Last Wednesday, Tánaiste Simon Harris made a statement in response to a question from Ben Scallan, in which he said: “Our migration numbers are too high, and the system is not built to deal with such large numbers”. He would go on to call immigration “an issue that needs to be considered in a very serious way by government”. He then explained: “One of the reasons I think they are so high is that there are too many people who come to this country and are told they do not have a right to be here, and it is taking too long for them to leave the country”. 

For lack of a more eloquent reaction: duh. It is hardly a world-shattering revelation to most of us who have been paying attention to the general political trend of our country that our immigration rates are too high. The CSO estimated in August 2025 that the number of people immigrating was approximately 125,300 – almost twice the number emigrating, with roughly 16 percent of the usually resident population now non-citizens. This is up almost a whole percentage point from 2024, which also saw the highest immigration numbers in 16 years. 

So yes, our migration numbers are too high. And who, Tánaiste, do you think might be somewhat responsible for this? Who was it who has been running the country? Do you think that your government has had no hand in allowing this? 

Let us not forget what Harris has been doing to solve the immigration crisis. Over the past year he has: dodged questions, made bizarre statements about the uses of terminology, and assured the Irish people that he is listening to their concerns. And yet the numbers do not go down. In September 2024, he addressed the issue, and said that, in response, he would “Consider further changes to the supports available to those seeking asylum in this country”. On top of this, he expressed his intention to “Establish a new Accommodation Project Management Group focused on progressing all aspects of the development and opening of a small number of larger sites”. “The first test of this will be the opening of tented accommodation at Thornton Hall later this month”, he said. Seemingly, the solution of simply letting fewer people in was not a consideration. Anyway, it seems Harris’ master plan didn’t work. Oh well, nothing like an Oasis concert to take it off the mind. 

Harris is right on one point: there are far too many people awaiting deportation for far too long. However, this is not the core of the issue. The real problem is that many of these people were allowed in at all. Take, for example, the case of Randi Gladstone, who within days of arriving in the country had raped an 18-year-old girl. Gladstone had convictions on his record for such crimes as rape and kidnapping before he entered the country, and yet he was allowed in nonetheless. When asked why or how this man had been allowed to enter the country, Harris had no response, claiming that he was not “across the details” of the case. When asked again a month later, Harris seemingly had not looked into it, claiming: “I don’t have any further knowledge in relation to that case”. Then, of course, there is the case of the ten-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 26-year-old man who had received a deportation order earlier in the year. The man had reportedly come to Ireland six years ago under international protection, but his application for this was only rejected last year. And what was Simon Harris doing during all of this? Mainly filming TikToks and failing to keep promises regarding scoliosis treatment waiting lists. 

In short, this statement from Harris means nothing. He will not make any changes to our current immigration policies, nor will he enforce any more strictly our laws regarding illegal immigration. This is simply more proof that Harris is a quintessential politician: he will say anything as long as it will appease the crowds for the five minutes before his next major failure comes to light. I am an advocate of charity, but also of realism: nothing Simon Harris says is to be trusted. We are not going to see any major change to the immigration crisis until Harris and Martin are out of government. 

What this statement does show is just how vulnerable the current political class really is. Having followed progressive, Biden-administration-style politics well past their sell-by date, they have finally begun to realise that the Irish people are sick of them. While they may have got their leftist candidate into the Áras, it was a pyrrhic victory at best, with only 45 percent of the electorate turning up at the ballot stations, while 37 percent of those who voted validly cast their ballots against her, and another 13 percent of the total poll was taken up by invalid ballots. Now is the time to stand up to the mismanagement that has afflicted our country for years. Now is the time to show Harris that he cannot slip his way out of this situation.

It is amazing what 200,000 spoiled votes will do to a man.

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Patrick Vincent writes from Dublin