Ireland's housing crisis is a disaster for its people – and a gift to far-right fearmongers | Rory Hearne

Decades of skewed policy have led to one of Europe's worst shortages of affordable homes. Now it is being weaponised against refugees

Ireland is in a dark place. Riots in Dublin last month exposed to the world the presence of a small, nascent but emboldened far right. A complex range of factors underlie this: social media conspiracy theories, toxic masculinity, an ugly underbelly of racism and persistent social and economic inequalities. But the far right is also weaponising a decade-long housing and homelessness crisis that afflicts the entire country and has placed thousands of people in a state of chronic housing stress, anxiety and fear.

The riots did not surprise those of us who have been warning about the rise of racism directed at immigrants. We have seen how the housing crisis is used to whip up hate against newly arriving asylum seekers. It doesn't much matter to those who attack temporary accommodation centres for refugees that such buildings would never become private homes. Their message is that Ireland is full" and we should house our own" first.