DUBLIN (Reuters) -Dublin City Council has decided not to remove Irish tricolour flags hung by right-wing activists in some parts of the city in a campaign that has stirred debate about immigration, saying on Friday that doing so would carry risks and be counterproductive.
While no group has publicly admitted to raising the flags, far-right activists are their loudest defenders.
The campaign has divided communities, turning the flags into a flashpoint in a wider debate over immigration and identity.
“Dublin City Council has engaged with stakeholders and reviewed the factors and risks associated with the ongoing issue.
Following this, the Council has concluded that removing such flags at this time would be counterproductive,” the council said in a statement.
“Instead, the Council will take a positive and proactive approach.
Working with local communities and civic partners, Dublin City Council will promote a deeper understanding of the Irish flag.”
Asked to elaborate on why removing the flags would be counterproductive, a spokesperson for the council said it had nothing to add to its statement.
One councillor, Janet Horner of the Green Party, told Reuters last month that there was “big tension” in the council between those who wanted the flags removed and those who want to avoid confrontation.
The Irish Times reported on Friday that some flags had been recently taken down by a group of anti-racism activists.
Supporters have said the flags, informally attached to lamp-posts without permission, are an expression of patriotism.
Opponents say the flags, which mirror a similar campaign in England, are designed to intimidate and to mark neighbourhoods as being for non-immigrants only.
Ireland, historically a country of emigration driven by poverty, has generally become more prosperous this century and seen a particularly sharp rise in immigration in recent years.
Anti-immigrant activists helped trigger large-scale rioting in Dublin in 2023 and clashed with police outside a building housing asylum seekers on the outskirts of the city last month.
The government introduced measures to tighten immigration rules this week that the justice minister said were aimed at slowing a “worryingly” high rate of population growth.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, Editing by William Maclean)
