Liam Cunningham says he “feels sorry” for people attending anti-refugee protests and believes they are “misinformed”.
The actor was speaking at a rally in Fairview, Dublin that was held to express solidarity with refugees in Ireland.
“I’ve worked abroad, I’ve been a migrant, I am a migrant worker,” he told Newstalk reporter Mairéad Cleary.
“The vast majority of people in this country - either themselves or their relatives - have worked around the world.
“And the amount of countries that have welcomed the Irish - especially places like the United States when we had a Famine.
“And to turn your back on people in need, running from war, running from pain, running from misery… is an absolute disgrace.
“I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror if I couldn’t support people like that.”
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When asked what his views were on those protesting against refugees, he replied:
“I feel sorry for them - genuinely,” he said.
“And that’s not being patronising, they’re misinformed… A lot of this comes down to the Government not providing housing for people because they see so-called ‘foreigners’ coming in and taking their houses - allegedly - when we all know there’s 166,000 vacant properties in Ireland that could house all of the Ukrainian refugees.
“Refugees around the world are homeless and they’re people in need of housing.
“So a lot of these protests are caused by Government inaction and what you get is populism.
“You get people running to their own kind… and the easiest thing in the world is to turn around and say, ‘Well, we should be looking after our own.’
“They are our own because we were them not so long ago.”
The rally was attended by some 200 people.
