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

Jinglejangle69

As John Quirk put it on the tonight show last night what made the Irish government suddenly see Algeria as a safe country overnight?

What changed Sunday in Algeria that it went from unsafe to safe?

They are scrambling like rats from a sinking ship. Haven’t a breeze what they’re doing. Making it up as they go along.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693398#Comment_121693398

But shouldn't Gript be welcoming changes to asylum policy? It's a bit odd to be demanding the Govt tighten up the asylum rules and then ask 'why did you do it?' when it happens.

tom23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693595#Comment_121693595

Id say Quirk was pointing out the hypocrisy of Government Policy to date... Oh look they can change it now... why didn't they do that last year... oh is there a general election in the next 18 months? Also it must be pointed out how poor McEntee is on her brief.

Coolcormack1979

No big fan of McGuirk but to see him hold his cool and demolish Regina Doherty who claimed asylum from Meath to Dublin when the Meath “racists” rejected her at the ballot box was a joy to behold.

and government mouthpiece O’Connor trying her usual auld stick .the media and government are so far removed from the public it’s scary.oh for the halcyon days of ff under haughey.😁

iColdFusion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693118#Comment_121693118

Those figures are pretty insane, I get the war in Ukraine and everything but the government are absolutely asleep at the wheel, we only get the reports from the CSO and the like every now and then but the government have live access to massive amounts of data and did nothing to try and put some sort of controls on it until its absolutely out of control.

I mean did no-one ever plot a graph of "available housing stock" versus "number of immigrants needing to be housed" for the last 3 years 🙄

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693789#Comment_121693789

I missed it but why was Regina Doherty on the show? She is usually pushed out to fly a kite or change the narrative? What was her message? As usual, none of the senior ministers are available.

The government are reacting as usual. They never ever have a plan, it's always reactionary....until the issue goes off the newspaper headlines and they'll they revert to doing nothing again.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693323#Comment_121693323

Another great post.

McEntee interviews are beyond comical these days. She was asked yesterday whether extra Gardai would be sent to areas that have increased populations due to large numbers of immigrants arriving. She jumped thru hoops to not answer the question but eventually said Yes and then No. She was all over the shop.

Coolcormack1979

Neale Richmond too posh to keep being enforced on the plebs perhaps

newhouse87

Richmond who says locals cant have say who lives in their communities yet objected to traveller accommodation in his neighbourhood, hill was bit slopy neale thought.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693616#Comment_121693616

I suppose they could argue that circumstances have changed - far greater pressure on emergency accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers now than there was 12 months ago.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694195#Comment_121694195

The really shocking thing is this woman could end up Taoiseach yet (when much will be made about our first female PM) but as Minister for Justice she's not just incompetent and out of her depth, she's threatening the security of the State through the problems within AGS (FG - the party of law and order eh?), and her complete failure in terms of border security, to say nothing about handing out Irish citizenship like cereal box prizes to any randomer who manages to hang around long enough.

When Varadkar decides to move onto the next thing on his bucket list (he did previously say that he didn't see a lifetime career in politics) watch as she is positioned as a top contender for all the reasons that have nothing to do with her actual ability to do the job.

Her failure on the immigration issue alone should see her disqualified - objectively she should have been fired/demoted long ago (along with many others in the Government), but we don't "do" accountability like that.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694418#Comment_121694418

I think her performances over the past year must have ruled her out of the top job. Imagine her in a debate! I guess you never know but her interviews are becoming more and more embarrassing. It's abundantly clear she is not on top of her brief. I'll give her credit for actually doing interviews, most of the cabinet are in hiding.

Floppybits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694448#Comment_121694448

She is like Ron Burgundy, she will just say what she has been told to say no matter what she is asked. She was put into Justice because she could be manipulated and wouldn't rock the boat, like when Harris was put in charge of Health for the same reason, he will do as he is told and wont rock the both. The Justice minister needs to be a Senior no nonsense politician, in the current government the only one that I see like that is (god forgive me for saying this) Heather Humphries. All the others just seem to lightweight for that minister and I would include Varadkar and Martin in that lightweight group.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693051#Comment_121693051

And yet he was here ,

Arrested here ,

Deported from here ....

The only thing that was off was several posters attempts to play detectives ended up as a bunch of Clouseaus

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694703#Comment_121694703

I believe you believe that.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694714#Comment_121694714

Of course it happened,

Unlike the false claims made by others

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693798#Comment_121693798

For 5 years or more before the refugee crisis we had a housing crisis in which nothing was done , I can't recall the figures but the government have spent more on refugee housing then any other housing initiative EVER

Stephen_Maturin

https://www.thejournal.ie/government-charter-flights-to-deport-immigrants-6285308-Jan2024/

Would have to assume this is kite flying from govt, though would be good to see some more robust enforcement of deportation orders

Note in the article title more of the continued conflation of International protection applicants with immigrants

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121695894#Comment_121695894

All of this is perfectly permissible within current asylum rules, so it could well come to pass.

Emblematic

I think some comments have been made about being the government being asleep at the wheel. I would go further than that.

They resist having any policy on anything for fear of alienating voters. Any attempt by the public to demand a policy is met with hostility (being called the "far-right" etc.) Having no policy means the country lurches from crisis to crisis. When crisis inevitably occurs then the government overreact.

We have seen this with the financial crisis, Covid, our reaction to the Ukraine invasion. In these crises, when we do react, we also want to be doing measurably the most compared to our peers. In the financial crisis we guaranteed more comprehensively than other countries to the extent that people who gambled in the financial markets were compensated. In Covid we had on average the most stringent measures though some countries peaked above Ireland for short periods.

What policies we do have, I believe, are handed to us informally by Europe. So after the refugee crisis of a few years ago, we had no obligations to take refugees from mainland Europe as we had opted out of the burden sharing system. We negotiated this opt out prior to the second Lisbon referendum when we were told to vote again. However, under pressure from Germany and other countries, and without any public discussion, we opted back in.

I think the main reason there seems to be a turn around at the moment is that Ireland's policy failure is becoming international news and the one thing the Government does not like is being embarrassed internationally.

Stephen_Maturin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696030#Comment_121696030

Good point regarding our pathetic best child in class syndrome - similar to how our welfare offering was multiples of the EU average for the Ukrainians

Only 5.5 billion quid for them allocated this year, but it’s grand, not as if you could get Metro North or thousands of houses built for that or anything

Patrick2010

Immigrant lawyer on Matt Cooper criticizing the whole idea of a restricted list, saying it’s valid for the likes of Georgians and Algerians to claim asylum here.

Also glad Nigeria and Pakistan weren’t put on the list given that Boku Haram and the Taliban operate respectively in parts of their country.

So naturally instead of moving to a safe part of their own country they head for a small country on the edge of Europe. Obviously this lawyer has skin in the game as representing asylum seekers is a profitable business so the more the merrier

_Kaiser_

As an aside, a family member is applying for a public sector job which involves Garda vetting.

As part of this, they have to provide every address (including post code/eircode) they've ever lived - as in since birth!

I thought they were joking until they sent me a screenshot.. They're serious!

My genuine first thought was - if only they were so thorough with randomers arriving from who knows where!

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696085#Comment_121696085

I've posted about this before but Ireland’s inferiority complex and insecurity is deep rooted and pervasive.

It's why we had everyone buying decking, foreign apartments and BMWs in the Tiger years, why the Government launched their infamous "welfare cheats" campaign to play into it during the recession, and why we are a vassal state - first to the Catholic church, now to Europe.

Everytime we've had an opportunity of self governance we've either messed it up or handed it off as soon as possible. It's why the interests of the dominant EU countries are put ahead of our own by politicians elected to represent their constituents in Ireland, and why they are quick to say "the EU made us do it" at every opportunity.

This is why we've been fed the lines about our supposed obligations and responsibilities to any randomer who shows up at our door, and why things that we were told previously couldn't be done, or done quickly, happened virtually overnight in this case!

We've become probably the most charitable and generous country in certainly the Euro zone if not beyond over the last 2 years - but that charity and goodwill doesn't seem to extend to meaningfully solving our own problems and needs it seems.

Patrick2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696165#Comment_121696165

An American workmate of mine who was due to be placed on a public sector site had to give his own work history in the US and South Africa so it could be checked

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696367#Comment_121696367

I get and support the idea of background checks most definitely, but asking for every address someone has lived in since birth seems extreme - especially when we're accepting complete strangers with no documentation or proof of identity at airports just because they have a sad story.

It just seems once again that we're great at imposing excessive checks on what are generally legitimate working (or formerly working) people, but can then have a free for all for others.

Take the benefits package being offered (until very recently) to Ukrainians as an example. Now look at the requirements needed to get many of those as an Irish citizen. How many Irish motorists are exempt from NCT or other rules, how many are given a medical card or financial support without having to meet criteria, how easy is it to get/build a modular home etc.

A part of the issue is not just that we've simply taken in too many people, but that we're giving them preferential treatment over our own legitimately struggling and deserving people. Worse, we're asking those same people to pay for and support it through taxation and acceptance.

We're great at looking after others, not so much at solving our own significant problems.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696030#Comment_121696030

100% agree.

There is no policy, no strategy, no vision, no planning.

Given there is zero accountability in Ireland, you would wonder at their reluctance to make a mistake but I guess votes are more important than the future.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696165#Comment_121696165

Some people have multiple vettings before they can even start work and they you find out that asylum seekers are getting employment with the hse and elsewhere with zero vettings ,

If anything the union's should be telling people to down tools and walkout till they are removed from their service sectors

Patrick2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696520#Comment_121696520

I quite agree, there is no vetting

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696567#Comment_121696567

Where are asylum seekers getting employment without vetting in the HSE?