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

Blind As A Bat

Last year and again recently RTE had a piece about the graduates of a Migrant Leadership course.

"The Migrant Leadership Academy and Migrant Councillor Internship Scheme are aimed at improving representation and developing leadership skills.

They are also designed to enable the participants to become advocates and voices for their communities and to break down barriers.

The participants, who are migrants and refugees, were presented with Certificates of Recognition during a ceremony at EPIC, the museum in Dublin honouring emigrants from Ireland."

I'm totally against this. I see this as divisive, not inclusive. If you're permanently settled in Ireland (though it's not clear if these graduates are), then you become 'one of us', part of our community. You should work for and listen to everybody in that community, not only people of your race, religion or country of origin. If you want to be Irish, then be Irish. Be what you profess to be.

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233582#Comment_122233582

But according to lots of posters on here they don't become 'one of us'. Especially the non-white ones and the Muslims. The posters in here tell us they'll never be Irish and have the same culture. You can't have your cake and eat it. You can't tell immigrants their not Irish and never will be and then tell them they also can't advocate on behave of other immigrants. O

Repro212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233541#Comment_122233541

It's manipulation of the electorate, on an industrial scale. Surely a violation of what democracy is supposed to be? Already prioritised for housing, every fake IPA arriving over the border is now being coached to ensure dilution of the native Irish vote.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233582#Comment_122233582

But I thought you want migrants to integrate. To do this, they need positive role models and community members who have successfully integrated to support them.

We do not want to assimilate refugees, we want to integrate them, and doing this will allow us to share the benefits of their culture which will make Ireland a better more diverse place to live.

Or maybe you'd prefer the good old days when all music food and sports were homogeneous, meat and 2 veg, trad and GAA

dominatinMC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233484#Comment_122233484

Is an NGO really a "business" ? They are supposed to be non-profit, so I would argue not..

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233700#Comment_122233700

But that's all irrelevant to the topic at hand. If posters here are members of the National Party I don't see how that has any relevance either. People are entitled to post whoever they are.

I do understand the meaning of irony, but you clearly don't understand the meaning of obsession.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233810#Comment_122233810

I think it is better to focus on the politicians that are relentlessly calling large parts of the electorate far right, rather than anonymous posters.

Early yet with the count but it looks like many politicians that openly despise the electorate are going to be elected. That is interesting, hard to explain for sure but could be down to the very poor alternatives available.

Blind As A Bat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233656#Comment_122233656

"maybe you'd prefer the good old days when all music food and sports were homogeneous, meat and 2 veg, trad and GAA"

That statement demonstrates considerable ignorance of our social history, is disrespectful of our ancestors and is not accurate either. The GAA is a comparatively recent part of our history and actually it has been great at integrating newcomers in a way that makes them part of the community.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233621#Comment_122233621

They don't if you treat them as 'different' and encourage them to identify as migrants, rather than members of Irish society.

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233889#Comment_122233889

You mean many politicians that despise a very small percentage of the electorate. And they will be elected because a large portion of the electorate despise a small percentage of the electorate becuase of their views. Democracy in action. Love to see it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233915#Comment_122233915

They are encouraged to identify as migrants though. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. But also, you can be a migrant and a member of Irish society. I don't see why it has to be pitched as one or the other.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233889#Comment_122233889

The alternative explanation is that the bunch of hard right types on social media, flooding the platforms with thousands of tweets and retweets a day were only ever a relatively small bubble.

Even in the UK (or England specifically) with its right wing media, Reform under Farage are only on 17% at the moment and that is probably the absolute upper ceiling for the hard right.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234094#Comment_122234094

Still hard to comprehend that it appears the electorate have come out very strongly in favour of FFG. I thought there was an appetite for change but maybe the choice for change just wasn't there.

This could be a green light to continue current asylum seeker policies and actions.

Francie Barrett

https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/infamous-sex-beast-with-15-convictions-deported-to-the-congo-by-gardai/a685829792.html

A serial sex offender and we still haven't got rid of him. Says it all really.

Blind As A Bat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233939#Comment_122233939

"They are encouraged to identify as migrants though".

Encouraged by whom? I think there has to be a balance. I trained as a Montessori primary teacher and Dr Montessori's approach 'education for peace' was that we should always focus on what we have in common, not on our differences.

I would say that it's good to acknowledge where somebody is from, but making a song and dance over it is not good. When I was teaching in Dublin, (Ballymun, Cabra and south inner city) I always had a fair number of foreign nationals in the class, usually about 20 - 30%. I had a world map at the children's eye level and the foreign kids would sit on the floor in front of it and have fun pointing out to the Irish kids where they came from. It was very good for the Irish kid's Geography :) 'Teacher, look that's where Karim is from, that's Algeria'.

But on St Patrick's Day, I used to feel for those kids because it's a day of celebration of being Irish and Irish culture. I didn't want them to feel left out. So I'd say, 'Today we're celebrating how lucky and happy we are to live in Ireland. Some of us were born here and our families have lived here for a long time, some of us were born in other countries and maybe we've only been here a few months, but we all belong' and the kids would wag their heads and say with that kind of sagacity that children demonstrate, 'yeah, Adil came from Bangladesh, didn't you Adil, but you belong to Ireland now'.

Anyway, that was how I dealt with it - that and teaching them an Irish set dance :)

Ten of Swords

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233470#Comment_122233470

Notwithstanding that post is a year old, nobody reported it at the time.

I just checked all of the Reported Posts made from June 23rd to June 28th 2023 and nobody reported that post, simple as that.

You can believe that or not, but none of the mods can read all posts in all threads - especially fast moving ones - so if it isn't reported there is a low probability that it get noticed by mods.

Anyway, I have answered your query so let's get the thread back on topic now. Thanks.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234103#Comment_122234103

Perhaps immigration / refugees / asylum seekers wasn't quite as big an issue for the electorate as people assumed?

It was nearly getting overlooked that issues like cost of living, housing, healthcare, climate change etc would be just as important to the electorate. Large sections of the population don't live anywhere near an asylum centre and may not have felt personally impacted by the emergency accommodation crisis.

rgossip30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233478#Comment_122233478

I have a suspicion that foreign election candidates are targeting foreign voters and have some inside information .

LongfordMB

I see they've finally deported a guy from the Congo after 19 previous convictions. So we allow him to commit 19 crimes in our lovely country before finally deporting, what a joke of a system

Government ministers standing up saying there no link between immigration and crime is total misinformation. They are including legal migrants like French IT workers in that. The link between asylum and crime is clear and irrefutable, and adding thousands of young unidentified males to an area does increase volume of crime. Theyve already committed a crime getting here by handing their ID to a human trafficker ffs! Our citizens are supposed to face higher crime volume so some NGO activists can have nice warm fuzzy feelings?

babaracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234226#Comment_122234226

There was nobody to vote for. The only real opposition or questioning of immigration issues came from the holy Catholic Ireland brigade and nutjobs. A new party, pro divorce, abortion and anti nanny state but also hard on crime, immigration and welfare dependency is badly needed.

There is a huge swathe of the electorate unrepresented on the ballot paper.

Miharo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233889#Comment_122233889

I'd say there's a large amount of people who vote and don't follow politics and haven't really an idea of who they're voting for or what they stand for but have been told its their civic duty to vote. They might recognise a name on the ballot sheet and give a vote which gives the usual suspects a big advantage based on familiarity alone.

Sure one of my family members said they voted for Niall Boylan in the euros and a PBP candidate in the locals which doesn't make much sense. My mother voted for some Indian lad because he sent her a Christmas card.

MegamanBoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234103#Comment_122234103

I think there's an appetite for change on housing and healthcare.

Too much focus in this election on immigration, early days, but it largely looks as though that hasn't swayed the electorate.

The rest of Europe looks to be under a lot of pressure from the far-right and anti-immigration populist parties, which is worrying, but I think the various pacts in place to keep them from power will hold up.

I think the centrist parties need to rethink their approach to immigration across Europe and take back the narrative.

Blind As A Bat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234226#Comment_122234226

I'd say it will vary from place to place. In areas that feel impacted by migration I imagine there will be a larger number of independents elected. It will be interesting to see how it goes. As has often been mentioned by those of us concerned about the influx of asylum seekers, there is an unfortunate lack of candidates to vote for who represent a balanced, sane view on bogus asylum seekers and illegal immigration.

MegamanBoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234226#Comment_122234226

I'd like to think, and again it's early days, that maybe the Irish public are, for the most part, too informed and considerate for the fear-mongering and dog whistles.

Now that would be something to take a bit of national pride in. Where's me tricolour!

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234440#Comment_122234440

For sure, it does look like some 'far right' (or whatever you want to call them) candidates will be elected in the local elections, reflecting that immigration or asylum seekers are indeed a very big issue for some communities.

But large parts of the country and the big cities like Dublin and Cork have probably been unaffected by the emergency accommodation crisis. There must be considerable numbers of the electorate who don't live anywhere even near a refugee centre or asylum hotel and who didn't feel particularly impacted by the issue - to them it might just be a remote issue or talking point.

smokingman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234446#Comment_122234446

Yeah, if you were to read this thread you'd think we're on the stormfront website lately.

Am hoping, like you, that that kind of hate isn't bothered with by most of us.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234446#Comment_122234446

I'd agree the Irish electorate are very nuanced and are used to voting for multiple candidates on a ballot paper. They were never going to see immigration or refugees as a black and white issue or be that energised to place it above all other issues affecting the country.

Augme

Derek Blighe, well known anti-immigration candidate, with a whopping 56 votes first preference votes in the locals. Embarrassing.

Edit - seems RTE have possibly gotten it wrong and Derek Blighe was in the 500s.

ECookie13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234645#Comment_122234645

How's Gavin Pepper doing?

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234655#Comment_122234655

5th on first preference votes.

whatever.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122233515#Comment_122233515

I'm sorry but this statement cannot be allowed stand.

It is yourself who constantly goes off topic.

Engaging in vexatious and frivolous interjection undermining the sincerity of the debate and concerns of citizens for their country

Jizique

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234645#Comment_122234645

Not like rte to get it wrong when it comes to a candidate they don't like