Newcomers to Ireland confront a context of reception shaped by large-scale historical emigration and more recent immigration defined by an increasingly diverse set of origin contexts, both within and outside the European Union (EU). How has the Irish population responded to these groups, and how openly do Irish residents express their views toward different immigrant groups? We test this response using a survey experiment, which offered respondents an anonymous way to express any negative attitudes to immigrant groups they may have had. Results from the survey experiment show that Irish residents’ support for Black and Polish immigrations is overstated when expressed directly. In contrast, their sentiment toward Muslim immigrants is notably insensitive to the level of anonymity provided, indicating little difference between overt and covert expression of support (or antipathy). In other words, when race/ethnicity or EU origin is made salient, Irish respondents are more likely to mask negative sentiment. When Islam is emphasized, however, Irish antipathy is not masked. We find that in-group preferences, instead of determining support in an absolute sense, shape the reluctance with which opposition to immigrant groups is overtly expressed.

爱尔兰的新移民面临着由大规模历史移民和近期移民所塑造的接纳环境，这些移民由欧盟 (EU) 内外的日益多样化的起源环境所定义。爱尔兰人口对这些群体有何反应，爱尔兰居民如何公开表达他们对不同移民群体的看法？我们使用一项调查实验来测试这种反应，该实验为受访者提供了一种匿名方式来表达他们对移民群体可能拥有的任何负面态度。调查实验结果表明，直接表达爱尔兰居民对黑人和波兰移民的支持被夸大了。相比之下，他们对穆斯林移民的情绪明显对提供的匿名程度不敏感，表明支持（或反感）的公开和隐蔽表达之间几乎没有区别。换句话说，当种族/民族或欧盟血统变得突出时，爱尔兰受访者更有可能掩盖负面情绪。然而，当强调伊斯兰教时，爱尔兰人的反感并没有被掩盖。我们发现，群体内的偏好，而不是绝对意义上的确定支持，塑造了群体不愿公开表达对移民群体的反对。