Immigration and Ireland - MEGATHREAD *Read OP for mod warnings before posting*

Are you mixing up legal and illegal immigration?

Starmer says he wants only migrants with degrees and masters degrees and fluent English speakers etc and that unskilled and less educated workers will not be allowed enter the UK. But doesn't that mean that well educated Brits will face huge competition for vacancies, whilst the only places there will be plentiful vacancies for the locals will be for menial and unskilled jobs?

I don't think however they are planning on increasing visas for those with a higher education so educated Brits will be in much the same position. The improvement will be felt by those on lower wages who need it most.

I've never really bought this perpetual growth model where countries become more and more densely populated and housing and services become harder and harder to obtain. I don't think it is sustainable.

But I don't think we have high immigration in this country for demographic reasons. I think it is much simpler than that. We have high immigration because we are trying to keep wages down for the less well off which is deemed good for the economy ("need to maintain competitiveness" etc.)

Labour is moving away from this model in Britain. Some commentators are having a hard time with this here since they are used to lazily calling such moves to limit inward migration as "far right", yet here is a Labour government in the UK implementing such a policy.

Very encouraging to see that the British Labour Party, long beloved by the media in Ireland, has a leader that is embracing cop-on in relation to immigration.

It is a serious indictment of Ireland that there has been so much group think in the media and politics on this issue. The same could have been said about the economy prior to the crash. I guess being a small country we don’t have the depth of intellectuals of bigger countries.

To be clear, I'm not making an argument that Irish people don't work low paid jobs — I'm merely pointing out to you that ever-higher standards in education and training in this country mean that Irish-born younger people are more broadly equipped to find jobs in higher paying brackets and this will inevitably mean you will find those gaps being filled more by foreign born workers.

As for why MNCs in Ireland hire so many foreign workers, I can't speak for them but I imagine the reasons fall along the following lines: (1) Language skills — many foreign workers will be bilingual or multilingual enabling them to interact more seamlessly with global offices and markets; (2) Availability of talent — Ireland produces a lot of talent but it's still a relatively small pool; (3) Brain Drain — a lot of the talent Ireland does produce has adaptable skillsets that can be used globally, particularly in the English speaking world where they have the advantage of native fluency, and so a lot of our workers take the opportunity to experience living and working abroad.

It can form part of a solution. Cost of living is, I would argue, the biggest impediment in Ireland and in there is obviously housing as the biggest issue. All these things need to be fixed but incentives are also going to be needed.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/tds-to-investigate-if-e1-billion-on-asylum-seeker-accomodation-is-value-for-money-2161455

There’s a pretty clear and straightforward answer to this one

Is it worth spending over billion quid every year on accommodation for a bunch of people to stay over a year here putting pressure on resources only for the majority of them (80%) to ultimately be refused? 🤔

What’s the total cost I wonder?

Consider the opportunity cost involved in all of this.
Could be used to actually benefit the citizens of the country rather than being pissed away on this charade.

At 500k a pop, i'm sure the modular homes could be used for Irish citizens…..

It's the journal.ie, enough said…..

Anyone thinking Starmer is going to "stop the boats" or "amend the ECHR" is dreaming.

He'd lose a huge amount of support from the significant Progressive element in his own Party, as well as the Luvvies at the BBC and The Guardian.

It's tough talk following their demolition at the locals. That's all.

But who would do the low skilled jobs that non-nationals are currently doing - do Irish people want to work in filling stations, car wash, kitchens, fast food places, bar work, bin lorries, food factories, as cleaners etc?

I know plenty of Irish people doing those jobs… you say it like every irish person is allergic to this type of work. It’s not the first you have made that remark either. We all didn’t become software engineers on 140k overnight.

Local to me. I give you software engineers. Ridiculous they are still in the country.