Immigration and Ireland - MEGATHREAD *Mod Note Added 14/08/25*

Clearly the politicians do not get it. At no stage has a single one even questioned the orthodoxy of open borders.

You're totally missing the point, so lets take yet another swing at it.

Of course Starmer is only waxing lyrical now - his party got thoroughly rumbled in the recent elections. Reform UK got 78% of the vote in one of the recent elections. He is merely looking at how well Reform UK done and as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

What @RoyalCelt and many others on here are pointing out is the sheer hypocrisy of the progressive luvvies - when Conor McGregor (a proper See U Next Tuesday) said something similar on St. Patrick's Day he was pillared, called a bigot, a racist, a far-right dog-whistler, etc… None of these criticisms have been leveled at Starmer, yet. Why?

Now Starmer says the same thing and even goes further… crickets. Why? Because the progressive luvvies love Labour UK. Simple as.

The only way to judge politicians is by their actions since nothing they say can be trusted. The actions of successive FFG governments over the past 20 odd years have been to allow anyone who wants to live here, live here. All they have to do is turn up at the airport and say the magic words - "Asylum/not safe for me at home/torture." Once they're out of the airport and shown to their taxpayer funded accommodation they can rest assured they'll be here for at least the next ten years or so. Whether this is a deliberate, if unspoken, policy on the part of FFG, or simply 20 years of ineptitude and imcompetence and a desire to be seen as the most liberal, progressive country in the world isn't clear. Probably a combination of all the above. And of course the fact that as with the health service and the housing crisis, a lot of people are making a lot of money out of the immigration issue.

Just on your last paragraph. I disagree. My belief is there is a complete lack of alternatives. For example, spot the difference between FG/FF/SF/Lab. There is none. All cut from the same tree. I discounted the mad parties and the tiny insignificant/waste of vote ones. People don't want to waste a vote so it leaves them with a version of the same vision as a choice. Better the devil you know springs to mind.

The opposition rightly call out the government on the cost of the children's hospital but not a peep out of them on over a billion a year spent on people who arrive here.

As exorbitant as the cost of the hospital will be at least we will have something to show for it.

"International Obligations" is the mantra of FFG when it comes to the migration issue… The social contract obligation is a very distant obligation and well down the list when it comes to the ordinary Irish citizen.

How many come here per annum.

How many are denied to stay here.

How many are deported. (No guesstimates surrounding self-deportations)

When you do the sums, come back to us and tell us it's not open borders - with a straight face.

Regarding my other point:

The social contract obligation is a very distant obligation and well down the list when it comes to the ordinary Irish citizen.

When it comes to the ordinary Irish citizen, they are well down the pecking order?

Nick Henderson should be ran out of this country, the life-long eternal grifter that he is. Everywhere he turns up, it's always at the teat of the taxpayers udder.

If Jim O'Callaghan doesn't grasp the nettle now, I'll firmly vote the furthest right See U Next Tuesday in at the next opportunity at the election box and make no apologies for it whatsoever. The joke is over.

There was a few countries you could have said the same for over the last few years in Europe but now it's just us. Think of the countries who slapped themselves on the back over not voting in right wing parties, and now look at them.

Portugal just finished their elections, Chega there got 1 seat in 2019, 12 in 2022, and now are the main opposition with 50.

Only thing Irish parties have going for them is they'd do anything to avoid elections and ride it out until they legally have to, killing momentum so we just get a slow decline of the old parties and a lot of independants.

Neither FG or FF will ever have a majority agian, and even combined they're going to going to lose more support. The greens and to a lesser degree FG got most of the blame last time but that's it, just who get's more of the blame either way they both pay. The independents know how to get themselves elected, so they won't be suffering the most next time.

They can then talk about firewalls or whatever but it's a lot easier to form a coalition getting 51/100 than it is to get 51/80 or 51/70 if your ignoring the other 20-30%.

All that get's you is center or center right parties having to form coalitions with left wing parties without much choice and while they might have campaigned to their own base they'll never rule that way and always get pushed to the left, and lose existing support from the centre and centre right.

When not if the corporation tax dries up we'll see how many kids stick around after college to pay for it all. 3000 a month to rent a 3 bed semi in salubrious Balbriggan nowadays kids, gotta be quick as a charity will have it gone in an hour.

Totally sustainable stuff.