Our Women’s Coalition on Immigration launched this week with the publication of a thematic report
The Countess Advocacy CLG was founded in 2020. It mobilised a grassroots political movement that reflects a much broader, richer, deeper and wider constituency than is currently served by civil society. Our constituency share a growing anger towards the slew of nihilistic, radical, policy initiatives by Government from the attempted collapse of the meaning of marriage and motherhood in law to the collapse of the meaning of biological sex, the State incursion onto parents’ rights, and the Open Borders. Irish people are being forced to accept policy that transgresses fundamental boundaries and treats nature, identity, culture, family, and nationality as negotiable when in fact, the family unit, community, and inherited culture are the scaffolding of a stable society. We at The Countess are unafraid of analysing policy through the lens of womens’ rights and child safeguarding.
We intend to mobilise a Broadchurch Conservative movement. Built on the success of The Countess and its stunning track record protecting families, mothers, parents and children against trans ideology over the past five years, we will apply the same ethos of excellence, action and results-oriented rigour to the issue of open border immigration to protect and vindicate the human rights of the Irish people in particular women and children. We identify clear legislative and political goals and we achieve them. We are not in the business of merely making noise nor are we a support group for the likeminded. We are here to change the course of history of our island, nothing less.
The Women’s Coalition on Immigration was formed in response to growing concerns about the impact of immigration policies on women’s safety, child safeguarding and democratic accountability. The Coalition was formed by CEO and founder of The Countess, Laoise de Brún BL, who authored a thematic report with journalist Barbara McCarthy.
The Coalition launched with the publication of their 20-page thematic report entitled “Through a Safeguarding lens, darkly: a thematic report into the International Protection Provision in Ireland.” The report compares official data collated by domestic police forces and government departments of six European countries that shows an overrepresentation of non-national men in sexual offence statistics, to argue that current policies are putting women and children at risk.
The report has identified significant shifts in the nature of sexual violence across Europe, highlighting emergent trends in opportunistic street attacks and group-based sexual assaults. The findings raise urgent questions for Irish policymakers as the State continues to accommodate over 33,000 individuals in the International Protection system without screening them against European Crime databases.
Drawing on official statistics from multiple EU member states including Austria, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, and France, the report outlines clear evidence that foreign-born individuals are over-represented in sexual offence data, often by a factor of three to four, with even higher rates in specific subcategories such as gang rape.
The report was launched at a press conference in Dublin on 02 December, with women’s groups, individuals and journalists in attendance. Speakers at the event included three female campaigners who ran as Independent Candidates in the last election, as well as the Saggart Guardians, a women-led group of Citywest residents campaigning against the IPAS in their village.
Speaking at the launch, Laoise de Brún BL said “I feel about our current immigration system now the way I felt about gender self ID and trans from 2018 onwards: a sense of disbelief that this is being allowed happen and an overwhelming sense of an existential threat to fundamental rights. That is why I convened this coalition and authored this report. The Government has yet to officially link immigration to an increase in crime and or indeed to sexual violence. In fact, there would appear to be a policy of downplaying this link evident in parliamentary debate and media reporting. However, the data doesn’t lie: migrant men are three to four times more likely to be represented in sexual offending statistics in six European countries. Factual analysis must trump political correctness lest public trust in our institutions be eroded. This was a key finding of the Louise Casey report into grooming gangs in the UK.”
De Brún added “We are calling on the Government to immediately release all criminal statistics for sexual offences in this country disaggregated by country of origin and ethnicity so that policy can be formulated on fact, not on wishful thinking or ideology. The data from Europe is a stark warning that the safety of women and children is risked by current immigration policy specifically by the placing of international protection applicants in residential areas because these men are not screened via European crime databases.”
Barbara Mc Carthy, co-author of the report, states “Across Europe, the nature of sexual violence is shifting: alongside traditional patterns of offending, we are now seeing a marked rise in opportunistic street attacks and group-based assaults, often involving multiple perpetrators acting together in public spaces. This report breaks new ground by confronting the changing patterns of sexual crime in Europe from stranger assaults to group-based offending – and by insisting that Ireland can no longer operate without disaggregated, transparent data. We cannot respond effectively to evolving risks if we refuse to measure them honestly.”
Saggart Guardians spokesperson Tanja Alt stated “Our female members and concerned parents have long warned of the risks associated with The Citywest Hotel IPAS centre. We have shown through freedom of information that the residents have consistently been found with drugs and weapons since the IPAS contract began. Still, The Dept of Justice has not engaged with us on any additional safeguarding for our community. In October, this year our worst fears were realised when a vulnerable child was the victim of a horrendous alleged attack. There must be accountability for this incident, for the fear women and parents feel everyday living near this centre. This is what we are fighting for, accountability for what has happened, and assurances no other child or woman will be at risk or feel unsafe in our community or anywhere in Ireland.”
The report has been sent to Minster O’Callaghan and we will following up to request a meeting to discuss our findings. This is only the beginning! We were looking forward to working together for the safety and to vindicate the human rights of women and children in this country when it comes to this irrefutable heightened risk.