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A few thoughts on the approach of people trying to start Ireland's 'immigration debate'.
1. The framing of the question as a 'debate' about inward migration (as opposed to net, or outward, migration) sets it up as a problem to be solved via policy means. But we can't actually do that, even if we wanted to. Here's what migration looks like over the last 10 years. 
2. In 2018 we saw a net 34k increase. 0.0072 of the population. Because we're part of the EU, free movement is baked in. The recently launched Aontú party wants to start this 'debate', and recognises these simple facts as part of its rather poorly written. policy document.
3. The document recognises Ireland is part of the EU. We've signed up to free movement of people. 92% of us like the EU and would vote to say within it in a referendum. So it's not clear *how* one might actually limit that migration in practice. They recognise that, too.
4. So, absent any actual policy lever, the argument then naturally collapses into discussions of 'good' migrants and 'bad' migrants, as mediated by the market, and the resources they absorb.
5. We already know where this debate is going. We know this because this is how the 'immigration debate' has gone everywhere else. It is designed to be polarising. The 'debate' is weaponised as a vehicle to air ignorant views in public.
6. There are only so many national conversations we can have at once. This one, based on a non-story, would be a waste of our time. Ireland has succeeded in having many mature conversations recently. Those conversations largely brought us together.
7. The 'immigration debate' does the opposite. It places people instantly on a spectrum of how close they are to 'us' and how far away they are from 'us'. It instantly creates 'others'. It does so in the name of domestic priority. In this case, housing access.
8. Housing access is an issue for many people in this country. But you don't solve it by purporting to limit migration (which you know you can't do as a practical policy choice). You solve it by Building. More. Houses.
9. This 'look after our own first' mantra is the core of a nasty nationalism. It is also dangerously resistant to factual argument about the role migration plays in our society. The work people like @pmaceinri does gets no airtime in such 'debates'.
10. So, when you meet people who want to have a 'debate' about limiting the labour supply in one of the world's most open economies, perhaps you can ask them to have a debate about something that actually matters, instead.
11. We need a mature conversation about the future of our country. We need a mature conversation about our country's business model. We need a mature conversation about how we treat people. We won't get the benefits of any of these with a 'debate'.
