The State “must take the lead” in encouraging inclusivity to counter the rise of anti-refugee protests, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough has said.
“As people who have been privileged and accepted in many parts of the world, we need to grow a bit in terms of respect, acceptance, engagement with people who are here because they are fleeing persecution, warfare, exploitation, poverty, hunger and thirst worldwide,” Archbishop Michael Jackson said.
Dr Jackson, who is chair of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum (DCIF), which fosters dialogue between all the major faiths in the capital, said “listening to people on the ground, listening to their needs” was essential before it reached a position “where people cannot actually converse”.
He said the DCIF had “worked very hard with gardaí and with Dublin City Council in relation to hate crime and inclusion”.
“We are continuing to work on that with local communities,” he added.
Dr Jackson said he hoped that “those who are making decisions” would consult the DCIF and its counterparts.
“We need more consultation, and we need advocacy for people who are terrified that because they are very visible, they are going to be got at,” he said.
Acknowledging that education will play a role in allaying fears, he believes churches can contribute to this.
“There have been wonderful examples where people realise there is a human need and they respond to it. There is more to do, without question,” he said.
Dr Jackson also said Irish society needed to “curb some of our more aggressive, homegrown instincts”.
Asked about Christians who promote racist views, he said the message of Christianity was “love God and love your neighbour as yourself”.
“In the Christian tradition, everybody is made in the image and likeness of God. Recognition of the person of Christ in the face of your neighbour is an imperative for a Christian,” he said.
Dr Jackson also spoke about the challenge of homelessness and the housing crisis and warned that “a lot of people are one electricity bill away from not being in their own home”.
As to whether the Government should put some of the surplus corporation tax revenue into a major house-building programme, he said it seemed “reasonable” that “there would be a dividend for people in need”, particularly where there was “an immediate short-term need”.
“I think we need to be kind and charitable to people who are in a homeless situation or near-homeless situation,” he said. “There are people who are actually out of their own home so long that they probably couldn’t envisage having a home again. That does not seem to me to be a society that is functioning as well as it might.”
Dr Jackson also said the lack of housing and affordable accommodation for a range of people in a number of sectors of society left many asking whether they would ever own a home in their lifetime, and what was going to happen to them.
“That actually diminishes social capital because people aren’t then in a position to contribute altruistically to what makes society work because they are not secure about what you might call domestic independence,” he said.
The links between his diocese and the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, which is overseen by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, remains to the forefront of the archbishop’s fundraising endeavours.
The latest update he has received indicates that “the hospital is functioning”, but he added: “You are not talking about high-end surgical interventions because there isn’t the power and there aren’t the supplies. But something is happening and something is better than nothing. But it’s not enough for what people need.”
The solar panels at the hospital, which the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough funded and installed, need repair, as does the cancer centre.
When the war ends, it is hoped that a centre providing care for traumatised children who have special needs can be built in Gaza as part of the reconstruction.
Dr Jackson hopes this children’s facility will be supported by the Irish public because “children are very dear to the heart of Irish people”.
On his hopes for next year, the archbishop borrowed the words of Dublin Lord Mayor Daithí de Róiste, who said as he took office that he wanted to turn the capital into a “city of kindness”.
More generally, Dr Jackson said he hoped Ireland would wake up to the fact that the big cities have become “suction hoovers” of the country’s rural areas and that it would begin, as a policy, to “reinvigorate rural Ireland, rather than watching it be denuded”.
“Too many people are exhausted commuting and therefore are not in a position to contribute to their local community,” he added.
For the Church of Ireland, he hopes the new year will help it re-engage with some of the people who stopped attending worship in person during Covid.