Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of telling "a whole series of lies" when challenging the UN's convention for protecting refugees.
Irish Examiner Columnist Fergus Finlay was speaking after Ms Braverman questioned whether the 1951 Refugee Convention was "fit for our modern age" during a speech in the US on Tuesday.
She also suggested that "uncontrolled immigration, inadequate integration, and a misguided dogma of multiculturalism have proven a toxic combination for Europe over the last few decades".
Mr Finlay told Newstalk Breakfast the British Minister has got her 'mission accomplished'.
"I'm almost at a loss for words," he said.
"I suppose from her point of view it's mission accomplished.
"She managed to get a great big dollop of racism, a great big dollop of homophobia, a great big dollop of misogyny all into one speech.
"She attacked something that the world agreed on, a very rare thing to happen.
"She told a whole series of lies, all in the same speech, which is quite an achievement.
"This is a woman who presides over the most chaotic immigration and asylum seeking system, probably, in Europe.
"She has failed completely in key tasks at home... she can't seem to manage any bit of her brief, and yet she feels it's OK to tap into every bit of the worst possible instinct of human nature."
'One in six of us weren't born here'
Mr Finlay said multiculturalism has made Ireland stronger.
"One in six of us - the people who live in Ireland - weren't born here, and that number isn't likely to change very much," he said.
"Is there anybody seriously, apart from based on prejudice, does anyone seriously argue that that has destroyed us or damaged us?
"There are issues that we have to deal with that are putting us under a bit of strain, but none of it has broken us.
"In fact I think by almost any measure the way in which our society has changed has enriched us and developed us and enabled us to grow.
"It's something to be proud of, not something to be ashamed of."
'Self-generated housing crisis'
Mr Finlay said a shortage of housing is not because of asylum seekers.
"The main reason we are under strain is because we are a first-world country that has failed to deal effectively with some really important quality of life issues," he said.
"Housing being the main one; we're a country that has tied ourselves up in knots over a self-generated housing crisis.
"The one group of people that you really can't blame for that is asylum seekers.
"I'm not talking about Ukrainian refugees or other kinds of refugees; the tiny number of asylum seekers are not the people who created or are at fault for our housing crisis.
"They're suffering from our housing crisis as much as anybody else is, but it's that mix-up in the argument: 'because we have a housing crisis, we can't allow anybody into Ireland.'
"It's a nonsensical kind of argument."
Mr Finlay added that the UN Convention would work if the rules were applied properly.
"The rules as they exist now do allow State authorities to send people back to safe countries if they've come from safe countries," he said.
"That's there at the moment, there's no need to reform anything - what Suella Braverman and others need to do is apply the rules that exist appropriately".
The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, said the convention "remains as relevant today as when it was adopted in providing an indispensable framework for addressing those challenges, based on international co-operation".
'It fills me with absolute pride' Shane Coleman refutes Suella Braverman's claim that ‘multiculturalism has failed’.@NTBreakfast pic.twitter.com/1hbtsZY6zH
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) September 27, 2023
