Ireland running out of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees due to surge in non-Ukrainian refugees?

Doing nothing is the most useful option frequently overlooked - we are 200 plus billion in the hole. I dont think the children’s hospital or metro north are going to the people everyday type topics . The execution of these decisions is what politicians are then accountable for - currently it’s a merry go round of waste. I don’t think the country would be in the current state if a better form of decision making was in place.

Is this supposed to be a "gotcha" or something?

I dont know what you are trying to insinuate with any of those examples in response to my post that local community protests about our open door policy are not a surprise. Unreal....

You have some cheek trying to imply that i advocate illegal activities in any form and also suggesting that i condone loutish or scumbag behaviour- I daresay that you have no sense of decency to write such a post, and your many condescending posts about legitimate concerns and serious questions being raised are jaw-dropping. You dismiss any concerns that other posters raise as if you are the oracle and your opinions are the only correct ones and carry more weight - such arrogance is truly breathtaking.

Under our constitution, citizens have a right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of association. If there is any problems at a protest, its the job of gardai to ensure that public order is maintained. Our gardai do a great job imo. However, if you think your examples above show that our gardai are failing in their duty, feel free to complain or protest about it.

You didn't answer any of my simple questions?

We have had a political and media monoculture in Ireland for so long we think of it as normal. It's anything but.

Notwithstanding that I still can't see why it's taking so long for some established party to respond to the changed landscape.

Sinn Fein have tied themselves to immigration for so long thay can't quickly adapt.

FF exist now only to promote the image of Micheal Martin as a nice man. A completely irrelevant party these days.

What is holding back Fine Gael?

There were multiple leaks from their parliamentary party meeting last week questioning immigration policy.

Vardkar made a statement yesterday worrying about Far Right blah blah blah but buried in the heart of it was talk of a robust immigration policy that would "return those who are not...genuinely fleeing war"

That seems like testing the waters for a reaction. And the reaction does seem to have been negative. But on the grounds that what he said was only rhetoric - it needs to be implemented. (What a change since six months ago)

Still, why is it taking the Irish polity so long to respond to having lost 90% of the people?

The "monoculture" represents perhaps 95% of Irish political parties and TDs in the Dáil. A small handful of political and radical extremists trying to claim that 95%+ of Irish politicians, plus the entirety of the media, are part of some sort of cosy self serving elite and bubble just shows how off the wall these protesters are. Note how they don't give a flying fig about being a tiny minority and want to impose their will on the country and on Irish laws.

And what exactly of major positive significance has the current shower done?

Oh yeah the long promised new national children's hospital is a bit nearer completion.

Only thing is it will be the most expensive hospital in the world by a good measure and probably not fit for purpose from the start.

Besides staff are leaving St James in their droves because of the poor working conditions.

What else have they done over the last couple of decades?

Oh yeah created a construction bubble through their policies, with wrongly built properties in the wrong places, leading to a colapse of all our indigenous banks resulting in massive taxpayer funded bailout, then total lack of building for a number of years resulting in huge lack of housing today.

A health system that is one of the best financed in Europe, but not fit for purpose which means people that can afford it go for private healthcare.

And that is before we even mention the joke of importing dodgy people from God knows where that we can't afford or house.

The current parliament could reword the old slogan to now read

"A lot fooked up, a lot more to fook up"

How long have the Ukrainians been in the hotel?

I take the replies of both strazdas and awec above at face value.

It would seem that some people out there really think it is only a minority in the country who are strongly objecting to current immigration policy.

And maybe that is how those in the bubble see it too.

awec seems to believe that implementing tighter border controls, turning around those without papers and, above all, signalling that obtaining asylum status here is going to be made way harder, is somehow "far right" and beyond what the middle ground would find acceptable.

That's not my read of where we're at at all.

It would be hugely popular.

I'm just mystified at how slowly FG are moving there.

People ask what have the protests achieved. Most centres remain occupied.

The protests have been hugely succesful. They've given people a license to say private things publicly.

People had one view on immigration they held privately and then another thing they said in public.

Once they saw some of their neighbours and countrymen saying the private bit out loud they felt empowered to do so too.

Everyone has a different threshold for that change - some need only a few others to be saying it and they switch, others need it to be a majority. They follow. There's a snowball effect.

You're watching that cascade in the last two weeks.

I am aware we need a certain amount of immigration like all western countries. However such as Oz and the USA this should be vetted.

At the moment we are leaving in anybody who is willing to come here. How anybody cannot see the issues this will create in the not too distant future is beyond me.

Calling everybody who disagrees with this situation as Far Right is ridiculous. Most people I speak to feel a cap needs to be put on the numbers entering or country and this farce of turning up with no documents needs to be stamped out straight away.

Stand up for our beautiful country as unfortunately our polictians seem to have no regard for it!

I am aware we need a certain amount of immigration like all western countries. However such as Oz and the USA this should be vetted.

The majority of illegals or undocumented enter both countries perfectly legally. Trumps beautiful big wall was a tool to whip up the crazies.

"Vetted" is what the guards do if you want to work with children or the vulnerable.

Anyone claiming asylum in the state is cross checked on SIS II system, photographed and finger printed and extensively interviewed.

How do you cross check people with no documentation before housing them in local communities?