From Éire, November 19, 1914 report on meeting of the Dublin Trades’ Council. It is in response to Thomas Farren’s proposed resolution that Belgian refugees in Ireland should be given the same trade union protection as Irish workers. Text has been changed into the first-person.
I think Mr. Farren’s resolution a very dangerous one, as it involves that if the refugees comply with what is laid down in the resolution we have nothing more to complain of. Provided the position was an ordinary one, with no war in question, and these people came to this country they ought to be welcomed no matter what their nationality might be. But the present position is an extraordinary one. It is not a case of a man or two men, but a possible case of a whole army being dumped down here. I am opposed to the resolution because it implies that no matter what number is dumped down we accept them and undertake to work harmoniously along with them. This is no war of ours and the people of this country have no interest in it or in the Allies. I believe the Belgian people have been dragged into it by the machinations of their Government, and the Government having brought them into it should look after them. The British had called on them to preserve their neutrality—which was not threatened for a moment—and said they would stand behind them. They did stand behind them—so much so that the Belgians did not know they were there.
The Belgian people, I believe, have been sold by their Government for something which we can only guess at. While carefully avoiding saying anything against the Belgians, we ought not to do anything that would give the employers in this country a chance to ‘sack’ Irish workers and take on Belgian employees. We ought not to give any loophole to the employers. If it was true these Belgians had fought for their own neutrality then they should not be brought here to supplant the workers of Ireland but as a charge on the British Empire.