Racism by Judges

banaman

I read a report in the Irish Times, yesterday of a court case in Kerry (Tralee, or Kenmare not sure which) in which a Polish man was told by the judge to go home or face several months in prison.
However perverse that statement was, the article went on to quote the judge as saying something like "asylum seekers, refugees or whoever needn't think you can come here" etc. This is an outrageous statement from someone entrusted with the rule of law and administration of justice.
The man is POLISH. He is an EU citizen. He therefore has a legal right to come here and live, work etc. He is in no way in the same category as asylum seekers and refugees, who have to rely on the Minister of Justice to grant them permission to remain here.
The only connection between the two categories is in the xenophobic thinking of this particular guardian of law and justice.
Why in the case of a European criminal did the judge seek to bring up the issues of asylum and refugees?
Obviuosly the rantings of Minister McDowell about bogus asylum seekers and Cock and Bull stories is having the desired effect on the judiciary.

brianthebard

You might want to get a complete and correct quote from the paper or judge before you cast a slur. It may be that you are right in what you say but you should probably not paraphrase something like that, imo at least.

Sponge Bob

its called 'persona non grata ', jail him instead.

The Judge in South Kerry is a gentleman. He goes further than any other Judge I have heard of to ensure the rights of the accused are protected. I am not sure if your quote (or indeed the journalist's report) was accurate, but in terms of ensuring that every facility is made available to non-nationals, interpreters, free legal aid, adjournments to enable them consider the position, lighter financial penalties etc. etc. he cannot be faulted.

LostinBlanch

banaman wrote:

I read a report in the Irish Times, yesterday of a court case in Kerry (Tralee, or Kenmare not sure which) in which a Polish man was told by the judge to go home or face several months in prison.
However perverse that statement was, the article went on to quote the judge as saying something like "asylum seekers, refugees or whoever needn't think you can come here" etc. This is an outrageous statement from someone entrusted with the rule of law and administration of justice.
The man is POLISH. He is an EU citizen. He therefore has a legal right to come here and live, work etc. He is in no way in the same category as asylum seekers and refugees, who have to rely on the Minister of Justice to grant them permission to remain here.
The only connection between the two categories is in the xenophobic thinking of this particular guardian of law and justice.
Why in the case of a European criminal did the judge seek to bring up the issues of asylum and refugees?

Possibly because he's seen a lot of foreign nationals not in the country a wet week and already they are up before him? Also I note that you seem to have misrepresented the judges argument by leaving out the second part of his quote which was "needn't think you can come here and within two weeks be involved in crime. From now on they will be sent back home."

Regarding the accused who was up on charges of handling a stolen laptop and Irish passport, which he said he bought on the "open market".

"This kind of stuff has to stop. He's in the country 10 days and he's already involved in a quite serious, nasty matter," Judge O'Connor told Tralee District Court. He vented his frustration as he ordered a Polish man to leave the country in 48 hours or be jailed for 10 months.

Reading the brief article it appears that this isn't the first time this has happened.

Personally speaking I think he's correct in this case, and similar ones. If someone wants to come here and work to improve their situation and contribute to society they're more than welcome. If they come over here to commit criminal acts then they should be on the next plane out of here, no matter where they came from. Of course this should be made explicitly clear to them when they arrive. And I'm not saying that all asylum seekers and other foreigners are criminals, far from it, just that we have more than enough of our own and don't need any more thank you. I use the analogy of having a house guest stay with you and then start stealing your stuff, how many people would accept that, or ask him to leave?

As for him being an EU national, it still doesn't stop him being deported. The Germans have been very quick historically to deport other EU nationals for what would be considered petty acts. I know someone who was deported for a minor matter (fare dodging, but then he didn't pay a fine and was brought to court and got a judge who didn't like foreigners coming over there and breaking the law).

Link to short independent article here http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1740662&issue_id=14998