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

I was asking a poster to share all the videos he claims to have seen of far right and racist activity in Ireland. I’ve not asked for any videos of anyone else doing anything - I’m doing my best to keep on the topic as I believe our migration policies are far too lax.

Not only tone deaf, it's illegible, contains factual errors and is all over the place. The first two sentences are about Paul Mescal and how he can act, sing and dance, oh and he was a Gaelic player. Then it segues into Russia's forthcoming spring offensive in Ukraine. Then the sentence about ranting not putting a pillow under a war weary head and this -"Neither will nightly briefings from the opposition."

Roderic O'Gorman with his call for "every parish hall and sports centre in the country with fire safety is not naive, but an appeal to the national folk memory." Both he and the NGOs are doing their "heroic best" don't you know? And nightly briefings from the opposition won't do. Now the article refers to Ukrainian refugees but dishonestly ignores the fact that many of the people claiming asylum are from Goergia, Albania and Nigeria etc, none of which are currently being invaded by Russia.

The next paragraph mentions that the GAA was founded by a District Inspector of the RIC ignoring the other six founders, but then again this is the Irish Times. Then it mentions the GAA, with it's patrons Michael Davitt, Parnell and Archbishop Croke, as being "Pluralist and resolute." Then "It had to be for the Sisyphean task of fostering Ireland’s unique games and athletic past. Over the century, as we know, it was warped by splits and sectarianism, but without it, the Gaelic revival would have been a thin-blooded affair." So the GAA has been warped by splits and sectarianism? I don't remember that, it is a non sectarian organisation, but perhaps not in the authors mind.

Then back to the brave Roderic and his merry band of NGOs who aren't doing enough, they will have to do more. "This is a national emergency on the scale of Covid-19. It requires a nationwide taskforce on the scale of coronavirus. And yes, nightly briefings. Calming legitimate fears, community by community, as was done in Covid." So nightly briefings are OK when it's done by Roderics department.

A dig at Sinn Féin for their antics and counterproductive efforts to prove our democracy a failed state. Really, hasn't she looked at their policies on immigration? They are in lock step with the government parties. But then again it is the Irish Times. We also need political "pluralism on the scale of the 1888 GAA . . . if we are to confirm our shared humanity" The GAA was founded in 1884, not 1888 but obviously little things like that don't matter.

"Micheál Martin who as Tanáiste has donned the robe of wise counsel, saying what nobody else will, put it succinctly last week. “We are all birds of passage,” he said. He was addressing the issue of historic claims, not refugees, but some truths are immutable. His remarks, brave in the current climate, go to the core of matters." But this statement was about the state denying disability payments to people in nursing home care, and nothing about immigration or the GAA for that matter. So what is the core of matters here?

Then another ramble about what would our forefathers have done? Thankfully for us the author is able to channel her inner Dev and look into her own heart to see what they would have done. "They would have commandeered every bit of available land." Then we better throw in a mention of the homeless because it sounds better if she puts the homeless in there too. We're at the end of the article and she has only mentioned them in the previous sentence when she argues for the state not pay the nursing home residents above.

Then for the rousing finale "We’ve achieved the unimaginable before. The 1921 Leinster hurling final at Croke Park took place only weeks after the truce which ended ancient hostilities. Michael Collins’s left-handed flying double with the hurley and sliotar that launched that game flew skyward. To a whole new world."

I'm not sure if this article is actually serious. I can imagine if someone asked Chat GPT to write 1000 words in the style of a pound shop Fintan O'Toole but to mention Paul Mescal, the GAA, an RIC district commander, Sinn Féin, Nursing home residents, Micheal Martin, our forefathers and Michael Collins left handed flying double with the hurley and sliotar at the 1921 leinster hurling final, that it might have come out something like this.

Infrastructure is there but the will to invest in manning proper, responsible border checks for those arriving.

1) Ireland’s population is projected to increase from what was approximately 5 million in 2020 to approximately 6 million in 2050. The IFAC, CSO and DFIN population projections are broadly similar to those government projections..

2) the population will continue to age and get older quickly so a spike at some stage in people requiring medical treatments, hospitalisation , illness benefit, care and so on…there is expected to be a notable decline in younger age cohorts overall.

3) CSO, Eurostat, DFIN and IFAC projected dependency ratios appear to be consistent in their findings, changing from (approximately) 4.5 people of working age to every older person in 2020 to 3.5 in 2030 and then to a little over 2 by 2050.

• The Government’s National Risk Assessment 2019 describes the Old Age Dependency Ratio as the most useful metric for looking specifically at the dependence of the older age cohort on the working age population….

so challenges ahead for the country and citizens before we even begin to factor in this tidal wave of immigration into Ireland.

Absoloutely, Policy and enforcement powers along with the Human Resources and gear are a bare minimum.

I am sure in classic Irish fashion a plan will eventually be formulated that will take 15 years to kick off and be designed to fail anyway.

That's even fairly optimistic tbf

I’ll answer your serious questions when you answer mine.

Ill answer you this time though:

I’m not into politics or playing them - I’m into getting stuff done. I would not be able to be a politician because:

I deal with what I see before me.

I am informed by data mostly.

I think I have decent morals.

My opinion can be changed when presented with information that confirms what I think is incorrect.

And for the record I firmly believe the Irish political system is broken. Party whips and party voting is my main issue.

So in summary I wouldn’t be standing.

Would I support someone who had this issue in their big 5 issues to tackle - potentially.

Saying your concerned and blaming government is one thing.They are all puppets, incl. sinn fein. Getting of your arse and actually doing something NOW is another.

I think posters have admitted to being present when there was some soft gentle peaceful whispering of "get them out" in Ballymun.

It's hard to believe that was written by the former editor of a major newspaper. The writing alone is junior cert grade and the argument they attempt to make is completely faulty.

The author ought to know that land rights was a primary driver of Irish revolution. To suggest that confiscation of Irish land in order to house foreigners would have been exercised by the revolutionaries is a huge leap of their own imagination.

In any case, what they would have done is irrelevant.

people attacking immigrants isn’t fair, no reasonable person wants to see it or would advocate for it…. But I think they are part of the problem if you have a harp on your passport, been waiting x years for a home yet in front of you, people arriving are getting housing, getting everything you are / used to be entitled to and faster then fast track… it’s got to grate. It’s enormously unfair, demoralising and a depressingly sad the turn this country has taken.

it doesn’t affect me aside from a medical standpoint. I know all too well when I go back for my annual checkup in two weeks it will be another conversation akin to meeting a vague acquaintance at a bus stop…. Who will have nothing tangibly helpful to say or to offer.

ill inform them…. Yes I still pay for my own physio, yes I still go to the gym, yes, I’m still doing….xyx…

soooooo …. “ ok, see you next year “

IF we were of the ability to control our borders, apply limits to the numbers of people coming here seeking help, we can provide ALL of our citizens with 100% of what they need, as I’ve witnessed and experienced, we currently cannot, form healthcare, housing and multiple other aspects of life here.

zero refugee policy probably not… a limited one ? Certainly, it’s responsible.

I think I answered quite comprehensively, had I said no you would have just implied something else sure.

re getting stuff done - I would not cope with hiding stuff, commitees for obvious glaring issues etc .

There is no comparison between the attitude these people have and the attitude irish men have for women.

The local population is in no way comparable.

These people come from countries that have backward views towards woman.

Thankfully the majority of irish people have great respect for women.

Unfortunately these illegals are coming from countries where women are treated as second class citizens.

The ones turning up without documentation are very likely fleeing somewhere potentially because of a crime.

We have to implement a zero refugee policy on illegals.

I am fully in favor of people from these countires who apply and come here and offer something to Ireland.

I certainly would not condone the behavior of certain people at the Ballymun protest as I've said a few times. or going to where they are housed. I wasn't at that protest and if i was i would have left immediately when that started. No abuse or violence at the ones i was at thankfully but we certainly weren't quiet either. Why wasn't the immigrant in the video arrested for threatening to kill those Irish women just doing their jobs ? maybe if he was given a few hundred euro asked in a quiet tone of voice he would have left them alone.

Having a harp on your passport shouldn’t entitle you to a house 😂 Same entitled ones who’ve never worked a day in their lives knowing they’ll get said house eventually like their parents and siblings.

The difference between most refugees and our homegrown leeches is refugees for the most part value a job and contributing to society. We need more of them and less of the native scum.

A pause until after 2025 would be great. Stop them at the airport and process all of the current ones by the end of the year...keep the genuine ones etc. Would love to hear a counter argument to the above and I could change my mind. Currently it is dividing Ireland in a way that America was divided red vs blue causing dangerous polarisation.