Irish journalists should censor news and debate about immigrants’ crimes against Irish people because anti-migration opinions and statements “incite hatred,” an Irish journalist told the BBC television service on November 30.
“The media has the responsibility to not report views that are an incitement to hatred,” said Kitty Holland, the “Social Affairs Correspondent” of the Irish Times. The newspaper is the leading establishment print media outlet and is supporting the Irish government’s pending law to end free speech in Ireland.
Holland was asked about the Irish media’s censorship of anti-migration comments made by the stricken boyfriend of Ashling Murphy, who was murdered in 2022 by an immigrant — Jozef Puska — from Slovakia, in Central Europe.
The TV host asked:
Do you think the media ignore what others around the country said was the most significant part of Ryan Casey’s victim impact statement? Ryan Casey, of course, was the boyfriend of the murdered teacher, Ashling Murphy.
He prefaced his victim impact statement by saying his girlfriend’s mother had lived off the state without contributing to it for 10 years and then he said, “I feel like this country is no longer the country that Ashling [Murphy] and I grew up in and has officially lost its innocence when a crime of this magnitude can be perpetrated in broad daylight … We have to, once and for all,” he said, “guard the safety of not only Irish people but everybody in his country who works hard, pays taxes, raises families, and, overall, contributes to society, first.”
Those were very interesting comments, weren’t they?
“I think elements of them were not good,” Holland replied, adding, “They were incitement to hatred, and I think that’s why the media left out aspects of them.”
“I think they were right to not include [Casey’s full comments in news reports]. I don’t think that they were helpful, and this is the kind of thing that the far right latches on to,” she said.
“He has been held up as a hero of the far right now,” she complained.
Casey’s courtroom statement in mid-November slammed the government’s determination to import more migrants into Ireland despite the inevitable rise of crime, housing prices, and poverty. He said:
It just sickens me to the core that someone can come to this country, be fully supported in terms of social housing, social welfare, and free medical care for over 10 years… over 10 years… never hold down a legitimate job, and never once contribute to society in any way shape or form… can commit such a horrendous evil act of incomprehensible violence on such a beautiful, loving and talented person who in fact, worked for the state, educating the next generation and represented everything that is good about Irish society.
I feel like this country is no longer the country that Ashling and I grew up in, and Ireland has officially lost its innocence when a crime of this magnitude can be perpetrated in broad daylight. This country needs to wake up. This time, things have got to change, we have to once and for all start putting the safety of not only Irish people — but everybody in this country who works hard, pays taxes, raises families and overall contributes to society — first.
We don’t want to see any other family in this country go through what we have gone through and are continuing to go through. I myself have a little sister and honestly, just the thought of her walking the streets of any village, town or city in this country alone makes me physically sick and quite frankly absolutely terrifies me as this country is simply not safe anymore!
This time, if real change does not happen, if the safety of people living in this country is further ignored, I’m afraid our country is heading down a very dangerous path and you can be certain that we will not be the last family to be in this position.
The Irish Times and most outlets in Ireland try to hide the economic and civic damage inflicted on the Irish people by their government’s pro-migration policies. For example, the influx of migrants helps spike real-estate values and housing rents, much to the advantage of real estate investors.
Establishment figures routinely smear rational public opposition to labor migration as racism, bigotry, and insanity — despite growing poverty among ordinary Irish.
One cause of the reporters’ determination to hide information from fellow nationals is their eagerness to win applause from pro-migration elites. For example, Holland’s self-description on LinkedIn spotlights her coverage of the 2012 death of an Indian migrant in Ireland’s healthcare system:
Kitty is an awarding-winning journalist – Journalist of the Year 2013, News Reporter of the Year 2013; Overall winner of the Justice Media Awards 2013, all for her breaking the story of the death of Savita Halappanavar in 2012 and her subsequent work on the story.
She has been with The Irish Times since 1998, and has also written for the Guardian and Observer in Britain; the Globe and Mail in Canada; Emma magazine in Germany. She has done extensive television and radio work, including on RTE, BBC, CNN. Sky, Channel 4, Scottish Television.
Her support for migration and migrants contrasts with her aggressive call to muffle coverage of stories about the death of Irish people.
For example, Holland threw the claim of racism at the Irish people who protested or rioted after the daylight stabbing of three children and one woman in Dublin on November 23.
The attacker was an Algerian man who was in Ireland because of the Irish government’s pro-migration policy, but Holland sought to protect the government’s policy by diverting the conversation to misogyny and racism:
I think they were right to not include [Casey’s full comments in news reports]. I don’t think that they were helpful, and this is the kind of thing that the far right latches on to.
They [also] latched on to the nationality of the [Algerian] man who attacked the children. And you know, I’d love them to go down and report on all the white Irishmen who are perpetrating violence on Irish and immigrant women every day in the courts. They’re not doing that.
What the problem here is is violence against women and children. It’s not the nationality of the people who are perpetrating it. The problem is misogyny and hatred and entitlement to inflict violence on women and children. It’s another related issue and ill in society, but it has nothing to do with race.
Holland’s demand for censorship mimics the U.S. and European media outlets that ignore the damaging impact of migration on home-country populations. In the United States, for example, most TV stations and major newspapers ignore the pocketbook damage to wages and housing and crime by migrants despite their need for readers and viewers.
One result is that few Americans understand the scale of migration into their homes.