Immigration and Ireland - MEGATHREAD Mod Note Added 02/09/25

vswr · 02-05-2026 01:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124434414#Comment_124434414

Where did I say Ireland had the best package?

Paddy_Mag · 02-05-2026 01:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124437354#Comment_124437354

Thats why Harris is bigging up the new savings scheme.

rgossip30 · 02-05-2026 02:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124434548#Comment_124434548

Fact most work in low paid jobs dont try to twist that into snobbery .

60% employment rate 40% unemployed of working age Ukranians .

The Polish and other EU get welfare after working here a number of years . I know of many worked a few years then claimed as there were better off . They even brougth their elderly parents who got a pension .

creedp · 02-05-2026 02:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124437506#Comment_124437506

You didn’t

1800_Ladladlad · 02-05-2026 03:26PM

Data of Irish PPS numbers issued spans a period of 3 years & 3 months, starting from January 2023 & ending in March 2026. Countries listed from most to least.

Ireland 208,010

India 76,870

Ukraine 56,040

Brazil 41,552

Great Britain & N.Ireland 40,793

Romania 38,310

Spain 31,702

Italy 23,890

Other 21,799

Portugal 16,408

Source: Annual Allocations: PPS Numbers

The Indian number is huge. 76,870 Indians divided by 39 months = 2,135 average per month

Juran · 02-05-2026 05:47PM

One of the main reasons Irish (and non Irish living here) people dont want to work in care homes, food factories, fruit/veg pickers, etc is that they have a choice. They chose a generous welfare package over this type of work.

Before the welfare state, Irish people took any job they could. The UK hospitals were full of Irish care workers & cleaners, mainly women. Irish men worked the building sites, roads, factories in the UK and the states.

Umemployment welfare & benefits for healthy abled bodied men and woman (every nationality, as its not just the Irish riding the system) have ruined this country. Its 100% the root cause of many of our social problems today : the influx of fake refugees for the past 30 years, repeated offenders with multiple convictions out on our streets, the reason a high % travellers are in prison, the anti-social behaviour of 18-30 year olds around our major cities ... the list goes on. You can commut any crime in this country and still recieve your welfare. You can even de-fault the welfare system, and they still wont stop your psyments. How many cases of such have we read about ? Plenty !

If these guys & girls were out working everyday, they'd be too busy to commit crime, having a criminal record would affect their job chances, and they'd probably be a lot more respectful of peoples property (and their own social house or halting site) as they'd appreciate the amount of hard work that goes into buying a house, car, property and all the things we buy to live a normal happy life.

sdiff · 02-05-2026 08:13PM

Good progress for II and Aontu.

They need to merge, move to the right, and solidify themselves as an anti immigration party.

engineerws · 02-05-2026 09:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124437485#Comment_124437485

Academic papers, primary sources, newspaper articles, opinion pieces by respected professors?

I quoted EUs eurostat, look forward to seeing where your figures came from.

zell12 · 03-05-2026 05:22AM

Govt to admit that 'open door' policy puts strain on housing, healthcare, education.. Who'd a thunk it!

riddles · 03-05-2026 07:10AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439441#Comment_124439441

Anyone who makes there way to Ireland who has not come through a designated UN refugee camp is a bogus migrant. It's worth always reflecting back on history a little.

"In December 2019, the second phase of the IRPP (IRPP II) was put in place to welcome up to 2,900 refugees through the UNHCR programme between 2020 and 2023 through a combination of resettlement and community sponsorship initiatives. The new phase planned for 2900 UNHCR resettlements in this period. This commitment was to be made up of a majority of Syrian refugees resident in Jordan and Lebanon."

This is how the process should work before NGO's and all the legal rats and friends of FFFG decided we can destroy Ireland for a quick buck.

I assume the bogus brigade who are in alot of cases young single males who are more flexible to travel. They completely screwed up the system for genuine refugees. As does the permanence of the system and its link to citizenship. The program should be based on a temporary stay view and continuation linked to work permits and citizenship a completely different procress mapped to self sufficiency and available housing etc.

https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/publications/irish-refugee-protection-programme/

Galwayguy35 · 03-05-2026 07:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124438793#Comment_124438793

I'm liking Aontu, even though I think PT is finding it hard to shake off his shinner roots and losing someone like Aishling Considine is a blow to the party.

II have some good TDs as well like Ken O Flynn but I'm not really sold on them as long as people like Mullooly are still in the party.

He is way too left leaning which is why I regret voting for him in the European Elections.

Paddy_Mag · 03-05-2026 08:21AM

Govt starting to read the room, front of todays indo and they got quotes from a Ukrainian Action group who is against the gravy train being switched off shock horror.

My nephew was not successful on one of the affordable housing schemes. 40% of the units available on the development went to largely Indians. So thats basically a ~€120k leg up for them from the state onto the property ladder. Its plain wrong

Stephen_Maturin · 03-05-2026 08:36AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439523#Comment_124439523

Yep, that’s a pretty resounding consensus

Meanwhile the Journal has listed Jim O’Callaghan as one of their “losers of the week” due to the apparent “backlash” against the winding down of supports.

Such a clear demonstration of how out of touch the media are with the opinions of the general public

Galwayguy35 · 03-05-2026 09:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439542#Comment_124439542

The Journal has shown time and time again its incapable of being impartial when reporting a news story

_Kaiser_ · 03-05-2026 09:30AM

Also from the Indo article...

The public are also against these centres being repurposed to house asylum-seekers, with 69pc saying they should return to tourism and 28pc saying they should be used to support the homeless.
Just 3pc said they should be used for asylum-seekers.

That's pretty definitive alright. I'm not surprised though that there's resistance not only from NGOs and the Left, but also those private citizens who've benefited :

Financial payments to host families who have taken in Ukrainian refugees will also be wound down and will cease next March. Offering financial incentives to Ukrainians to return home, similar to the package currently offered to asylum-seekers, is also being considered.

Worth €600 a month apparently. No wonder some will be shouting against this move. My only issue with the above is that this little earner is to continue on nearly another year.

To be fair, this isn't all on Ukrainians. As noted above by others, we have a sizeable number of other groups who are adding pressure on the housing market and other supports and that pressure continues to (naturally enough) negatively impact on the natives ability to access them.

In an ideal world of course we'd have enough resources, houses, GP's, and money for all - but the real world is not fantasy and in a small island of 5 million people with lots of domestic challenges (not helped by poor governance absolutely), tough decisions eventually have to be made, and those decisions need to put the needs and interests of the natives first and before all others.

Ireland is not in a position to support everyone who arrives at our door with a sad story or the hand out, nor can we accept everyone who arrives wanting what we have built over decades.

We certainly can't accept tens of thousands (or more) whose only skills are that they can deliver a takeaway or work in a corner shop - especially when we have cut out our own young and others who traditionally would have filled those roles in the process.

It's a race to the bottom, and while we absolutely need to address those who refuse to work by reducing or cutting off welfare supports accordingly, they should be at least afforded the opportunity to improve their situation.

If nothing else though, this poll and report today again shows that the vast majority of people in Ireland, who live here, pay taxes, and deal with these issues and struggles have had enough and believe it's time to level the playing field.

That's a lot more believable than bleating NGO's (who are making a fortune from the industry that's been created), or social media agitators and contrarians on Twitter and the likes who may be just dangerously naive, or potentially making money from it all as well, or who may not even live in the country at all! Disinformation and online "bots" doesn't just start and end with the "(far) right"!

Once we get a better grasp on our own internal challenges and needs, maybe then we'll be able to do more for others again. In the meantime anyone who will be affected by the changes doesn't HAVE to be homeless or struggle to pay rents - they can just go home, or anywhere else that'll have them. Indeed, per the quote above we may even pay them to do so (which I personally disagree with but it may be the more economical choice admittedly), so they absolutely have more options than the generations of Irish before them did.

With increasing economic uncertainty and political instability generally in not only the global environment but also right here at home, it's long past time we get back to the basics and focus on the needs of our country and her people who have in many cases been badly let down over particularly the last 15 years or so.

Hopefully now this apparent shift in policy and attitudes leads to the changes and priorities we need. After all, that's the whole job of Government and the social contract which equally is badly in need of repair - as was also demonstrated by the recent fuel protests (personally disruptive and economically damaging as they were), people have had enough and are no longer willing to accept being treated as resources to be exploited, or second class in their own country.

For any political staffer, politician or journo reading this thread and this post (because we know ye research such outlets as this too), the country needs a change, and the country is watching. Time to follow through on all those election commitments for once!

Let's see if it happens!

Thorny Queen · 03-05-2026 04:50PM

I'm planning a bank holiday trip to the Red Cow Moran Hotel to say sorry to those "International Protection" applicants who were rioting in the hotel.

I wanted to apologise to them. It's all my fault for their rioting because I wasn't being nice enough to them!

You have every right to be here, to behave like that and still live off my mint, apparently. All the whilst my family and friends can no longer afford to live in this country.

There's another 37 year old refugee from Iran, who is a father of 5 children and lives in Sligo. He sexually assaulted a vulnerable teenage in an alley outside of his work.

I wanted to apologise to him. It's all my fault that I wasn't being nice enough to him.

Seriously this country is gone to the Middle Eastern dogs. Yuck.

Thorny Queen · 03-05-2026 04:51PM

Maybe the recent fuel protests shook and woke up the Woke government a bit. Maybe actually heard what the average person in Ireland has to say, for a change.

engineerws · 03-05-2026 05:00PM

https://m.independent.ie/opinion/comment/eilis-ohanlon-if-we-wont-give-ukrainians-weapons-the-least-we-can-do-is-offer-a-refuge/a2079426686.html

It's like rage bait. Surely after 4 years we might expect working age Ukrainian people to pay for their accommodation or at least get similar treatment to Irish citizens.

I'm lost.

1800_Ladladlad · 03-05-2026 05:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439441#Comment_124439441

"There are also concerns that immigration is heaping more pressure on chronic prison overcrowding, described as a ‘national scandal’ at the Prison Officers’ Association annual conference this week."

There is no link between crime and Immigration……………..

Fanny Wank · 03-05-2026 05:34PM

Successive governments haven't built prisons while also funding the Irish Penal Reform Trust

I think it's fair to say (what I'd classify as) being soft on crime is officially government policy

1800_Ladladlad · 03-05-2026 06:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439465#Comment_124439465

Yousef Palani came to Ireland under a UN refugee program signed off by Michael Martin……..

Everlong1 · 03-05-2026 08:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439441#Comment_124439441

Encouraging to finally see this…deeply depressing that they only got the message about ten years after everyone else in the country. If not longer. And yet they tell us that Irish politicians are so in touch with their constituents because of our PR voting system, clinics etc.

El Gato De Negocios · 03-05-2026 11:28PM

Just in case anyone needs assistance in climbing down offa their high horse.

#beingkind

Jinglejangle69 · 04-05-2026 12:32AM

I do find it fascinating how Ukrainians who are genuinely being bombed night after night with children dying have become the bogeymen over chancers arriving from Georgia, Nigeria, Algeria.

I could keep going.

dabbler2004 · 04-05-2026 01:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124442172#Comment_124442172

They've been here four years and very well supported by the Irish taxpayer in that time. They haven't been asked to leave the country, they're simply being asked to contribute by paying their way. It's more than fair.

mrslancaster · 04-05-2026 05:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124439441#Comment_124439441

The cynic in me thinks that this turnaround has something to do with the upcoming bye-elections on 22nd May but I could be wrong. Maybe the recent protests, and unions calling for action on the cost of living crisis, has forced the government to acknowledge that regular people are completely fed up watching billions of public money being spent on support programmes for non-citizens, while our own citizens endure a lack of housing, appalling public services and a deepening cost of living crisis. TDs are elected to represent their constituents, it’s time they started doing that.

Paddy_Mag · 04-05-2026 06:23AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124442172#Comment_124442172

The same Ukrainians who routinely go home for summer holidays, who were even warned by our govt a few years ago that they have to be back in their state provided accommodation by a certain date after going home for xmas otherwise they may lose it

The same Ukraine were 38,000,000 still live.

The same Ukraine where our government ministers have travelled to in order to hand over our money

The other ones you speak of need to be dealt with as well.

herbalplants · 04-05-2026 09:59AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124442172#Comment_124442172

Have you a good look at your fellow irish? I find fascinating that you don't notice the amount of needs irish people have, the lack of proper health services, help provided with special needs kids, the list is long and you worry about Ukrainians. Since when did Ukrainians did anything for you?? I want to see my taxes spent on the needs of this country not some dubious Ukrainians. This war is not our problem. Do you think Ukrainans would do much for you if shoe was on the other foot, trust me they wouldn't. These people are leeches.