International research indicates that recessionary
periods may be accompanied by a decline in the quality of relations between the
majority population and migrant groups as the latter are at risk of being
scapegoated for the economic downturn. In that context, political leadership on
the matter of immigration is of crucial importance, with political parties having a key role to play in framing how the public
understand the issue and impact of immigration. This paper is based on research
which examined how politicians construct non-Irish EU immigrants to Ireland
through an analysis of the content of statements attributed to this group in
the print media. Print media content was sampled from a national Broadsheet
(Irish Independent) and two local imprints (The Limerick Leader and The
Limerick Post) for the period 2008-2009. This paper focuses on those statements
relating to political constructions of 'foreign drivers' as being problematic, which were among a larger
range of themes identified in the wider study.
We argue that the construction of migrants in
this way in political commentary will in turn ‘inform’ public debate,
impacting on citizens’ awareness of these issues and may ultimately impact
detrimentally on how immigrants and their needs are publicly perceived and
treated.