The Next Big Pandemic: Xenophobia
Fear of foreigners is contagious and a valued political tool.
I hope you forgive the title for this article on the grounds that xenophobia1 is not a medical condition, but to my mind it is a sickness. It’s believed to be governed by the area of the human brain called the amygdala, where a fear reaction triggers the fight or flight response and is regulated in the pre-frontal cortex.
“The prefrontal cortex is a large and complex part of the brain that is involved in executive functions, such as planning, decision-making, and self-control. Many psychiatric disorders and neurological conditions are associated with deficits in cognitive control (CC) and/or dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex (PFC)2”.
Therefore, it is reasonable to consider xenophobia as a sickness based on an irrational fear of the ‘other’. I need to think of it this way because the alternative leaves me with a simpler cause: evil. I’m not ready to believe so many otherwise reasonable people the world over are acting out of evil intent, despite the sickening outcomes of their actions in this regard. I’d prefer to link it to a very basic survival instinct that once was useful in the early days of homo sapiens development but is totally defunct at this stage and has no place in a world that has turned into a global village.
Leaving aside for a moment the recent developments in the use of xenophobia to grease the wheels of an emerging fascist regime in the United States and focusing on its latest manifestation in Ireland, might help me to explain why I believe the manipulation of fear has grown as a political tool of late. Although I acknowledge it has always been there, the easy access to information, and text of the open letter from a nurse in irelandspecifically disinformation, through social media and often criminally biased online mainstream media, has made it exponentially more powerful than ever before.
An Open Letter to the Irish People
A week or so ago I came across an open letter published on the internet from an Indian nurse living and working in Ireland3. The letter described growing racism and fear faced by immigrant healthcare workers, specifically those of Indian origin, and their families.
The writer recalled moving to Ireland with modest dreams of peace, hard work, and respect, but now—after witnessing an 8‑year‑old Indian girl being bullied—feels unsafe and disillusioned. According to the letter many fellow Indian nurses and doctors are considering leaving due to racial targeting, despite their dedication during COVID, adherence to laws, paying taxes, and making every effort to engage with the community. While acknowledging that many Irish people are kind, the writer says that hate is becoming louder than kindness. The message urges Ireland to act against racism before more healthcare workers leave—not for money, but to escape fear and protect their dignity.
It wasn’t a rant or an exercise in finger pointing, it was a simple appeal to decent Irish people to act now before it’s too late. When I read the letter and got to the part where the nurse said “We kept going during COVID. We missed weddings and funerals back home to stay here and work”, it made me sick to my stomach and filled with rage and sadness at how we turned around and threw this solidarity back in their faces, but above all else I felt deep shame. Shame that a country who claims Céad Míle Fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes) as its motto, has descended to this new low. A country that entrusted millions4 of its own children to the kindness of strangers in other countries the world over could then turn around and allow this to happen.
Since the publication of that letter it has come to light there have been numerous unreported incidents of racist behaviour and attacks on Indians living and working in Ireland. Some attacks have even been perpetrated within the past week – including an attack on a youth and a six-year-old girl – leading the Indian Embassy in Ireland to advise their people to take extra precautions when out in public. A confirmation that Ireland is now a dangerous place for Indians to live. Shocking, but true on the face of it.
An annual event in Ireland – India Day – where people come together to celebrate the, until now, special relationship between the Indian and Irish people, was cancelled because of safety fears. My heart sank reading this news.
Condemning these attacks the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, said such attacks “diminish all of us and obscure the immeasurable benefits the people of India have brought to the life of this country”. He went on to say the people of Ireland “are all mindful of the immense contribution this community has made, and continues to make, to so many aspects of Irish life, in medicine, nursing, the caring professions, in cultural life, in business and enterprise”.
More importantly, from the perspective of this article, he also noted that many of the alleged perpetrators of the assaults were under the age of 18.
A Tried-and-True Method
I must admit I had also recognised that detail while reading the reports of these attacks and initially put it down to misled youth acting out. But I think now that simplistic viewpoint was exactly the conclusion the racist manipulators behind these crimes hoped the general public would come to.
On closer inspection it becomes clear this isn’t a coincidence, it’s a tried-and-true method used by criminals for as long as there have been laws. The use of underage drug mules has been a fundamental part of the criminal drug cartels for decades. If caught, the punishments are lighter, aimed at rehabilitation rather than punishment, and often the crime is eventually sealed or expunged since the perpetrators are juveniles. The methodology is familiar even if the context is new.
But why? What could conceivably be the motivation to suddenly single out the Indian population in Ireland for these racist attacks. When I recalled a seemingly positive recently published online article5 I had a reason.
Means, Motive and Opportunity
The online piece simply recounted a citizenship ceremony in February this year at which 5,000 people received their Irish citizenship. In the midst of the people from different countries recounting their experiences the article mentioned the largest group consisted of 914 people originally from India. That gave me pause for thought. I was aware that Polish (15%) and British (12%) born people made up the two highest nationalities amongst naturalised Irish citizens, but I was surprised to discover people originally from India (7%) was the third highest group.
In fact, Indian nationals have had the largest number of successful Irish citizenship applications over the past three years. The volume has tripled from 1,115 in 2023 to 2,802 in 2025. And there we had it, the xenophobic justification to encourage racist attacks on Indians – more and more were deciding to stay in Ireland indefinitely. Also, Indians were the highest single group of people of colour and as such easily identifiable, add a touch white supremacy (in a country consisting of 86% white people) and the motivation became even clearer. I know every reasonable person likes to think they’re country is by-and-large free from racist behaviour, even if the evidence says otherwise, but I firmly believe there’s a deeper international political motive behind the escalation and it’s being orchestrated elsewhere.
ICE in the USA
I can’t help thinking about the kidnapping of people of colour, especially those of Latin origin, off the streets in the US by masked and armed vigilantes posing as federal agents. The aim to whitewash America is obvious and as it currently stands appears to be moving apace. Other brave citizens are beginning to stand up for their neighbours and run interference when ICE descend on a neighbourhood, but with billions of dollars of investment in ICE recruitment on the cards, it feels like a garden wall standing up against an impending tsunami. This is in a country where people of colour comprise 42% of the population.
I can’t help wondering what can be done to address the xenophobia and racism taking root in Ireland where the non-white population is just 14%.
Given how recent these racist attacks on Indians have been and the necessary time it takes for these things to impact on the national psyche, I’ve yet to see anything more tangible than the expected political statements of condemnation by way of action. But I hope the support for our Indian neighbours will become more practical over the coming weeks and months.
[1] (Xenophobia is strong and unreasonable dislike or fear of people from other countries – Collins English Dictionary)
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-021-01132-0
[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/DM8hCiwIyNn/?img_index=1
[4] It’s estimated that 1.47 million Irish born citizens are currently living abroad. That’s almost the equivalent of 20% of the current population of Ireland.
[5] https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0213/1496611-irish-citizenship/
