Ukrainian refugees in Ireland - Megathread

The EU citizens living here on welfare and being socially housed has the time come to admit we cannot as a small nation handle influxes from larger nations and cut off this support?

Also should assylum be processed as being temporary in nature?

Can’t get any feedback from local TD’s from all parties to under what’s happening here?

Yesterday on Newstalk we had Tom McEneaney giving out that the couple of hundred Ukranians he organised flights for had to sleep on the floor in the airport and giving out about Government inefficiency.Maybe its time Tom stopped just flying in refugees and expecting the government to look after them.

Later in the show we had two pre-school providers saying they could see no option but to close as the miserly allowance from the government( one small rise in 12 years) wasn't covering their costs. Its a free service for parents who were willing to pay money towards the service but the providers couldn't accept as the department would cut off the allowance entirely. No doubt some bean counter in finance is keeping a strict look to make sure outgoing money to Irish companies is kept to a minimum while the government is trying to throw as much money as possible at Ukrainians just off the plane.

On morning Ireland some guy from the Irish UN HCR was saying current asylum seekers are coming at a rate of 380 to 400. A month says Aine Lawlor , no a week was the reply, going on to say its roughly twice the rate coming in pre-covid but numbers to be expected and comparable with other countries. At what stage are our government going to explain to the UN and EU we simply can't take in any more. You'd nearly love the IMF to come back in and start running the country again.

“The Government is to be commended for its efforts to date in providing accommodation to the tens of thousands who have arrived in Ireland this year fleeing war and persecution. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the current approach of contracting accommodation from the private sector has reached its limits. Significant investment is now required by the Government to ensure that it has the capacity to meet the immediate need for shelter of new arrivals and to provide safeguards for the protection of children and other categories of vulnerable people”, said Enda O’Neill, Head of Office with UNHCR Ireland. 

UNHCR urges the Government to work with local authorities to speed up the refurbishment of vacant buildings around the country and to plan for the provision of adequate reception in a much more sustainable manner, including fast-tracking the building of six new reception centres as planned for in the Government’s White Paper on Ending Direct Provision.

Whereas Ukraine’s neighboring countries have received the largest numbers of refugees so far, more and more people continue their journey seeking a safe haven in countries such as Ireland. As long as this war continues, these numbers will only increase. Since February of this year, Ireland has granted temporary protection to 43,400 Ukrainian and other long-term residents fleeing the war there. This represents 1.18% of the total number of refugees from Ukraine (3,654,271) who have been registered for Temporary Protection or similar national protection schemes across Europe.  

Separately, Ireland has received approximately 6,480 new applications for international protection during the first 6 months of this year. This represents 1.67% of the total number of new applications in the EU+ area during this period as the rate of new applications increased significantly in comparison to the same period in 2021. "

So the government is under pressure to ensure we have enough accommodation to house refugees at the expense of locals, significant investment.

Just heard the news at 10 there and some woman TD was on there giving out saying we need to get these people PERMANENT ACCOMMODATION now!!!!

Not temporary but permanent???

Are they actually going to give these people social houses after telling us there was no hope that they would?

You're damn right they are.

They'll be handed out like sweets.

Then we'll give developers 140,000 odd grand per apartment built and then lease them back off them at another huge cost to house them. These big developers are pretty much building for free then making profit. That's mental.

To put those figures in context:

In 2021, there were 58,443 births (1124 per week on average)

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-vsys/vitalstatisticsyearlysummary2021/

I just emailed FG FF to confirm they won’t be receiving my vote in the next election due to the calamity they are presiding over (copied in the local TD’s). I guess it has them quaking in their boots 🤔

The governments answer to the housing crisis was to entice unlimited immigration from outside the EU.

Patients on trolleys = increase immigration.

If you vote them in next time your are complicit.

If you entice a refugee into your home you are complicit.

Enough is enough.

It's always good to see the word from the horse's mouth. This lady gave a pleasant description of Ireland "there is such a sadness". Interesting how they view this place especially as they were supposed to be coming from a 'brutal war'.

Also the brutal honesty is refreshing to see that they are effectively shopping around for the best benefits in Europe and further afield in Canada. Once again the naive Irish taken for fools.

‘There is such a sadness’. That is an excellent description of Ireland. A broken demoralised people who went from being abused by the English, then the church and now the political class and its cronies. The vast majority of the population have accepted they have no say in how their country is run and are apathetic.

Could be worse though. I would describe the US as ‘there is such an anger’.