Michael Minassie, an Ethopian who has embraced life in Mayo

by Dr. Richard Martin

I WAS walking on Castle Street recently and met my friend Michael.

I first met Michael about a year ago when I went to the Community Clean-Up one Saturday morning.

As I recall, Conor Smyth had organised us to clean up the area near the footbridge at the lake. There were a couple of new, non-Irish men there.

I got talking to one of them. It was just a superficial chat. He said he was originally from Ethiopia and he was a journalist.

A few months later, I went to McDonalds with Jarlath Cunningham for a night-time McFlurry. We were one of the last to leave.

At the exit, I walked past the same Ethiopian man again. He wore the McDonald’s uniform. I put out my hand and asked him if he remembered me. He shook it and laughed and said he did.

I introduced him to Jarlath, and we left. Jarlath told me as we left that I had made his day. He was bouncing with happiness when we left. I told Jarlath that he’d made my day, which he did.

I frequently began to meet the same Ethiopian man around the Mall and courthouse. He lives in direct provision on Spencer Street.

I live close by on Pavilion Road. Every day, I’d walk over to Swirl or Rua, and we’d invariably bump into each other.

His name is Michael Minassie, and he is from Tigray in Ethiopia.

Over the last year, we’ve gotten to know each other quite well. I was curious as to why he was here.

He explained that he was from the province of Tigray in Ethiopia. He told me a civil war had broken out in Ethiopia in 2020. I went home and researched it online.

Over the past five years, our news has been dominated by Brexit, the Ukraine War, COVID-19 and the ongoing televised genocide in the Gaza Strip. I had never heard of any conflict in Africa. Wikipedia says the following:

’The Tigray War was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government, Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.’

’Between 162,000 and 600,000 people were killed, and war rape became a ”daily” occurrence, with girls as young as eight and women as old as 72 being raped, often in front of their families.

A major humanitarian crisis developed due to the war, which led to widespread famine. It also inflicted immense economic damage on the region, with the cost of rebuilding estimated to be roughly 20 billion.’

When I met Michael again, I was more informed and understood why he’d fled the region. He said the conflict in Tigray was not a conflict but rather a massacre of innocents by the state forces.

He described it as being a ’hidden genocide’ where up to 600,000 have died.

Using a clever analogy, he explained what the war in Tigray would be like if the Dublin and London Governments decided to attack County Mayo.

Eritrea is a neighbouring country of Ethiopia to its north. External powers were used to crush its people.

His family lives in the capital of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa). He fled to Spain initially and then had to travel to Germany to claim Asylum. He came to Dublin on May 13, 2022, and has been here ever since.

Michael is highly educated and speaks perfect English. He obtained his first degree 1991 in History, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding. He has worked as a journalist for the entirety of his career.

He had to flee Tigray as he was captured and detained by the government forces at the outset of the war. He endured, as he describes, ’psychological torture’ at their hands.

After that, he fled Ethiopia for asylum in Europe. He worked as a radio producer with the UN in South Sudan between 2007 and 2013. He obtained another degree in 2015.

Since he arrived in the direct provision centre in Castlebar, he has immersed himself in life in the town. He volunteers with CRCfm and a local charity shop.

He volunteers in the Linenhall Arts Centre, invigilating events and hosting a ’world’ book club. He wants to be part of our community and make a positive contribution. I have never seen anyone as happy in the famous McDonald’s outfit.

Seeing him bouncing across the Mall to work with a grin gives me a lift.

It’s important Michael’s story is heard. We are a race scattered to the four corners of the globe. We endured famine, genocide, rape and torture over centuries of colonial rule. We shouldn’t be too hasty to forget where we came from.

I also meet Stephen Kerr infrequently around the Mall. I remember Stephen in St. Gerald’s. He was four years ahead of me. I remember going to Galway Tennis Club in my first year with the school tennis team. He joined us to support a friend of his on the team. The teenager I remember was a happy-go-lucky sort.

I left Castlebar and didn’t return properly until 2020, so I was surprised when I saw Stephen Kerr involved in the protests at Breaffy House. I would’ve thought his political leanings would be close to my own — left of centre.

I am not extreme left, but I believe in equality for all. When I meet Stephen, I take him on two levels. I have found him to be intelligent and courteous.

I think he respects that I openly tell him I fundamentally disagree with his politics and that I’d never vote for him. I know many people would then find it strange that we’d converse with each other.

I’ve expressed to Stephen my view that he is channelling his energies into negativity instead of positivity. We need migrants.

Our hospital would close in the morning if all the non-nationals just left. He has his way. I have mine. I’m not sure Stephen wants to hear Michael’s story. He should.

At the count, I met one of Stephen’s supporters. I was sitting at a table having a coffee with two individuals who are members of FG. She approached one of them and sat with us. The two lads left the table, and we spoke for 30 minutes. I asked her why she supported Stephen.

She is a woman in her mid-40s. She then started talking about public services. Childcare. And on she went.

And I realised she is a citizen who feels strongly that establishment parties have let her down so often that she was no longer prepared to vote for them under any circumstances.

She never spoke about immigration at all until I brought it up. I said it seemed odd to support an anti-immigration candidate who is mainly focused on immigration only.

I’d never heard Stephen make any comment relating to public services, apart from concerns he raised some time ago about the fluoridation risks in water.

But she had reached a place where there was no alternative. She was not for turning.

There is a legitimate debate about investors who’ve made a fortune off direct provision.

The State has paid Seamus ’Banty’ McEnaney and 14 other members of his family more than €130 million to house asylum seekers and refugees since 2020.

That seems excessive. We live in a capitalist society, and I believe in capitalism, but seeing people make such huge profits off people seeking asylum doesn’t strike me as morally justified.

I don’t expect people to provide accommodation for free, but in truth, the enormous profits that are being made should be questioned ethically.

But, when people focus on criticism of asylum seekers, that debate is then pushed to one side.

The protest vote from the 2020 GE migrated to independents and anti-immigration candidates away from SF in this year’s local elections.

There is still huge frustration and anger about this country’s health and public services. There will be a few twists and turns in the months ahead.

Eleven migrants have recently been elected to councils across the country in 2024. Al McDonnell has said to me time and again. “The silent majority are pro-immigration Richard,” he says.

I’m sure I will meet Michael and Stephen around the town someday soon. Who knows, the three of us could sit down for a coffee and chat together on a bench in the Mall.

(Dr. Richard Martin is a regular columnist with The Connaught Telegraph).