.
Last week’s changes are specifically targeted to discourage migrants
The one chink of light is that those seeking to stir up community tensions over this issue have not yet scored an electoral breakthrough.
A hope of avoiding such an eventuality is one reason for the immigration measures announced by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan last week.
Future migrants will have to wait longer before their families can join them. Those granted refugee status will also face a five-year wait before being able to apply for full citizenship.
It would be foolish to deny that these changes are specifically targeted to discourage migrants from choosing Ireland as a destination.
British home secretary Shabana Mahmood. Photo: Getty
Further deterrence may prove unavoidable, if the similar crackdown unveiled recently by British home secretary Shabana Mahmood has the same success in dramatically cutting migration numbers as the Danish policy on which it is based.
Many who are turned away from Britain may turn their gaze to Ireland instead. It is far easier to slip quietly over an invisible land border than to cross the English Channel in a dinghy.
In finally acknowledging the scale of the immigration crisis, Britain’s Labour government has sparked predictable unease among supporters of open borders on its hard-left flank.
The same disquiet is being voiced in the usual circles here over O’Callaghan’s refusal to ignore the fact that, at 1.65pc last year, the Irish population is rising at seven times the EU average, with the population increasing by 90,000.
The price of upsetting those who see no problem with this rate of growth is dwarfed by the real and present danger of alienating people who think that the numbers have got out of hand.
Even if figures can be brought down to a manageable level, there is no guaranteed electoral benefit for mainstream parties if bread and butter issues remain unresolved — as Denmark’s ruling centre-left Social Democrats discovered to their cost in their last municipal and regional elections.
Immigrants have a crucial role in forging the Ireland of the future
Simply taking down the céad míle fáilte sign here is not a plan.
If living standards continue to worsen, voters won’t be fooled. Anger over immigration is best seen as emblematic of a feeling that the Government has lost control of events, from housing to policing to health.
Immigrants have a crucial role in forging the Ireland of the future — but it is for politicians in the here and now to determine what that role should be.
It is a delicate balance to get right, but O’Callaghan’s readiness to give the elephant in the room a name can only be welcomed.
If mainstream politicians will not discuss the negatives of large-scale immigration as well as the positives, then someone else will.
And that someone may represent forces that sensible moderates should not wish to see gaining a foothold.