6 European Parliament and 7 local election candidates will field questions around integration, diversity and migration at the ‘New Communities in the Elections’ event 28th April ‘14, at 6pm in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
Event organiser, Peter Szlovak of The Integration Centre said “We have almost 200 nationalities living in Dublin City making it a very diverse place to live. The City is also home to thousands of new Irish citizens. We need to discuss how councils can support cross-community engagement and social cohesion at local level and tackle and prevent racism.”
Artur Banaszkiewicz, of Forum Polonia co-organiser of the event added “a European policy that equips Member States to respond to the challenges and harness the many opportunities created by a diverse society is also needed. We need political representatives who think about those questions responsibly and do not dismiss them as unimportant or use the election to scapegoat migrants.”
The organisers, representing a range of migrant organisations, want to draw attention to the many migrants living in Dublin, the vast majority of whom has the right to vote local elections. There are almost 200,000 potential non-Irish voters living in the Greater Dublin Area; in North Inner City alone there are over 23,000 non-Irish citizens residing. The open event hopes to engage many of those groups and other interested parties. The organisers are also delighted to note that some migrant candidates will speak at the event.
Mr Szlovak finished by saying “It is wrong to assume that migrant communities are not interested in participating in the elections. If they are approached and motivated, they will be there to cast their votes on May 23rd. Votes coming from new communities can determine the outcome of these elections.”
