20% foreign people in Ireland now - highest in Europe

TheBigLebowski

chon wrote:

Hi,I'm new here and a foreigner as you can see from my name.i've been in ireland for a year now.And i love it.its a lovely country.{pardon me if i'm sidetracking from the main subject}
i just wanna point out some of the difficulties and the unpleasantness i have been facing...I'd like to say i'm kinda disappointed with the way some of the people behaved towards foreigners or is it just to an asian,since i am asian.Its not only me but the countries i come from (some of you may not even know it exist)all the asians have high regards for the Irish. we read a lot about them,heard a lot about them..since we're living in a 20th century,there's Tvs,movies medias etc..etc..we're so familiar with the celebrities like U2,Westlife,Sinead O' Connor,The Corrs to name a few from the music industries also there's Pierce Brosnan,Colin Farrell,Liam Neeson etc..from the movie industries..not only the celebrities but the whole of ireland..we really look up and admire.
Before I came here I honestly thought that the Irish people are very generous,loving,kind and warm hearted.But when I arrived here i was taken in for a rude shock.I was very disappointed and taken aback.
The first day i hung out in the famous Grafton Street and I went in to one of the pub there to have a glass of beer,the bartender was very rude to me,no smile on his face let alone a greetings.And he speaks to me in a very condescending manner as if i was an ignorant or a moron.

Anyways the most unpleasant one ever (not once or twice but many many times)was while travelling by bus.Why can't the driver be nice?Will they get a heart attack if they're being nice?I dunno the answer to that..but..am askin you ppl there are so many foreigners,the city is awashed with tourist..how can a foreigner possibly know how much the fare is..?from one end to the other watever the destination...Why is it so hard and painful for the driver to just tell how much the fare would be when asked.?I wish they were a lil' bit nicer.It would make a big difference!
Sorry guys if i've been a pain in the ass..i'm just a loner here in tis big city and i thought it'd make feel better if i let it off my chest.Thanx for listening and for your patience.God bless ya'll.

These problems you talk about are nothing to do with the fact that you're not Irish. I find barmen and bus drivers usually highly unpleasant. Not all but very often...

mike65

The first day i hung out in the famous Grafton Street and I went in to one of the pub there to have a glass of beer,the bartender was very rude to me,no smile on his face let alone a greetings.And he speaks to me in a very condescending manner as if i was an ignorant or a moron.

Was he Irish though?

As for bus drivers....

Mike.

K-9

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

According to the French national institute of statistics 9 million non-nationals live in France (8% of the country's population). According to the Irish census non-nationals make up 10% of our population. However according to Minister of State for integration Conor Lenihan the census gave a "serious underestimate" of the number of foreign nationals living in the State. See here:

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2007/0917/1189076546717.html

Hope that information proves comforting to you.

You ever think the French figures maybe understated. What about immigrants who are now French nationals and second generation immigrants who are now French.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean. Care to elaborate?

Was it ok for the Irish to emigrate for economic reasons, but it's different for people emigrating to Ireland?

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

Oh so 20% might not be foreign. Of course! I guess most of them have different customs and speak a different language due to bad schooling, right?

So James Connolly was ok then! How many of the foreigners are Scottish and English. Are they to be treated differently to other EU country citizens?

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

I'll go you one better than a link. Here's some extracts from a book called "The Irish Americans'' by Ernest Wood (highly recommended). It might change your rose-tinted view of how the Americans treated us Irish:

Or how about this...

But hey Seanies32, don't let these facts get in the way of your assumptions! Sure doesn't the whole world love us Irish? "Begorrah and bejaysus" and so forth! And sure don't we owe it to every other nation to open up our borders since we were treated SO wonderfully by other nations!

Please spare me from the "Ole, Ole" blarney bullsh*t.

Add Australia to that, if you want, England etc.

You see the centuries mentioned there, hardly up to date statistics. Hopefully the Irish will treat immigrants differently. I'm pointing out they are now an extremely important ethnic minority in America, England etc. Immigrants here, should be given the same chance.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

What?

Ireland had the freedom to treat Romanian and Bugarian imiigrants differently to others. I say that Ireland does have independence on immigration policy.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

I voted for an alternative. I gave Labour my first preference and Fine Gael my second preference. They best reflected my opinion since I am of the crazy opinion that corruption and incompetence is actually a bad thing.

Who did you vote for, dare I ask?

FF, for the main reason that I didn't believe FG/Lab where an alternative choice! All spin! Endas' contract especially!

Terry

chon wrote:

Hi,I'm new here and a foreigner as you can see from my name.i've been in ireland for a year now.And i love it.its a lovely country.{pardon me if i'm sidetracking from the main subject}
i just wanna point out some of the difficulties and the unpleasantness i have been facing...I'd like to say i'm kinda disappointed with the way some of the people behaved towards foreigners or is it just to an asian,since i am asian.Its not only me but the countries i come from (some of you may not even know it exist)all the asians have high regards for the Irish. we read a lot about them,heard a lot about them..since we're living in a 20th century,there's Tvs,movies medias etc..etc..we're so familiar with the celebrities like U2,Westlife,Sinead O' Connor,The Corrs to name a few from the music industries also there's Pierce Brosnan,Colin Farrell,Liam Neeson etc..from the movie industries..not only the celebrities but the whole of ireland..we really look up and admire.
Before I came here I honestly thought that the Irish people are very generous,loving,kind and warm hearted.But when I arrived here i was taken in for a rude shock.I was very disappointed and taken aback.
The first day i hung out in the famous Grafton Street and I went in to one of the pub there to have a glass of beer,the bartender was very rude to me,no smile on his face let alone a greetings.And he speaks to me in a very condescending manner as if i was an ignorant or a moron.

Anyways the most unpleasant one ever (not once or twice but many many times)was while travelling by bus.Why can't the driver be nice?Will they get a heart attack if they're being nice?I dunno the answer to that..but..am askin you ppl there are so many foreigners,the city is awashed with tourist..how can a foreigner possibly know how much the fare is..?from one end to the other watever the destination...Why is it so hard and painful for the driver to just tell how much the fare would be when asked.?I wish they were a lil' bit nicer.It would make a big difference!
Sorry guys if i've been a pain in the ass..i'm just a loner here in tis big city and i thought it'd make feel better if i let it off my chest.Thanx for listening and for your patience.God bless ya'll.

Welcome to Ireland.
One hundred thousand welcomes, in fact.

People are arseholes whereever you go.

The Irish are a nation of moaning begrudgers.
Read After Hours for a week and you will see what I mean.
Enjoy.

bill_ashmount

Terry wrote:

People are arseholes whereever you go.

The Irish are a nation of moaning begrudgers.
Read After Hours for a week and you will see what I mean.
Enjoy.

lol, I hope people don't think After Hours is a good barometer of Irish society, although maybe it is :eek:

Dyr

half of the bartenders are fordiners.

half of the bus drivers are fordiners.


U2 suck. Westlife suck. The Corrs suck.

If you're in anyway unhappy with the service levels you experience during your stay then present your written invitation to ireland at the front desk of the dept-for-keeping-fordiners-happy for a full refund. If you dont have a written invitation then shut yer bellyaching, we all have to put up with the same crap.

oh yeah, Cead mile failte

Terry

Bambi wrote:

U2 suck. Westlife suck. The Corrs suck.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that.
Never tell anyone you like U2. You are likely to recieve a half hour lecture on how much a wanker Bono is and how their old stuff was better, even though people have been spouting that line about them since 1983. You will then find a copy of the best of U2 1990 - 2000 in their CD collection, proving that they only ever heard the singles and not the far superior album tracks.

With Westlife you are likely to be torn apart by people who believe Louis Walsh is the devil incarnate and you will then be told that he is to blame for all the crap music in Ireland today. You will also find a copy of the best of Westlife in said persons cd collection.

thelordofcheese

chon wrote:

Hi,I'm new here and a foreigner as you can see from my name.i've been in ireland for a year now.And i love it.its a lovely country.{pardon me if i'm sidetracking from the main subject}
i just wanna point out some of the difficulties and the unpleasantness i have been facing...I'd like to say i'm kinda disappointed with the way some of the people behaved towards foreigners or is it just to an asian,since i am asian.Its not only me but the countries i come from (some of you may not even know it exist)all the asians have high regards for the Irish. we read a lot about them,heard a lot about them..since we're living in a 20th century,there's Tvs,movies medias etc..etc..we're so familiar with the celebrities like U2,Westlife,Sinead O' Connor,The Corrs to name a few from the music industries also there's Pierce Brosnan,Colin Farrell,Liam Neeson etc..from the movie industries..not only the celebrities but the whole of ireland..we really look up and admire.
Before I came here I honestly thought that the Irish people are very generous,loving,kind and warm hearted.But when I arrived here i was taken in for a rude shock.I was very disappointed and taken aback.
The first day i hung out in the famous Grafton Street and I went in to one of the pub there to have a glass of beer,the bartender was very rude to me,no smile on his face let alone a greetings.And he speaks to me in a very condescending manner as if i was an ignorant or a moron.

Anyways the most unpleasant one ever (not once or twice but many many times)was while travelling by bus.Why can't the driver be nice?Will they get a heart attack if they're being nice?I dunno the answer to that..but..am askin you ppl there are so many foreigners,the city is awashed with tourist..how can a foreigner possibly know how much the fare is..?from one end to the other watever the destination...Why is it so hard and painful for the driver to just tell how much the fare would be when asked.?I wish they were a lil' bit nicer.It would make a big difference!
Sorry guys if i've been a pain in the ass..i'm just a loner here in tis big city and i thought it'd make feel better if i let it off my chest.Thanx for listening and for your patience.God bless ya'll.

Bus Drivers seem to hate their job, not that i blame them, esp if the are on some of the ****tier routes.
But yeah, as the lads said, you'll meet assholes everywhere in the world, i'm sure there were ignorant bus drivers and bartenders back home for you too (if not, please forward me the address of this utopia). I'd like to think that in general not eveyone in ireland has become a total cnut.

Dyr

I've never listened to a U2 album in me life.

Terry

Bambi wrote:

I've never listened to a U2 album in me life.

Then how do you know they suck?

MooseJam

other peoples opinions

Dyr

Terry wrote:

Then how do you know they suck?

a chinaman told me

moe_sizlak

Bambi wrote:

half of the bartenders are fordiners.

half of the bus drivers are fordiners.


U2 suck. Westlife suck. The Corrs suck.

If you're in anyway unhappy with the service levels you experience during your stay then present your written invitation to ireland at the front desk of the dept-for-keeping-fordiners-happy for a full refund. If you dont have a written invitation then shut yer bellyaching, we all have to put up with the same crap.

oh yeah, Cead mile failte

i wish all the bus drivers in dublin were foreigners as there the only ones who are anyway civil , i have this theory that the main criteria for dublin bus when employing somoene to drive is the person has an attitude that smells like pig crap
being a good driver is irrelevant as far as i can see

mise_me_fein

We are nice people overall. If those bus drivers weren't working they'd probably be nice to you too.

Irish people generally will say sorry if someone steps on their foot, if you know what I mean.

We just don't like people taking advantage of us and some of the things going on in the country at the moment regarding non nationals is not right.

I just don't want Ireland to become like Holland....is that wrong???? Maybe it is but that's how I feel.

ArthurDent

mise_me_fein wrote:

We are nice people overall. If those bus drivers weren't working they'd probably be nice to you too.

maybe it's just me but I'd consider being nice to the public PART of my job if I was a bus driver

mise_me_fein

Well maybe you're not the real deal. I'm usually annoyed at bus drivers but then I think it's a pretty crappy job and I woudl be p!ssed off too.

Maybe that's the Irish in me coming out.

fannyman11

If Theres A Shower Worse Than Them Black And Tans Tis Them Feckin Eastern Europeans . Hon Da Ra.

moe_sizlak

mise_me_fein wrote:

Well maybe you're not the real deal. I'm usually annoyed at bus drivers but then I think it's a pretty crappy job and I woudl be p!ssed off too.

Maybe that's the Irish in me coming out.

in terms of pay i would imagine driving a bus is not too bad
most unpopular jobs pay more than you would think

Terry

fannyman11 wrote:

If Theres A Shower Worse Than Them Black And Tans Tis Them Feckin Eastern Europeans . Hon Da Ra.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHA

Bye.

Pub07

Seanies32 wrote:

I know, shocking isn't it. Them bloody Irish going from a poor country to rich countries in the 18 and 1900's.

Why do people always say "Oh well the Irish emigrated in the past so now we should take whatever immigration we get"

It's a completely different situation Ireland is a very small country and the Irish were emigrating to emerging countries that actively encouraged immigration.
Nowadays, we are taking in people from lots of countries with populations up to 10 to 20 times our own. Where do we draw the line.

BigEejit

I have lived in London for the last couple of years and have heard so many differing voices (talking with people and seen in the media) on immigration that I have gotten sick of hearing about the subject. Even so, I thought I would post my own observations of a city where immigration is now a huge issue:

I work for a technology company and do nights oncall sometimes. Every single security man I have ever had to deal with after midnight has been African, and several have not been able to speak a word of English. Is this good or bad? well obviously it is a job that does not appeal to most people, so its hardly a "they are taking our jobs" situation. But I have seen the same guys over periods of up to a year and they still speak barely any English.

In Tower Hamlets in the East End, there is at least one council estate where all the signs were in english and urdu .... but the majority have taken down or defaced all the english signs and now you have to learn urdu to make out parking restrictions etc. When I last drove through there, I saw several women wearing burqah's which is I believe only required by sharia law and not a Islam requirement... To my mind they are shunning the culture of the country the live in for the one they came from.

On the radio today they were talking about at least one Sainsburys, muslim check out assistants do not have to handle alcoholic beverages (also only required by sharia law and not required by the Koran). More PC bullshít, why take that job and then not want to handle a product that the store sells a lot of.

English born people who have been on housing lists for 5 years or more are now further down the lists than they were when they joined the list due to immigration (saw this on telly today - dispatches I think it was)

In the UK they are bending over backwards to accommodate different cultures and are causing enclaves and to my mind fracturing society. Not saying that it wasnt fractured before, this is the country where generations of bone idle scum have drawn the dole ..... just hope that Ireland doesnt go down this route (the fracturing society bit I mean, we all know that Ireland has its share of bone idle scum)

0ubliette

a little OT, but this is classic.

A fried of my mams has daughters that go to the gael scoil in ballymun. One day theyre waiting on a bus up near there, and the two girls are chatting away as gaelgie, and some junkie scumbag comes up to them and goes 'wud youse ever FOOK OFF back to yer own country!!'
priceless!!

digitally-yours

BigEejit wrote:

I have lived in London for the last couple of years and have heard so many differing voices (talking with people and seen in the media) on immigration that I have gotten sick of hearing about the subject. Even so, I thought I would post my own observations of a city where immigration is now a huge issue:

I work for a technology company and do nights oncall sometimes. Every single security man I have ever had to deal with after midnight has been African, and several have not been able to speak a word of English. Is this good or bad? well obviously it is a job that does not appeal to most people, so its hardly a "they are taking our jobs" situation. But I have seen the same guys over periods of up to a year and they still speak barely any English.

In Tower Hamlets in the East End, there is at least one council estate where all the signs were in english and urdu .... but the majority have taken down or defaced all the english signs and now you have to learn urdu to make out parking restrictions etc. When I last drove through there, I saw several women wearing burqah's which is I believe only required by sharia law and not a Islam requirement... To my mind they are shunning the culture of the country the live in for the one they came from.

On the radio today they were talking about at least one Sainsburys, muslim check out assistants do not have to handle alcoholic beverages (also only required by sharia law and not required by the Koran). More PC bullshít, why take that job and then not want to handle a product that the store sells a lot of.

English born people who have been on housing lists for 5 years or more are now further down the lists than they were when they joined the list due to immigration (saw this on telly today - dispatches I think it was)

In the UK they are bending over backwards to accommodate different cultures and are causing enclaves and to my mind fracturing society. Not saying that it wasnt fractured before, this is the country where generations of bone idle scum have drawn the dole ..... just hope that Ireland doesnt go down this route (the fracturing society bit I mean, we all know that Ireland has its share of bone idle scum)

You cannot impose your beliefs on some one mr BigEejit


I know bending backwards is not the right thing to do but than neither is to force them to accept your beliefs. There should be some flexibility for migrants.

See why AIB,eircom and all other major companies are offering websites and information in polish ?

you are definately not very informed

have a look at the following links
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/index/LANGUAGE
http://www.eircom.ie/cgi-bin/bvsm/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0306468891.1191314942@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdaddmeeelgdfcefeceiedfgodfik.0&site=Res&cid=NewCustomerPolish&chanId=-536882378&storeChanId=-536882378&clickIdAction=addClickID_gateway&clickIdTo=/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp&clickFrom=/bveircom/mainPage.jsp&clickFromCID=null&clickFromCategory=null
http://www.aib.ie/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=ROIPersonalPortal/AIBContent_C/pp_guide&cid=1141322457742&c=AIBContent_C&channel=P004

It just began the same way in london too.These are companies and their main objective is "profit".

London has migrants since last 40 years.
There are Pakistani and Indian families living there since last 3 or 4 generations.

I agree with the point of speaking English.But once again that needs to be enforced in a way that people are encouraged to speak english.

BigEejit

BigEejit wrote:

I saw several women wearing burqah's which is I believe only required by sharia law and not a Islam requirement

digitally-yours wrote:

You cannot impose your beliefs on some one mr BigEejit

What are you talking about mr digitally-up-yours? ... these are my beliefs? When I said "which I believe" I meant "which I understood" .... reading comprehnsion 4tw. I highlighted the burqahs as lots of people see them as a culturally divisive garment that shows that the wearer has rejected everything about the country that she is in. In Afganistan after the Taliban were routed and the requirement for burqah's was removed, almost all women stopped wearing them.

I know bending backwards is not the right thing to do but than neither is to force them to accept your beliefs. There should be some flexibility for migrants.

OFFS, dunno why I am even replying .... PC muppetry. Muslims in the UK are accepted and integrated in society (not everywhere, but in london and in the cities in the midlands) ... what people over here do not like is that the people do not learn english and will not change a single thing they did from when they lived in their last possibly opressive country like afganistan or pakistan.

you are definately not very informed

And YOU are in Ireland and have only seen the thin end of the wedge, Ireland gets a fraction of the immigrants that the UK gets. In my childs school with ~160 pupils has children from 17 countries. There are 8 children in reception that do not speak english, out of 30 pupils. The school cannot hire any more teachers or teaching assistants so those kids are soaking up a huge amount of teaching time.

have a look at the following links
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/index/LANGUAGE
http://www.eircom.ie/cgi-bin/bvsm/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0306468891.1191314942@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdaddmeeelgdfcefeceiedfgodfik.0&site=Res&cid=NewCustomerPolish&chanId=-536882378&storeChanId=-536882378&clickIdAction=addClickID_gateway&clickIdTo=/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp&clickFrom=/bveircom/mainPage.jsp&clickFromCID=null&clickFromCategory=null
http://www.aib.ie/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=ROIPersonalPortal/AIBContent_C/pp_guide&cid=1141322457742&c=AIBContent_C&channel=P004

It just began the same way in london too.These are companies and their main objective is "profit".

The last council tax bill I got from Greenwich council has 40 something languages on it. I am well aware of the diversity of London, I have to deal with it every day.

London has migrants since last 40 years.
There are Pakistani and Indian families living there since last 3 or 4 generations.

I agree with the point of speaking English.But once again that needs to be enforced in a way that people are encouraged to speak english.

London is now shipping out asylum seekers (10% of all immigrants into the uk) to other towns and cities because they no longer have resources, basically London is getting snowed under.... and some people like me are getting out of London for our childrens sake ... any primary school in Tunbridge Wells (where average first time buyer properties are 80 - 90% of the same property in London) is at least 20% better than the best school in Greenwich. Guess where I am going.

digitally-yours

BigEejit wrote:

What are you talking about mr digitally-up-yours? ... these are my beliefs? When I said "which I believe" I meant "which I understood".........

Well i am not writing a full article explaining things here.

on A note of travelling I have lived all over Europe,Middle East and Asia.
That said i am not saying i am 100% correct I just said i don't agree with your opinion.

also you changed my Nick when i didn't did that as there was no need for that.

You are entitled to your opinion let the reader make up their own mind.

moe_sizlak

BigEejit wrote:

I have lived in London for the last couple of years and have heard so many differing voices (talking with people and seen in the media) on immigration that I have gotten sick of hearing about the subject. Even so, I thought I would post my own observations of a city where immigration is now a huge issue:

I work for a technology company and do nights oncall sometimes. Every single security man I have ever had to deal with after midnight has been African, and several have not been able to speak a word of English. Is this good or bad? well obviously it is a job that does not appeal to most people, so its hardly a "they are taking our jobs" situation. But I have seen the same guys over periods of up to a year and they still speak barely any English.

In Tower Hamlets in the East End, there is at least one council estate where all the signs were in english and urdu .... but the majority have taken down or defaced all the english signs and now you have to learn urdu to make out parking restrictions etc. When I last drove through there, I saw several women wearing burqah's which is I believe only required by sharia law and not a Islam requirement... To my mind they are shunning the culture of the country the live in for the one they came from.

On the radio today they were talking about at least one Sainsburys, muslim check out assistants do not have to handle alcoholic beverages (also only required by sharia law and not required by the Koran). More PC bullshít, why take that job and then not want to handle a product that the store sells a lot of.

English born people who have been on housing lists for 5 years or more are now further down the lists than they were when they joined the list due to immigration (saw this on telly today - dispatches I think it was)

In the UK they are bending over backwards to accommodate different cultures and are causing enclaves and to my mind fracturing society. Not saying that it wasnt fractured before, this is the country where generations of bone idle scum have drawn the dole ..... just hope that Ireland doesnt go down this route (the fracturing society bit I mean, we all know that Ireland has its share of bone idle scum)

i agree with everything you said there , as regards muslim wearing the burka in the uk , wearing the burka is a political statement and is a way or seperating muslim women from there british counterparts and rejecting the secular ways of the uk

fly_agaric

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

....So according to you the fact we are taking in ENORMOUS amounts of immigrants - unlike the French who are reluctant to take them - has nothing whatsoever to do with the latter having more power than us? Oh to be as naive as you!

Other smaller EU countries did not open their labour markets and as a result were not innundated to the same extent as us with E. European jobseekers. Is that a coincidence? An unrelated fact?
Why did the perfidious French and Germans pick on us? The UK is a big power. Why were they not able to thwart the dastardly plans of the French and the Germans?:eek:

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

We have as much freedom as Brussels will allow us.

And this mysterious entity called "Brussels" is controlled by who exactly? Oh that would be Bertie, Sarkozy, Merkel, Brown, the Polish terrible-twins et al through the council of ministers! All the loveable rogues who the people of the EU (god help em) see fit to elect to high office in their native countries.

As far as I'm aware, such people will continue to run their nations as they see fit (hopefully within the limits of any constitution and the mandate given them by the people) in between elections and may be influenced by decisions taken in the neighbouring states whether the EU exists or not...

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

You think we're in control of our own destiny? If only that werre true.

How can a country of 4 million or so with a wide-open economy very intimately connected to a an outside world with 6000 million people in it ever be "in control of it's own destiny"?
The ability of some other powers to influence the decisions of our govt. may increase if we are outside the EU!

I do find it very funny how the little-englander types in the UK who love a good rant at the EU and spout anti EU slogans [you know, such as "Brussels is taking away our soveriegnty and freedom":) ] never complain about having UK foriegn policy (right up to what wars British soldiers get sent to die in!) run entirely out of the oval office [and the pentagon].

Tha Gopher

digitally-yours wrote:

you changed my Nick when i didn't did that as there was no need for that.

.

Quit diving in the peno box. You want him banned for disagreeing? (seemingly) ffs. I dont mind security guards not having a lick of English seeing as its seldom if ever you need to converse with them. Its shops and restaurents that get peoples goat.


Mr. Nice Guy- in fairnes the reason we got so many EE wasnt because of the EU itself but because of our own governments short sightedness. We could have opted out if we wanted to like most of Europe. Indeed id imagine if the whole of Europe had adopted our rule upon enlargement we would have received few migrants, Ireland was hardly particularly well known there pre 2003, but after enlargement us and England were the only options. Im sure that if Belgium and Denmark had been the only two they would have similiarly headed there solely. Already with the lifting of the limits by Norway and Holland they are getting similiar influxes.

Off with the burqa. Alot of Asian women are pretty fine....

K-9

Pub07 wrote:

Why do people always say "Oh well the Irish emigrated in the past so now we should take whatever immigration we get"

It's a completely different situation Ireland is a very small country and the Irish were emigrating to emerging countries that actively encouraged immigration.
Nowadays, we are taking in people from lots of countries with populations up to 10 to 20 times our own. Where do we draw the line.

Actually, I'd agree with you to an extent. I was arguing as well, that we do actually have a choice on immigration e.g. on Romania and Bulgaria we tightened the rules. Nothing wrong with that.

It was being implied that because of the EU we had no choice over immigration, we do.

We draw the line, as the Govt. did this year, when the economy has enough. That's a subjective opinion made by Govt., same as 3/4 years ago to open up the borders and it was considered a success. The Govt. made the decision to accept all Polish, Slovakians etc. 3/4 years ago because we had full employment here and needed more employees.

The Govt. then decided this year to restrict the laws for other EU Countries. We have freedom to decide, the EU has not affected that!

The Irish faced enormous difficulty integrating in other countries. Jaysus, do we not learn anything from history! Apply, how we would have liked to be treated to our immigrants, to our country.

K-9

BigEejit wrote:

In Tower Hamlets in the East End, there is at least one council estate where all the signs were in english and urdu .... but the majority have taken down or defaced all the english signs and now you have to learn urdu to make out parking restrictions etc. When I last drove through there, I saw several women wearing burqah's which is I believe only required by sharia law and not a Islam requirement... To my mind they are shunning the culture of the country the live in for the one they came from.

I think we may have found the answer to a lot of the problems. Integration!