Courtesy of frankservayge / flickr

Over 2000 people in Dublin, Ireland marched in protest for the murder of a Nigerian 15 year old boy who had immigrated to Ireland at the age of 4. The boy’s name was Toyosi Shittabey, and had been stabbed to death in Tyrrelstown, an area near the west side of Dublin that many immigrants had settled in. The murder was deeply felt throughout the whole community, for Toyosi was a popular and gifted boy who had his hopes and dreams set on a future in football.

Many people believed that the murder was motivated by racist beliefs, and a reaction to the increase in immigration that has affected Ireland.

A little background for the lads and lassies out there, that are unfamiliar with the small island of Ireland.

Ireland experienced an economic boom during the 1990s, which brought such an unprecedented level of prosperity that they called the “Celtic Tiger” era.

For the first time in history Ireland has recently dealt with an unparalleled amount of migrants, both workers and asylum seekers from both outside the European Union, and elsewhere.

Yet, as of now, faced with a dire economic recession, policies are being developed to curb these immigration rates.

To state just one of the many policies formed, Ireland changed their citizenship laws so that an Irish-born child’s automatic right to citizenship, regardless of whether or not there parents were Irish born, was denied. To restate that; children of immigrants cannot become citizens.

Is this how the immigration problem should be handled? Are Ireland’s over-reactive policies causing the population to retaliate with violence?

Even with these kinds of policies, Ireland still faces high immigration rates and a large amount of foreign residents. Unemployment rates are high, and tension among the people is increasing. It’s not just the economic situation that is flagging though. Much stress is being put on the Ireland social welfare system, which in itself it already weak.

So what? What does this have anything to do with the other, perhaps more pressing, issues around the world? Whether you like it or not, immigration is a worldwide issue, and one, that if serious measures are not taken, may lead to unnecessary violence and injustice.