EZRA LEVANT | Ireland is what socialism looks like before the money runs out

Summary

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Rebel News Podcast — Ezra Levant in Galway, Ireland

Episode: "Ireland is what socialism looks like before the money runs out"
Host: Ezra Levant
Date: May 23, 2026

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Overview

Ezra Levant visits Galway, Ireland, on the day of the Galway West by-election to explore firsthand what he describes as Ireland's unique experience with prosperity, socialism, and open borders fueled by an artificial economic boom. Through a series of "streeters," Ezra engages local residents on immigration, housing, political sentiments, and the intersection of wealth and public policy. The episode is centered on how Ireland's tax haven status, wealth influx, and progressive reputation shape attitudes toward social issues before facing economic limitations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ireland’s Economic Paradox and Social Policy

• Ireland as a Tax Haven: Ezra highlights that, with a population of about 5 million and major U.S. companies utilizing Ireland for tax purposes, Ireland appears one of the wealthiest places in the world with a GDP of over $160,000 per person.
  • "Ireland actually has a GDP of more than $160,000 per person. Like, on paper [it] is one of the richest places in the world." (01:35)
• Artificial Prosperity: Wealth from corporate tax advantages sustains generous social programs and masks the consequences of potentially unsustainable policies.
  • "That's enough money to forestall a crisis from some bad decisions, from overspending, from a decision that this country has made to allow mass immigration almost without limit." (01:55)

2. Field Interviews: Attitudes on Immigration, Housing, and Governance

• General Consensus: Ezra notes the almost universal support among Galway residents for left-leaning, open-border policies, likely due to peer pressure and virtue signaling.
  • "It was absolutely unanimous, the views we heard... open border immigration is a core part of their thoughts about who they are." (03:55, 05:22)
• Peer Pressure: He observes a reluctance to dissent on immigration, suggesting most people wouldn’t openly challenge prevailing views.
  • "Peer pressure was such an intense feeling. I wonder if anyone... would have had the courage to talk to me about it." (04:30)
• Virtue Signaling: Commentary on local politicians and citizens:
  • "We met a city councillor who wore a keffiyeh... There's a Palestinian flag flying over there. I mean, that's part of the virtue signaling." (05:43)

3. Election Engagement and Local Issues

• Low-Energy By-election Atmosphere: Most people enjoy their day and do not feel strongly about the election.

  • "It's just a lovely afternoon and politics is the last thing on people's minds." (06:54)

• Key Issues Raised in Streeters:

  • Housing crisis
  • Cost of living and food inflation
  • Fuel taxes
  • Immigration policies
  • Government inefficiency

  Example perspectives:

  • On housing:

    • "The biggest issue that we have here in town in Galway is the lack of housing for people like myself, I'm sorry, a pensioner. And I'm still paying rent because it's just impossible to buy place or anything like that." (11:46)

  • On immigration:

    • "If you can come into the country and you can pay your taxes and work, fair play to you. If not, well, then maybe there shouldn't place for you either." (12:50, 12:52)

  • On cost of living:

    • "Aggressive food inflation. And there's also fuel prices are going up, very difficult to get." (12:05)

  • Democratic Note:

    • "I think people are talking about the election ... the electorate tend to be pissed off with the government because they can't control rising prices." (07:30)

4. Housing Crisis: Blame and Explanations

• Government Blame vs. Immigration Blame:
  • Many interviewees attribute housing shortages to lack of state-built housing, not to immigration.
    • "The reason we don't have enough houses is because... we're not building enough houses." (17:25)
    • "Galway City Council, they haven't built any homes in the last 15 years." (16:23)
  • Others point to interconnected causes:
    • "Everything's connected. We need to start working with the communities and with the people to find out what's going on and help try and change things from the ground up." (14:57)
  • Ezra challenges this stance as a departure from basic economics:
    • "They either denied it, which I think is a repudiation of basic supply and demand economics, or they said, well, the problem is we haven't built enough houses." (22:18)

5. Attitudes toward Protest, Political Parties, and Polarization

• Far-Right Concerns:

  • Some worry about a "movement towards the far right," emphasizing the need for left-leaning votes to counterbalance.
    • "I think there's a movement towards the far right, unfortunately, so every left voter needs to get out there and vote." (08:34)
  • Voters are cautious to voice controversial views on media.
    • "I'd be worried to say it on the media now." (13:16)

• On Fuel Tax Protests:

  • Some see protest as necessary, others find disruptive tactics unjustified.
    • "The government was probably running away with making money off of people, like hard earned money off of people." (08:11)
    • "A blockade down in the docks using threatening behavior is no way to deal with this. Situation, in my opinion." (19:06)
  • Preference for political action over protest:
    • "If you have a problem with the way the government is working... we have elections and that's how you should deal with it." (19:06)

6. The Role of Identity and Empathy

• Virtue and Generosity:
  • Galway’s left identity and acceptance of immigration is described as a point of pride and virtue.
    • "It's become part of their core identity... open border immigration is a core part of their thoughts about who they are." (05:22)
• Empathy for Refugees:
  • Officials and locals express support for refugees and wear symbols (keffiyeh) in solidarity with global causes.
    • "If by me wearing my scarf helps bring awareness to that, I will keep on wearing it until this ends." (17:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|-------|---------| | 00:25 | “I think it was Margaret Thatcher who once said, socialism is fun until you run out of other people's money to spend.” | Ezra Levant | | 05:22 | “Open border immigration is a core part of their thoughts about who they are.” | Ezra Levant | | 11:46 | “The biggest issue that we have here in town in Galway is the lack of housing for people like myself, I'm sorry, a pensioner. And I'm still paying rent because it's just impossible to buy place or anything like that.” | Galway Resident | | 12:50 | “If you can come into the country and you can pay your taxes and work, fair play to you. If not, well, then maybe there shouldn't place for you either.” | Local Interviewee | | 14:37 | “I think it's easier for people to blame that rather than the actual problems where it stems from, which is the fact that houses aren't being built in Ireland. That's not an immigrant problem, that's a government problem.” | Galway City Councillor | | 17:25 | “I would absolutely disagree with that 100%. The reason we don't have enough houses is because we're not building enough houses. When I was growing up, if you couldn't afford a house, you were given a house by the state.” | Local Resident | | 17:59 | “If by me wearing my scarf helps bring awareness to that, I will keep on wearing it until this ends.” | Galway City Councillor (re: keffiyeh and Palestinian flag) | | 19:06 | “I’m a Democrat at heart and I think if you have a problem with the way the government is working... we have elections and that's how you should deal with it. ... A blockade down in the docks using threatening behavior is no way to deal with this.” | Galway Resident | | 22:18 | “When you’ve got so much easy money, free money, it’s easy to be a socialist. It’s easy to have open borders because you can just throw money at things.” | Ezra Levant |

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Important Segments (Timestamps)

• Ireland’s Economic Model / Socialism & Wealth: 00:00 – 02:30
• Galway Street Interviews & Local Attitudes: 03:00 – 07:00, 10:00 – 20:00
• Housing Crisis and Blame: 11:46, 14:20 – 17:30
• Fuel Tax Protests & Reactions: 08:00, 12:22, 19:02
• Concerns about “Far Right” and Political Fear: 08:34, 13:12
• Identity, Virtue Signaling, Political Symbols: 05:43, 17:59
• Closing Reflections on Ireland's Future: 22:13 – end

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Tone & Language

Ezra’s style remains direct, conversational, and at times provocative, pushing subjects like immigration and housing with pointed but non-confrontational questions. The prevailing tone from interviewees is pragmatic, sometimes idealistic, and largely consensus-driven, reflecting a strong communal identity and progressive values in Galway.

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Summary Flow

Ezra’s exploration in Galway provides a window into Ireland’s current social and economic landscape. He underscores the artificiality of Ireland’s prosperity amid high-profile corporate tax arrangements and illustrates, through a variety of street interviews, the deep-rooted support for left-wing and open-border policies. While housing and cost of living dominate concerns, blame falls on governmental mismanagement, not immigration, bucking classic supply and demand interpretations. The episode captures an almost unanimous endorsement of virtue-driven politics, skepticism toward anti-immigrant sentiment, and a deep reserve of empathy for refugees—shaped by Ireland’s current abundance, but shadowed by hints that the money may not last forever.

Transcript

[A]

Tonight, what does socialism look like when you haven't run out of Money yet? It's May 22, and this is the Ezra Levant Show. Shame on you, you censorious bug. I think it was Margaret Thatcher who once said, socialism is fun until you run out of other people's money to spend. That's what's happening right, right now. To Zoran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City who's basically driving away wealthy people and his plans for free everything, they're just not working. But what happens if you were a small enough country, smaller than New York City, and you had billions of dollars coming in from foreign international companies because you were a bit of a tax haven? Well, that defines Ireland. There's only 5 million people on the whole island, and it's become the European headquarters for so many massive American firms who are here partly because they do have offices and staff here, but mainly for tax reasons. It's the same reason why our own Prime Minister, Mark Carney, hid Brookfield Asset Management's assets in places like Bermuda and the Isle of Man to avoid taxes. So Ireland actually has a GDP of more than $160,000 per person. Like, on paper is one of the richest places in the world. Now, the problem is that is enough money to forestall a crisis from some bad decisions, from overspending, from a decision that this country has made to allow mass immigration almost without limit. We're here to talk about this in the city of Galway, where Galway west is having a by election today. And I'm just giving some thoughts after we've done some of the streeters, but you'll see those, if we haven't shown them already, it was absolutely unanimous, the views we heard. And why not? When you have that much dough and when you are that certain that socialism, it means you're generous and that allying yourself with foreign migrants means you're virtuous, why wouldn't you continue? I mean, I suppose it makes sense. If you are getting all that money, why not be generous with it? It's an interesting visit to an interesting place. Well, we started off in an area in Galway that was largely American tourists. And although they were quite friendly, that's not why we came here. We came here to talk about the by election in Galway west, one of the two special elections today in Ireland. So we moved a little bit outside the tourist zone and we stood outside a convenience store, ice cream shop, and boy, did we ever meet a lot of real Irish. And, you know, I come from Toronto, which I think fancies itself a friendly city. But in Toronto, when you beckon people to come over and talk politics, you're usually met with an angry stare and lots of swears at you. Not here in Ireland. Most people were happy to talk, even. Even if it was just to say, sorry, I'm in a rush, I can't stop. You know, absolutely lovely people. And we must have talked to 15 or so. I feel like I have a bit of a taste of Galway. You know, it's really fun to travel as a journalist for Rebel News, because otherwise I would be a crazy man if I said, hey, come here, let me ask you a question. People would say, you're crazy. But when you have a microphone and a camera, it's not crazy, it's a job. So it's one of my favorite parts of the job. And I guess my report to you, and I'll show you the report, the videos very quickly, is. Well, it was almost unanimous that leftist socialist laborite policies, globalism, open borders, that's the spirit of Galway West. There was one man who, when we pressed him, expressed some skepticism about immigration. But I put the question to a lot of people and they were adamant, they supported it. And I felt like there was almost a. A peer pressure was such an intense feeling. I wonder if anyone, if they would have disagreed with mass immigration and things like that, or fuel taxes. I wonder if they would have had the courage to talk to me about it. Because I think in this town, the peer pressure is so strong. Let me put it this way. It was other than one flicker of doubt by one person, it was unanimous. And we were just randomly sampling people. There was a lot of virtue signaling. We met a city councilor who wore a keffiyeh and I just happened to notice there's a Palestinian flag flying over there. I mean, that's part of the virtue signaling. There was one couple that we talked to, they seemed successful, hard working. I mean, they seem like good people. And I think I asked them about immigration and things like that, and they pushed back so hard. I think it's become part of their core identity. And I don't know, it's interesting because I spend a lot of time when I come to Ireland with the dissidents, with the citizen journalists, with the protesters against mass immigration. And I'm in that world and I meet dozens or even hundreds of people who think that way. But obviously the people at an anti immigration march are going to be anti immigration, and the people who disagree will not be there today. We went in a very friendly way in Galway. And I certainly didn't pick any fights. And when I asked challenging questions, I did so as gently as possible. I didn't want to get into a quarrel with anyone, but holy smokes, is there a different Ireland? And I think open border immigration is a core part of their thoughts about who they are. And I don't know, it's certainly interesting. And I think I know who's going to win this by election. I'll just tell you that right now. We're going to see if we can find anyone who even knows they're in election. And if they do, how do they vote? We've already had a friendly hello from some Canadians who saw us and saw my Rebel News shirt and waved and came over to say a quick hi, here's a moment with them. Hey, how are you? What's your name? John, from Canada. Are you serious? Are you serious?

[B]

Holy smokes.

[A]

Are you here on vacation?

[C]

Yes, for our wedding.

[A]

Well, that's cool. Here in Galway itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, good. Well, you know, I won't put you

[D]

on camera, but I was like, here's

[C]

Rebel News right now.

[A]

I was just talking to a lady about what's going on and she's like, yeah, well, it's hard to get the. What's really happening. And we're like, yeah, yeah, it's the same for us. So we're watching all these non mainstream media. What a small world. Unbelievable. What part of Canada you from? We're from Kelowna. Yeah, Kelowna, sure. Yeah, I love it there. Yeah. Right. Well, I won't keep you guys. Congratulations. I'm flattered.

[E]

Sure.

[A]

Well, that was a friendly welcome to Galway. You know, a lot of Irish folks watch Rebel News too, because we tell the other side of the story. I'm going to see if we can find some voters. I get the feeling that it's just a lovely afternoon and politics is the last thing on people's minds. We'll see what we can do. So we're from Canada. We're here to do a story on the by election. Have you voted today or do you plan to vote?

[F]

No, I voted already.

[A]

Do you think a lot of people are paying attention to the by election or is it sort of a low turnout, low energy kind of thing? Are people talking about the election? Are they excited in any way?

[F]

I think people are talking about the election, but I think in general with most western democratic governments, the electorate tend to be pissed off with the government because they can't control rising prices.

[A]

Are you voting?

[C]

I am yeah.

[A]

Oh, have you thought about who you're gonna vote for?

[D]

Well, kind of, I suppose.

[A]

Oh, okay, no problem. We'll let you go. Thank you. Now, are there any issues that motivate you, like are you worried about housing or immigration?

[E]

Yeah, the same thing as everyone, I suppose, housing, you know, the cost of living and you know what I mean, hopefully someone, one of them will do something about it, you know what I mean?

[A]

What did you think of the recent fuel tax protests?

[E]

Yeah, I thought that was kind of necessary, I suppose, in a sense because I think the government was probably running away with making money off of people, like hard earned money off of people.

[D]

I think it's a privilege that a lot of the world doesn't have and therefore I think it's our duty and a privilege to do it. And I've always voted for the same party.

[A]

Which one's that?

[D]

Labour Party.

[A]

And why is that?

[D]

Well, we have Helen Ogdoo this year and she came to Ireland as a refugee, lived in direct provision for many years, did a huge amount of voluntary work, went into local government and got elected as a councillor last year, I think. And so hopefully now she'll get a Dolce this year year. And it's a fingers up to the. I think there's a movement towards the far right, unfortunately, so every left voter needs to get out there and vote to. To swing things. Unfortunately.

[A]

There was a recent protest over fuel taxes. Is that an issue for you?

[G]

Not so much for us. We both work from home so we're not in the car too often, but I mean it's noticeable. It affects everybody. We do have a car so we're not immune to it really. At the same time.

[C]

Rebel News.

[A]

Can you. How are you?

[C]

I'm from. We're from Ontario.

[A]

What are you doing here?

[C]

Just vacation.

[A]

Nice.

[G]

Yeah.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, it's nice to meet you. Thanks for saying hi. Is there something on your mind? Immigration or fuel taxes or the cost of living? What are you concerned about in Ireland or is everything going great? Immigration is a lot very bad. And is the party you chose, the Democrats you mentioned, are they skeptics on immigration, will they do something about it? Trying to, yeah. Are you political? Not really. Trying to stay away from that kind of stuff. Well, that's a good idea. Yeah. If you had. Have you voted before? I haven't never voted. Yeah, well, I mean, maybe that's a sign things are going fair enough. You don't have to care about politics. Who should I vote for? Well, I'm not going to give you that advice. I'm a foreigner. I'm a Canadian. As am I. Are you a Canadian? Where are you from? From Manchester. Oh, okay. Well then there's a good reason that neither of us are voting. Yeah, exactly. I'm Ezra from Canada. This is my friend Lincoln. And who's your little doggie?

[C]

This is Bradley.

[A]

Right on. So you voted and I see it says, who did you vote for?

[C]

So I voted for Sheila Garrity.

[A]

And tell me a little bit more about her. I'm unfamiliar.

[C]

Sheila Garrity, she is an independent candidate for Galway west and she is a lecturer. She was in the University of Galway for many years and now she's up in, I want to say ucd, one of the Dublin universities. People will say she doesn't come from a political background, but anybody who's worked in a third level institution knows that it's political. Life is political. How we live our lives are political. Sheila's been very involved in that. She's a great researcher, she's empathetic, she's kind, she's compassionate, she takes things on board and she supports people.

[A]

Well, she sounds amazing. It sounds like you have a personal connection.

[C]

Yeah, well, I only got to know her during the presidential campaign. She was co convener with myself for the Catherine Connolly.

[A]

So you're deeply involved.

[C]

Yeah, so I got to know her through that. She taught me a lot of things, like I'm new into politics myself in the last two years. I'm a local city councillor.

[A]

Oh, are you?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, I found the right person. Well, what would you say the leading issues in Galway are? Are there problems in this city that need helping?

[G]

It's run by a very efficient, inefficient bunch and money that's been wasted would want to be rectified and sorted out.

[A]

That's a universal story everywhere in the world. Is there any issue put aside the people? It sounds like you have some strong opinions on the people. Is there an issue that's on your mind apart from the people that you care about or think about?

[B]

Well, the biggest issue that we have here in town in Galway is the lack of housing for people like myself, I'm sorry, a pensioner. And I'm still paying rent because it's just impossible to buy place or anything like that.

[F]

You see inflation. Yeah. Aggressive food inflation. And there's also fuel prices are going up, very difficult to get.

[A]

What did you think of the recent protests about fuel taxes?

[F]

I think a lot of it should be blamed on the Trump administration. But people don't see it that far? I'm afraid they see it as a much more local issue that the government isn't putting in fuel subsidies.

[A]

I got a chance. Tough question for you. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to. How about the subject of mass immigration? Some folks don't like talking about that, but other folks think we gotta talk about it.

[E]

Well, lookit, I think people want to come in, like into the country. They can as long as they work and they pay taxes like everyone else or why not?

[A]

But some of them don't. Right.

[E]

Well, look, that's not really my problem, like, you know what I mean? I don't want to say no to them either, but it should be the same kind of policy as any other country with immigration. You know what I mean? If you can come into the country and you can pay your taxes and work, fair play to you. If not, well, then maybe there shouldn't place for you either.

[A]

Is the far right represented in this campaign?

[D]

It is, unfortunately, yeah.

[A]

Who are you worried about?

[D]

I'd be worried to say it on the media now.

[A]

Are there any parties that you're worried about or. I mean, the governing coalition that sort of. Would you call it center left or. What do you think of the governing coalition?

[D]

Governing coalition would be center left, yeah. But I think the housing crisis in Ireland in particular is making them very unpopular. Nobody seems to be able to sort out the housing Crisis. I have three young children myself. Well, they're in their 30s now and they're finding very hard to get houses and to get onto the property ladder. That and the cost of living. So by elections are notorious for giving the thumbs up to the sitting government. So we would expect a kind of a rebel rebel kind of a vote.

[A]

Now, can I ask you a controversial question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Some candidates have been talking about mass immigration and they think that that's been a social cohesion problem and it's exacerbated housing. What do you think of that idea? Is that on your mind? Do you agree with that or disagree?

[G]

No, it's not like. Not something that concerns me. I work in engineering and we've got a lot of great engineers from all around the world. So I think it's. I don't know, I think it's unfortunate that it's such a topic of conversation at the minute. Definitely not something that I would be on my mind at all now.

[C]

And I think it's easier for people to blame that rather than the Actual problems where it stems from, which is the fact that houses aren't being built in Ireland. That's not an immigrant problem, that's a government problem needing to build more and supply more.

[A]

What's the number one issue on your mind in this by election other than your personal connection to what sounds like a very hard working candidate?

[C]

See, there isn't really a number one issue. What we have here in Ireland is we have a legacy of maybe poor, poor decision making over the years, poor planning, and it's all coming to a crux. So now we have a cost of living crisis, we have a housing crisis, we have a healthcare crisis. This is what we've been hearing for years and nothing seems to be really getting done. So what I'd love to see is no matter who goes, goes in, I want to see somebody who'll try and pull everything together for Galway west and go, hang on a second. There isn't a single issue. Everything's connected. We need to start working with the communities and with the people to find out what's going on and help try and change things from the ground up.

[A]

Has the issues of the fuel tax or immigration come up at all? Because we've heard those in other places. Is that a problem for you in Galway?

[G]

Not me. No, I don't. Migrants don't bother me or anything like that. And the person I voted to isn't Irish originally, so I just said I'd give it a try. I have no qualms about that at all.

[A]

Now some people say that that's in part a result of high immigration. There's so many people looking for housing. Do you think that's a legitimate criticism?

[B]

No, it's

[G]

okay.

[B]

Sorry, how would I put it? It's not the fault of people.

[A]

I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just saying it's a result.

[B]

No, it's. It's the fault of our own government, our own councils, I mean, for instance, Galway City Council, they haven't built any homes in the last 15 years, you know, for people. And there's just no place for people to go to get a house, to get a place, you know.

[A]

Are there any other issues? Some people talk about immigration, but the main parties don't like to talk about it. Do you have a view on that?

[F]

I think in general it's been found that a reasonable amount of immigration creates economic wealth for virtually every country in the world, including America, including Canada and the European Community.

[A]

Can I put a controversial question to you? It's a tough one. Critics might say that opening the door to migrants is one reason that housing prices have gone up because of supply and demand. What would you say to those critics?

[D]

I would absolutely disagree with that 100%. The reason we don't have enough houses is because. Because we're not building enough houses. When I was growing up, if you couldn't afford a house, you were given a house by the state and then the state outsourced that to private enterprise. And there have been no public service houses being built in the last I don't know how many years. So that's where the tragedy lies. And I don't know how they can't fathom how they can't sort that out.

[A]

I see you wearing. Is that. I think that's a keffiyeh. Is that right? Is that part of your political focus as well?

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. I don't like war. I don't like conflict. I really. I would have thought we're a bit more enlightened, a bit more knowledgeable as a society and to see such devastation being carried out across the world is heartbreaking. So if by me wearing my scarf helps bring awareness to that, I will keep on wearing it until this ends. And the same right across the world. There shouldn't be. People shouldn't be dying or people shouldn't be subjected to. To anything like that.

[A]

Well, it's a pleasure talking with you. Thanks for stopping to talk with me.

[B]

Where are you guys from?

[A]

We're from Toronto, Canada. Yeah. And this is a little. We have a little news station called Rebel News. So when we go down to Cork, we're in the rebel county. This is my first time in Galway.

[B]

Yeah. Well, I'll tell you something.

[F]

Wash out in Cork housing is a real problem. To rent a semi detached house, a three bedroom semi detached house in Galway for a month is two and a half to 3,000.

[A]

It must be hard for young people to get a house.

[F]

Yeah, absolutely. And also even for students, it's a problem.

[A]

What do you think about the recent fuel tax protest? Do you have any thoughts on that?

[D]

Yeah, I'm a Democrat at heart and I think if you have a problem with the way the government is working there, we have elections and that's how you should deal with it. I would be totally against the use of innocent people in a situation. People couldn't get to work, people couldn't. Ambulance couldn't run. People are worried because they don't have enough heat, fuel for heating their houses. And a blockade down in the docks using threatening behavior is no way to deal with this. Situation, in my opinion and I don't

[A]

want to press you because I just wanted to hear your point of view. I mean they're one of the. Actually can I throw a tough one at you?

[C]

Go on. Yeah.

[A]

Now you might not like this question. You don't have to answer if you don't like it. Some of the things you talked about, high prices and housing, some critics would say that some of that is driven by supply and demand. If you bring in an enormous number of migrants, including from Ukraine and from other parts, that supply and demand would drive up that price of housing. That's a contrary point of view to yours. What would you say to that?

[C]

Yeah, that seems to be something that's put out there. It's really hard to say. I find something like that a very difficult thing to swallow I suppose like if you take a walk around here we have so many empty properties really. We also have a lot of properties that are up for short term lets and like we have a lot of, we have a lot of working immigrants who come to the, to the country, economic immigrants who are coming to the country and who are help propping up our education system, our childcare center.

[A]

There's also I pass refugee applicants too, right?

[C]

Ah yes, but I don't think it's as high as people like to make it out to be and it's definitely not something that I've witnessed and I actually feel very sorry for people who have to go to an iPass centre because it's not something that people want to do by choice. It's like going into emergency accommodation for any ordinary person. Those centres from, from what I've been told from people who are living in them, they're not a very nice place. Like you're crammed in, you can't cook your own food, there isn't a place to, to go out and play. Like I don't think they're coming over by choice to try and take advantage of something.

[A]

In part, immigration does drive out housing because you have a lot of people that need a roof over their head.

[F]

Yeah, that's a contentious issue in Ireland at the moment. You can't very well dump the Ukrainians and you can't very well dump people that are escaping from the kind of hellish regimes in Northern Africa. You have to take some social responsibility.

[A]

Some have walked over the border from Northern Ireland and discarded their papers and I mean they got to the UK which is a hospitable place but they came into Ireland. I mean the UK is a safe place but some People would say they were looking for a better deal for housing or benefits. Is that fear mongering or is that.

[C]

Given my own experience, I used to be on social welfare. Access to those things is quite difficult. It doesn't matter where you come from. It really doesn't matter where you come from. There's, there's, there's a lot of narrative around that. And yeah, I don't, I don't agree fully with the sentiments.

[A]

Like the Irish have a big heart.

[F]

They do, yeah. And so do the Canadian.

[A]

Well, you're friendly.

[F]

Thank you.

[A]

Nice to talk with you. Thank you. It's easy having those point of view. I, I recently read and I was talking to a professor in a school, scholar of Ireland the other day. Ireland is so wealthy. It's one of the wealthiest countries in the world on a GDP per capita basis. Even though a lot of those are sort of artificial numbers because Google and Facebook and other American companies have an office here for tax evasion reasons. But it is true that this is a very wealthy country and they have an enormous budget surplus. And when you've got so much easy money, free money, it's easy to be a socialist. It's easy to have open borders because you can just throw money at things. I asked probably half the people if there was a correlation between high housing prices and shortage of housing and migration. And they either denied it, which I think is a repudiation of basic supply and demand economics, or they said, well, the problem is we haven't built enough houses. And that I suppose is technically true, but wouldn't you then stop the mass immigration until you fix the housing problem? It would never in a million years, you know, would that thought occur to them that, okay, we need more housing for mass immigration, we're not building more housing for mass immigration. Therefore keep the mass immigration going and just lament the lack of housing. No one would say, well, let's pause until we fix that. I don't know. I love this town and I've only been here for half a day. It seems like a very musical town, a very cultural town. There's a beautiful tourist area with many great bars and pubs and there's a folk festival that I absolutely wish I were here for because, you know, even meeting the buskers and chatting with them, this is a great place and it's absolutely going to slam dunk it for the left wing parties. And that's Ireland in 2026. What can I say? What a pleasure to be here and good luck. Ireland Travel News. I'm Ezra Lev.