Time for a zero refugee policy? - *Read OP for mod warnings - updated 11/5/24*

hamburgham

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122432550#Comment_122432550

I can’t believe it’s not much higher than that.

giseva

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433571#Comment_122433571

Irreversibly damaging to our country too. If Ireland were to completely stop AS entering right now, in a bid to get a handle on things, which of course won't happen, the damage is done.

Feet are firmly under the table, whether they're in a tent, a prefab or house and whether they've been told they can stay or not.

Ireland is gone. The priorities of those in power is to save face by beating protesters and ignoring citizens for long enough for this to be some other governments' problem. And when that happens, the new power will say "we didn't create this, that was x and y" and the stone throwing in the Dail will continue.

This country is fucked.

Sweet.Science

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122432428#Comment_122432428

What.

They'd enter emergency accommodation like the 15k people . And join the housing list like 100k people .

If this stays as the policy our yearly social housing allocation will only be for people granted asylum .

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433732#Comment_122433732

Yes,they join the housing list.

Thats what I am saying.

Sweet.Science

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433739#Comment_122433739

They aren't joining any list . They are being housed asap to make room for more asylum seekers.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433747#Comment_122433747

What the criteria is for prioritising social housing, I dont know.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433732#Comment_122433732

I've a sneaking feeling that is already the case.Irish citizens paying their way (and paying for others also) are at a huge disadvantage when they've no guaranteed state income like HAP and/or ARP.

Sweet.Science

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433754#Comment_122433754

Being an asylum seeker

Sweet.Science

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433755#Comment_122433755

It is 100 percent happening now

Blazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433295#Comment_122433295

They don't have a plan. Its simply to keep taking taxpayers money and hope the corp tax and the high PAYE workers continue to live here.

God forbid the wasters holding their hands out for free houses and doing absolutely nothing to progress in their life or actually contribute anything to society etc for the blatant racism shown by them. At long as they get their free council house and can pass it down to their children they don't give a toss about anyone.

Yes we need social housing..let me be clear on that..but this whole family legacy of passing down houses needs to be gotten rid off.

Of course they forget that if we did all of a sudden stop taking in Asylum seekers somehow that's going to magically fix all the issues we have here. Taxpayers will quickly find a new target ie welfare class who are been given all the houses by councils who are outbidding their children and thus are still in the exact same boat.

The issue isn't that we are taking in too many but that our governments are absolutely squandering tax payers money in quangos, consultancy fees, developer contracts and lets not forget RTE who are being given €750,000,000 (750 million) over the next 3 years. But **** it..lets blame the asylum seekers for all our woes and let the politicians and civil service completely off the hook. We are taking in 60 billion a year in taxes and what are we showing for it? We still don't have the new children's hospital, or the Limerick -Cork motorway..but hey here's a few greeenways we plan to build. And oh by the way we're charging you extra now for mineral bottles as ye're not recycling them properly.

giseva

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433789#Comment_122433789

The issue is absolutely that we are taking in too many as evident by the very existence of this thread. How could you hold such a view?

We're taking in far too many and the words out worldwide. The amount is the issue because it further compounds the problems we already have in this country which you pointed out.

It's simple, you cannot make things better, by making things worse.

Yes, if we stopped taking in AS tomorrow, there'd still be issues to be addressed.....but see above sentence.

Also, assuming all who sponge off the state are blatant racists isn't helpful.

giseva

While we're on the subject of racism, telling someone struggling in this country that X from Nigeria, Somalia, Georgia etc that they're getting something over you, or something despite your circumstances in this country because they were born somewhere else, and you were born here, doesn't do a whole lot to combat it!

Stephen_Maturin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122432550#Comment_122432550

That’s mental, could I get a link to the report?

Patrick2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433789#Comment_122433789

Nobody is blaming asylum seekers for all our woes , just pointing out we have limited housing, health ,education etc resources. We can’t magic up houses or do you think we should spend this 60 billion on housing the worlds poor at the expense of our own poor or elderly?

sonofenoch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122433571#Comment_122433571

Maybe not anarchy, life will go on but never as before ….Ireland will basically be like an extended statelet of the US and all the crap that goes with it

giseva

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434081#Comment_122434081

Best throw in access to private gyms to prevent discrimination cases being taken against the state by our new safety seeking residents!

In such instances, which we'll see again in some form or another, where state funded NGOs engage with state funded legal representation on behalf of disgruntled/mistreated asylum seekers and with a view to essentially get something else from.....the state....I really wish there was an option that a judge could weigh up all the evidence and say...."by the power vested in me, and on behalf of the Irish people....the lot of you can Fu#k Off!!!"

Geert von Instetten

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434035#Comment_122434035

Housing Agency reports have included a dissection of applications for years. 2023 was the highest increase in non-EEA nationals I was able to find.

https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/289056/3455b50b-1971-4f74-8cb9-ce88e3608529.pdf#page=null

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434097#Comment_122434097

The gym access would be for all social welfare recipients in an apartment complex, not just Refugees.

giseva

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434113#Comment_122434113

Equally as mad!

If you can't afford it, that's too bad. I'd like to fly first class anywhere, ever, but I can't, and that's life.

If you're in receipt of social housing, in a building that has a gym, you're doing better than someone in social housing in a 'lively' housing estate. If that gym comes at a cost to every other inhabitant in the building then up your boll1x, deal with it. Has the world gone mad or what?

chooey

I emailed my FG TD over this whole issue and basically got a reply to say that the asylum system was set up for a time when 3000 AS were arriving. The EU migration pact will help things. So in other words wait 2 years for that to happen and we’re not going to have any leadership or do anything.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434137#Comment_122434137

Well that's utter nonsense. If anything the EU migration pact which will make things worse.

All of this is coming from the EU.

We have political leaders who are glorified student union politicians. They stand up to the Irish people and put them in their place, not Brussels.

Who was the TD who sent you that?

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434287#Comment_122434287

Punished how?

With current levels of support, no national govt can be formed without 2 of the 3 major parties.

All 3 major parties are pro asylum immigration and the party that isnt in power is the most left leaning of all 3!

How would a "punishing" vote in the locals change anything?

You can say vote for independents, but thats just lip service because independents are not going to form, nor lead, a govt.

I am not having a go or criticising your view by the way, just trying to point out that for those that seek a change to the asylum policy, there isnt a political choice in kind.

bloopy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434135#Comment_122434135

Out of interest, how did the protest go there today.

Did the Guards get to use their borrowed toys after?

creeper1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434324#Comment_122434324

Well in such a situation you do indeed vote independent.

What you should not do is blindly vote for incumbents or even worse SF, PBP etc

You are not even giving them reason to pause.

SF at least paused to have a think about what they are doing wrong.

No need for the rest to do any such thing.

chooey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434288#Comment_122434288

I know. The whole thing makes me feel very disappointed how little interest our government seems to have in the Irish who are paying taxes and trying to do their best.
I don’t want to out myself too much as I doubt he reads here but just in case- will pm you who now.

Gen.Zhukov

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434287#Comment_122434287

I'm just not that sure tbh - The Locals/EU elections were not really a good way to gauge the political sentiment of the electorate (a dancing jockey was elected to the EU ffs) which is a storyline you'd expect to see in a Fr Ted Christmas special. The locals, = pothole fixers

The unbelievable kicking they got with the two referendums would be a far better barometer IMO and completely put the sh!ts up them. That basically had the lads in grey suits knocking on Leo's door. I also think the Govt know this and that's why they're still desperately trying to control the media, and spinning the general narrative around this total cluster**** of a situation.

We also have the proven decades old phenomenon of 'an electorate being simply fed up with the same party' being in Govt for 13/14 years in the mix. Contrary to what our Govt friends (that frequent the site the odd time *cough's*) might think, it's not a done deal at all.

My own personal opinion is that the country is seething. Where will they go?…I don't know just yet. The date hasn't been called and therefore we don't know who's running

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122434334#Comment_122434334

There was no protest, it was a set up, by people not related to Coolock says no. There was just the usual amount of people there for a Saturday. The gardai, the riot squad, hanging around street corners, hands in pockets with nothing to do and the helicopter flying over.

There are people out there who want trouble and to smash heads.

Covid19

Having observed and noted years of immigration, the systems around it, the deep impact of it on towns and villages around Ireland, and as I live in such a town, it seems to me that the subtly "seething" movement against mass immigration in Ireland has one very obvious, but crucial, issue. Optics.

The Optics surrounding the movement is probably THE most important factor and will contribute hugely to its success or failure. It's the elephant in the room. In fact, until this aspect of the Optics of the movement is addressed, no amount of burning businesses will ever make any difference whatsoever.

An accent can be a funny thing. It can make or break you in an interview, lengthen or shorten that important phonecall, project a mental picture of your entire up-bringing to a wider audience or either attract those curious individuals not yet on your page, or repulse them.

Let me explain. The vast majority of the population in this country, who have the absolute most political and socio-economic clout, do not live anywhere near Dublin City. They live in the countryside or in the smaller towns and around Galway, Limerick, Kilkenny, Sligo and the main tourist areas such as Westport and Wexford and right down along the entire Atlantic Way.

When any of these people hear a strong Dublin accent, of any kind, they switch off. Immediately. They don't care about Coolock, or what occurs there. They don't give a hoot about what happens in any area whatsoever inside the M50. To them, a bunch of "Howy-izz" attacking the Gardai with that grating accent has exactly the same effect as two positive poles of a magnetic drawing together. Repulsive. Sure, they may have their own issues with immigration, as we do here in our particular town, but the Optics of ( and I mean no disrespect to any Dubs, but it must be noted) a " scumbag" scrounger in the dole hurling rocks at the Gardai at 11am on a Monday morning, regardless of the Social issue, garners zero support.

Look what happened with the protests in Newtown Mountkennedy. Facebook and YouTube was littered with Shorts of the same inner-city idiots and their chum(p)s harassing immigrants coming and going around the Centre in that fabulously influential accent for weeks on end. Clearl non-local, what happened in the end? Nothing. Nothing at all. (Well, that's not quite true, as said some individuals seems to have disappeared from public life recently.)

Ireland can be slow to change, but we do change, and monumentally so. Sometimes we, as a country and as citizens, need to be at the precipice of disaster before we wake up and instigate the will of the people. We have forced many governments to backtrack and U-Turn on countless issues over the years but we have instigated such change politically, relatively peacefully and with very good Optics. In other words, what way do we want a protest against reckless immigration to look, to the greater population, so that they can both participate and sleep well at night without the fear that they will be known as a racist. Optics.

Would you stand side by side in with the Coolock crowd in protest. No way.

Would you stand side by side in protest with your local shopkeeper who's daughter is followed home from school by a bunch of bored Middle-Eastern young adults? Abso-feckin-lutely! Why is that though? Because it feels better.

Every single one of you out there, regardless of where you stand politically, regardless of what you say publicly, regardless of where you live, or how you voted, and especially if you have children, knows that Ireland is facing a major existential issue at the moment. If you cannot see why, then you need to visit any rural town in Ireland, any evening and observe. Speak with the local community. Visit the local Supervalue store ( a barometer of Irish society) and ask the owner what he thinks of Irelands immigration policy. Ask about services, infrastructure, safety. Ask how their society has changed for them almost over night. Hell, I'll PM you the name of my nearest town and you can go and see for yourself.

Time's Up. It is my firm belief that we, as a society, as a society that we have treasured and protected and from which we have emerged as ambassadors of peace, progression, openness and Welcoming and all those counter-intuitive virtues that fly in the face of what we are, well, facing, must advocate for immediate change in a manner that catches our governments' attention. It must be a peaceful way, but impactful.

Just reading back on what I've written, I know that it sounds like a MAGA rant and it is the exact opposite of how I would normally think, but I'm old enough, in my 50's to have lived through some serious situations in this country and this, my good friends, tops the list.

Back to Optics. It's a flammable issue. But people will not mandate for a change in government policy unless either, or both, of these things occur.

1. The Optics surrounding the protest are acceptable from a moral and societal perspective.

2. Something occurs that shakes our society into doing something about it.

Let's just hope we can achieve No.1 before No.2 happens.

SonicSuper

Voting or protesting isn't going to achieve anything. There is no right leaning party so there will be no welcome change to our immigration policy and we aren't a country of protesters and are unable to get the numbers out to make a difference.

We are headed down the same well beaten path of failure as the UK, Sweden, Germany etc… and are powerless to do anything to stop it. Best people except it and do their best to protect their family and loved one's.

chooey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122435604#Comment_122435604

I don’t know if we’re fucked but our lack of any leadership is worrying. There is so much upset from local communities and the government are nowhere to be seen. “Community engagement “ is not happening, the rest of us are just seeing barriers being put up with no other solutions offered and if the reply from my local TD is accurate, there’s no plans for another 2 years until the EU migration pact will come into effect. And what makes me very frustrated is there is no one else to vote for. They all have the same bloody policies