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

Can you not see how it came about, it’s to do with a lack of a spine. One dominant person at a table and a cackle of yes men/women/They/thems runs the country. You are punished and chastised for not toeing the party line as was witnessed in Galway with what went on with the two FF councellers.

So in other words, the perceived persecution you speak of never actually existed and people were always free to speak their minds about it as demonstrated by the fact that people openly speak their minds about it right now in public, as you say yourself, and they all haven't been dragged off to the gulag.

Has it crossed your mind that it is possibly a rational conclusion to make that refugees were not a topic for discussion in Ireland up to a year or two ago because it quite simply was not a major topic in Ireland generally as we had not really experienced taking in such a large number of refugees before? And that — I dunno, just maybe — the fact that we did has therefore led to discussion and debate on it during the time since?

Great little country

Or have they given up moving them on?

It’s definitely possible that in the next 10-20 years, countries currently in the EU will be looking to revert back to being a trading bloc only. International & European treaties will be rewritten and European countries will take back control of their destinies.

Definitely need major changes to what we currently have has us taking responsibility for citizens of 2-3 other continents too.

And the sooner the better we move in this direction the better. It's definitely on the cards as becoming a factor across the EU. 10-20 years is far too long a timeframe though. As I pointed out in a now deleted post, we can conservatively estimate a seismic change in our population make up within 10 years, if we allow this trend to continue and escalate as it will.

I say that as someone who has voted generally voted yes in past EU referendums. Before I'm accused of being anti-EU or something.

How would leaving the EU or specifically the freedom of movement aspect prevent asylum seekers arriving on Irish shores?

The UK left the EU yet they still have asylum seekers arriving.

I don’t think they are equally valid actually, I think it’s a false equivalence - the majority of people in the supposed “pro immigration lobby” are pro all forms of inward migration asylum seeker or no.
However the majority of the “anti immigration lobby” as you term them are actually pro immigration (through the proper channels) but in favour of tightening restrictions around asylum seeker applications (the topic of the thread) etc. so to label them the “anti immigration lobby” as you do is more of a misrepresentation than the former. Those that are against immigration in all forms are very much a minority.

All that being said I would prefer if people on all sides used the specific language in regards to this, to prevent any of the sophistry we’ve seen in relation to terminology on this subject.

Tweets don't just go to followers of the person tweeting. Algorithms apply on Twitter therefore it is absolutely possible that the tweets in multiple languages offering own door accomodation would have been seen by those outside of Ireland who don't follow ROG and who have never heard of him

I imagine if you did a search for those tweets now, you'd find they only had a small number of views and retweets. This is a red herring by Gript and various right wing Twitter accounts - we'd perhaps have a relatively similar number of asylum claims for the last two years even had those tweets never been sent out by O'Gorman. Certainly, the idea that asylum claims would be low now but for the tweets hardly stands up or seems credible.

It feels like we're playing whack a mole where you move one and 5 more take it's place. It feels like it's never going to end.

This government has so much to answer for, they're policies have caused this.

I find it odd though that, on one hand, you talk about European countries taking back control of their destinies but, on the other, you talk about new treaties being signed which are invariably sovereignty-limiting in order for them to be in any way workable. Give it a few years and so many treaties will be signed, imposing obligations that restrict our ability to simply do as we please, that you end up somewhere not far from where you started only without a centralised forum like the EU institutions as a way to administer the treaties. Europe is a pretty unique landmass, there is no other part of the world containing such a large collection of small, relatively wealthy and prosperous countries squished into a small area. This part of the reason why it was an incessant war zone for centuries and it's part of the reason why it is almost inevitable that a complex web of treaties is necessary for its functioning. The EU is, in many ways, a reflection of Europe's uniqueness as a continent where the alignment of interests of member states is crucial to the functioning of its constituent states.

What I would be interested to know however is what people actually think would drastically change in terms of fixing anything if we did just revert to a trading bloc. Presumably trade will continue and ease of trade will be seem as mutually beneficial. So borders will remain porous for trade across continental Europe. Then there is the people question — even without the EU is there an appetite (not to mention the resources) to drastically close borders across the continent to the level necessary to prevent illegal migration?

Sisk contractors have apparently pulled out of work on the site marked for modular homes in Clonmel, interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks there.

And if the tweets were not meant for a wide audience there has been plenty of time in 3 years to follow up with clarification. And the tweets are still up