I can’t really move forward without formally acknowledging the response to last week’s Substack post.
It was the first bit of writing I have shared publicly in a few years and I really wasn’t expecting much at all. I thought it’d be shared by my friends and family, and maybe if I was lucky, a few of their friends. I can see from my dashboard (and the list of people who have subscribed) that it has gone way beyond that.
So firstly, I wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to read the essay. Sometimes I struggle a bit with keeping things concise (see: the amount of text below), so I’m very appreciative that I managed to hold anyone’s attention for 20 minutes – never mind the number of people I reached in the end. I’m very grateful to everyone who decided to share my story either online, or with their friends and family in person. I’m equally grateful to every person who reached out to me and messaged me about the essay, both from Coolock and further afield. The whole experience has been a nice way to reconnect with people from the community and chat with people from Coolock who I wouldn’t have gotten to hear from or speak to otherwise.
Thank you to everyone who used their work platforms to push my essay to new audiences I wouldn’t reach otherwise. This includes Louise McSharry, who took the time to interview me for this week’s podcast; Paul from the Northside Partnership, who has been speaking extensively about Coolock across national media over the last week or so; the National Women’s Council of Ireland; and lots of my old Twitter pals who make a living through social media now. Additionally, I also want to say a very big thank you to Fintan from Sport Against Racism Ireland.
I must admit I have been really surprised that the response to my essay has been so positive. When Louise came over to record the podcast this week, I told her I’ve been bracing myself for the worst for a week now. After years of working in journalism, it felt like I could post a story along the lines of “Sure, Aren’t Bank Holidays Great?” and I’d have 12 people in the comments replying: “What a load of feminist nonsense.”
Anyway, I’m glad I managed to get people talking and that the response was so overwhelmingly positive (and heartening). I’m not sure what kind of writing I plan to share here going forward, but I am eager to lend my voice to others where possible. I may not be as well equipped to highlight the issues that international protection applicants face in Ireland, but I do think it’s very important to recentre refugees and their struggles going forward.
At the end of the day, what’s upsetting and scary for people from Coolock is far more terrifying and worrying for the people on the receiving end of the abuse and anger, many of whom are now alone and homeless in a foreign country with no social support whatsoever. Refugees are probably the most vulnerable group of people in this country and we all have a duty to look out for them and support their integration as best we can. If there’s anything I can do to help people or organisations working with International Protection Applicants (or any work you’d like me to highlight) through my writing, please feel free to reach out to me.
Finally, for many of the people who subscribed to me, I’m conscious it may have been your first time interacting with Substack in any capacity. So, if you thought you had to share your email in order to access the article and you didn’t actually intend to subscribe, please feel free to unsubscribe now to avoid being spammed in the future. I am also equally happy for you to stick around but I thought I’d give you an out before I start getting messages from people saying: “Stop sending me these emails!!!”