Couple in Kildare sentenced over 'one of largest welfare fraud cases

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

While this might come across as a post you might see in a Twitter or Facebook rant but I've been told first hand from those involved in providing social housing that certain nationalities and travellers are fast tracked to the top of the list.
As was said,we are a soft touch here. Arrive in the country with no interest in getting a job or live here all your life yet claim to be a separate ethnic minority and go get every benefit going.
We've plenty who do come to Ireland to get work and better themselves but for all those that want to contribute there's a certain cohort who just want to milk the system.

As someone who works in social care supporting people move from homelessness into their own accommodation be it private rented or social housing I can safely say I have never heard of anyone from a traveller background or as you say from a " certain nationality" get fast tracked to the top of " de list", ever , not even a rumour and I'd be in regular contact local authority allocations.

If we just use those two individuals as an example , it's extremely unlikely in the immediate that they will pass an estate management check making it difficult for them Access social housing.
Most likely their option will be private rented and an unemployed ex prisoner will struggle to find housing.

As you were , carry on.

corner of hells wrote: »

As someone who works in social care supporting people move from homelessness into their own accommodation be it private rented or social housing I can safely say I have never heard of anyone from a traveller background or as you say from a " certain nationality" get fast tracked to the top of " de list", ever , not even a rumour and I'd be in regular contact local authority allocations.

If we just use those two individuals as an example , it's extremely unlikely in the immediate that they will pass an estate management check making it difficult for them Access social housing.
Most likely their option will be private rented and an unemployed ex prisoner will struggle to find housing.

As you were , carry on.

Do refugees not get 'fast tracked'?

So not only do we have home grown scroungers scamming the system now the foreigners are coming with their hard luck stories to get citizenship and then scam us as well.

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

How many Nigerian's or travellers are homeless?
@cornerofhells,just because you liaise with local authorities it doesn't mean you are going to be told what goes on in the background. The problem is that organisations don't want to be seen as racist and as a result certain minorities do get priority in the allocation of social housing. It's not hearsay or anything of the like as I got that from a very good source in the housing department.
If you come here to game the system then you should forfeit any rights you think you have. Look at all the Irish that left here during the depth of the recession,they didn't get off a plane and head to the nearest dole office looking for a house and free money, they went to work.

Homeless travellers ? In and around 550 people of a group of 29000.

Six per cent of our homeless are travellers yet travellers make up less than 1 per cent of our population.
How do I know this , cause I work with homeless travellers.

Its possible to access details of how allocations are made, the various criteria and so on and no ,travellers or Nigerians are not prioritised.

Its also possible to access details of how many people are housed in their area of choice , size of for their accommodation , what type of category they were housed under i.e. downsize , medical- physical or special needs , supported housing , transfer etc.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/traveller-housing-targets-have-not-been-met-in-18-years-1.3220044?mode=amp

Authorities failed to achieve goals due to ‘local opposition and prejudice’, report says,


Traveller accommodation targets have not been met at any point since they were made mandatory on local authorities 18 years ago, an unpublished report from the Housing Agency says.

The report, commissioned by the Department of Housing, finds that more than €55 million provided for Traveller housing remains unspent since 2000 and just 6,394 of the 9,390 – or 68 per cent – units of Traveller accommodation promised have been provided.

It finds evidence of “significant deterioration” in the quality of much Traveller accommodation and says anti-Traveller prejudice at local authority level may be hampering progress.

The most significant obstacle to the delivery of Traveller accommodation is the planning process, particularly objections from settled residents and elected representatives.

Under the 1998 Traveller Accommodation Act, local authorities are mandated to draw up five-year Traveller Accommodation Programmes to assess accommodation needs in their area, set targets and deliver them.

Of the first set of targets, covering 2000-2004, 90 per cent were delivered. Some 78 per cent of the 2005-2008 targets were achieved, while during the 2009 to 2013 period 80 per cent of targeted provisions were achieved.

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Of the goals committed to under the current accommodation programme (2014-2018), just 39 per cent have so far been delivered, with local authorities 1,856 behind the targeted 3,056 units for delivery by the end of next year.

Some €355.7 million has been spent on Traveller housing across the five programmes to the end of 2016 out of an allocated €410.1 million.

Funding for Traveller accommodation has fallen dramatically, from a high of €170.7 million over the 2005-2008 programme to €33.9 million for the current one.

Significant deterioration
Some 11 per cent of Traveller accommodation units built in the last 12-16 years have been demolished, suggesting “a significant rate of deterioration” in them. The vast majority of local authority respondents (95 per cent) said the standard of accommodation provided was “good”, although 36 per cent agreed “more could be done to improve maintenance and repairs”.


The most common causes identified by local authorities for accommodation falling into disrepair were general wear and tear (89 per cent), accidental damage by residents (76 per cent), intentional damage (67 per cent), criminal or extreme weather damage (49 per cent) and lack of maintenance by local authority (34 per cent).

Local authorities agreed overcrowding was an issue leading to “health and safety concerns”.

“Representatives stated it is hard to provide high-quality Traveller-specific housing at times due to developments being blocked via planning applications and local political pressure.

“Effective implementation of [Traveller Accommodation Programmes] depends on the person with direct oversight within the local authority and whether they are resistant to providing Traveller accommodation. Representatives suggested that perhaps the control should lie within a committee to reduce the impact of prejudice towards Travellers.”

Planning process
They also criticised aspects of the planning process, which could see detailed plans drawn up only for them to be refused by the department.

Traveller representatives said there was “no political will to push” Traveller Accommodation Programmes forward, and argued they were “designed to fail”. They said local authorities did not consult adequately with Travellers and low-quality, isolated accommodation had a negative impact on Travellers’ physical and mental health and on children’s education.

Of the roughly 10,300 Traveller families in Ireland, 1,499 are in overcrowded or unauthorised sites, according to 2016 data from the department, compared with 1,172 in 2014.

The reports states Traveller have larger families and a younger population than the settled community and face such challenges as lower educational attainment and higher unemployment, making them more reliant on social housing support.

Kivaro wrote: »

Depends on how you describe homeless, but these days if they do not get forever homes then they are classified as homeless; even if they get to stay in luxury hotels waiting for their permanent homes.

And there was more than one Nigerian criminal involved in this crime.

One has to wonder why so many people vent at Nigerians.
It might have to do with their involvement in criminality and fraud, and being grossly underrepresented in the workforce per percentage of their population.

But the main question that should be asked is why so many Nigerians came to Ireland in their tens of thousands in the last couple of decades. They bypassed many other countries to reach our shores. Why?
Was it because it was so easy for them to fool the asylum process?
Was it because of the generous social welfare entitlements and free homes when they got into system?
Was it because of our weak response to criminality in this country and subsequent farcical sentencing if caught?

Probably all of the above made Ireland a proverbial social welfare paradise for them, and they knew that the Irish liberal minority in this country would do everything in their power to quell the locals and scream 'racist' of any questions asked.

Living in hostel homeless.

punisher5112 wrote: »

I know of Nigerians who work in the health board in a care center who declare themselves homeless and are put up in hotels.


They even got moved to a different hotel as it wasn't close enough to work.

They work all kinds of hours and o/t so aren't short a few quid.

Homeless and with a job ?

punisher5112 wrote: »

I sh1t you not.....

And bucking the trend by being Nigerians and working.

francis_begbie wrote: »

Only the other week there was a story about a Syrian refugee in Ballaghdreen having the audacity to moan that he hadn't been granted a council house in Carlow within 3 months as promised, he was waiting nearly a year for it.

Another group of them threatened to sue over the quality of the canteen food.

Then the other week a feature on asylum seekers from South Africa (??!!?) being granted free laptops by some government quango.

Or what about the Czech couple who arrived here, declared themselves homeless and eventually secured a HAP apartment where we pay the bulk of the rent to a private landlord.

Being Irish in Ireland is a mugs game

Just keep commuting away, pay the creche n 300k mortgage n pay tax at 52% over 36k. The government might reduce usc by 0.25% in October's budget. Might, if there's any dough left. Apparently asylum seeker numbers were up 30% in 2017 over 2016. 2018 could be a Whopper year!

It’s beyond me why there can’t a proper thorough way of means testing anyone seeking any kind of benefit. Anyone genuinely in need shouldn’t have any issue with being tested.

Contrary to the PC view not everyone on benefits needs them or are entitled to them.

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Eh have you a link to this absolute whopper of a lie?

I seen this claim on one of them anti establishement pages, even supporters of the page were calling it pure nonsense.

The 1 million figure by 2040 comes from the ESRI not Varadkar

The national population is projected to grow to 5.64 million by 2040, an increase of just over one million over the 2011 population. Population growth is projected to be greatest in and around the major cities and in particular Dublin, with the population share of the Dublin and Mid-East regions projected to increase to 41.6 per cent, with significant growth also projected for Louth.

http://npf.ie/wp-content/uploads/Prospects-for-Irish-Regions-and-Counties.-Scenarios-and-Implications.Jan-2018.pdf

Some of that population growth will be natural and some of it will be through migration

50k a year migrants is a not likely to happen imo

1 m extra people by 2040 will put huge strain on areas such as housing and welfare but hopefully there will be proper planning in place

In what way is my post a spoof?

It clearly states that the population growth figure comes from the ESRI not Varadkar

Of course that figure is made up of projections between natural growth (more birth than deaths) and migratrion

There is nothing in my post saying varadkar wants to import 50k migrants a year, in fact I have said that 50k migrants a year is not likely to happen