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

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  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,389 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    A lot of rural irelands tourist restaurants charge a lot for meals. its not true to say that tourists arent coming just because of accomodation taken up by refugees.

    They charge what they charge because that's the cost of doing business. Inflation, food costs, labour costs, heating costs, electricity costs, insurance costs, have you seen the news recently?

    Better value for money would certainly help the rural restaurants, but of course, the business owners are not going to say their restaurants are overpriced & the same goes for rural hoteliers.

    Hotel prices are higher because a) the cost increases above and b) there is a lack of supply and demand is high and the price goes up. Hotels in many places outside the cities in Ireland are seasonal businesses and make their money in summer.

    No, much easier to blame people fleeing war.

    Who is blaming people fleeing war?



  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,389 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    Can you clarify what point you are trying to make about Greens? Are you honestly suggesting that no Green TD or Senator has a hotel in their constituency hosting asylum seekers or refugees?

    Read my sentence again. I don't see the word "Senator" anywhere for starters. I said that the constituencies that are most affected by the issue of accommodation being used for this purpose do not have Green Party TDs (e.g. the Party of the Minister overseeing the Department implementing this "policy") that people can vote out in response.



  • Registered Users Posts: 130 ✭✭superbatman


    Not really surprised by this

    But sure it's grand. Everyone is welcome. At this point, the people defending this are just bad actors.

    Why Ireland? Like seriously, you live in Somalia and Ireland is the first country you think of when you wanna escape. So not only do we now allow anyone into the country without a passport most don't even arrive at the airport. They come through Northern Ireland. This is becoming more of a **** show each day.

    https://www.newstalk.com/news/whats-the-other-option-asylum-seekers-paying-to-get-to-ireland-1485930



  • Registered Users Posts: 25,266 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    Exactly, thousands and thousands of miles to be safe … yeah right it’s not for assylum, it’s for a new life and better opportunities in the main…

    if ireland was say invaded by the Spanish…. Im off to the UK if they’d have me where I’ve family and only 90 minutes from home… not Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Dubai, UAE, Qatar, Egypt or Eritrea …

    the entire continent of Europe is about a third the size of the continent of Africa



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,538 ✭✭✭suvigirl


    And he is only complaining about less then half of those in emergency accommodation, he is not complaining or giving out about the government policy that puts Irish people into hotels. 60% of the homeless are in emergency accommodation are irish. You would wonder why he doesn't complain about that..........



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  • Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    That's what this entire thread is about- blaming refugees for everything that is currently wrong in Ireland.

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



  • Registered Users Posts: 426 ✭✭grumpyperson


    Not sure if you listened to the interview.

    His point was that restauranteurs and tourist activity providers in tourist location with significant accommodation given to the non tourist sector are down 25 - 35% and that the warehousing of debt from covid19 is due in 2024.

    He was predicting significant bankruptcies next year as a consequence and looking for a bailout for SMEs in affected areas.

    Seemed logical and valid points. He went off topic momentarily to have a go at Roderic and his tweets but the bulk of his interview made business sense.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭Stephen_Maturin


    Yeah and the refugees did the RTE scandal too!!!

    Would you ever give over with your sensationalism.

    For the umpteenth time, nobody is blaming refugees for causing everything wrong with Ireland.

    However we are in the midst of a housing and health crisis, and they do add additional burden on our already overstrained services.

    A small country town with one, maybe two GPs has 500 new arrivals placed there. Are you genuinely suggesting this has no impact on GP access for the existing population that were there?

    That’s all people are highlighting - that we’re not currently in a position ourselves to be providing everything to everyone.

    You don’t set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,163 ✭✭✭Patrick2010


    The current population of Nigeria is 200 million, its projected to be 400 million by 2050 The total population of Africa is currently 1.6 billion, by 2050 its projected to be 2.5 billion. If just a small percentage come here we'll never be able to supply enough housing. Even if we drew a line in the sand today and decided on no more refugees or asylum seekers it would take years to catchup on housing.



  • Registered Users Posts: 130 ✭✭superbatman


    The posters who make such posts let their personal opinions of the matter run over the truth of the situation. It's quite impressive that no matter what stat or fact they are given they find ways to maneuver to their own bias. I live in Mayo in a town. I see the effects of it. Tourism is dead. Many businesses I know have had to shut cos of this. The everyone welcome brigade has no compassion for the people who have lost their jobs and businesses. The same people are all about acceptance but it's only in the manner that suits them. Don't agree with someone, oh, they are racist and bigots. When live in world where some people's ideology trumps everything else. It doesn't matter if I or you give many instances of facts or real life experiences of how this whole situation has an effect on Ireland as a whole, they are not here for discussion. It's just to peddle a narrative that is so worn out the wheels have fallen off.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 13,022 ✭✭✭✭Goldengirl


    In fairness many people who went abroad would have booked in advance. Remember what a long grey five months we had up to June?

    Its not a very good article really if it relies on those figures.

    I would say the high cost of hotel rooms /holiday homes / dining out in Ireland are the main reason tourism is badly affected.

    This is something posters have been complaining about for years yet suddenly it is all down to asylum seekers.



  • Registered Users Posts: 130 ✭✭superbatman


    Is it even shocking anymore? I don't know how this happened in any place but Ireland in that no matter what little village or town you go to there are asylum seekers everywhere and I do mean everywhere but sure it's not a problem everything will be fine, let's just keep bringing them and keep our mouths closed.



  • Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭2Greyfoxes


    Some very good points made in this video.

    Why are they predominantly military aged men?

    Surely, if they are fleeing a war they'd be the ones staying to fight?

    The longer this goes on, the longer it looks to be an invasion that is exploiting Europe's generosity and good nature.



  • Registered Users Posts: 619 ✭✭✭Phat Cat


    One of the most worrying aspects of thousands of refugees coming to Ireland is the lack of clarity or the reasoning behind the vast influx of mainly adult male refugees. The government, or even local representatives, have kept tight lipped and any discussion that takes place gets shut down immediately.

    Case in point, somebody posted a video on the Dun Laoghaire thread of a coach load of male refugees being unloaded into the old Senior Collage building in the centre of the town. The mod threatened to close the thread after a 'welcome with open arms' poster whipped out the racist card. By the looks of things it was an over reaction, but this whole trend of shutting arguments down and labelling anyone that even raises a concern as a racist is totally ridiculous and needs to stop.



  • Registered Users Posts: 299 ✭✭bertieinexile




  • Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 76,131 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Beasty


    superbatman threadbanned



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,451 ✭✭✭TokTik




  • Registered Users Posts: 4,885 ✭✭✭enricoh


    Have you heard of the concept of supply and demand? Over half the hotel beds supply in some counties is now gone for refugees. The ones that haven't taken refugees now have no competition and can charge accordingly. And yes half the hotel beds suddenly gone is all down to asylum seekers.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.donegaldaily.com/2023/03/30/summer-concerns-as-50-of-donegal-tourism-beds-contracted-to-state/amp/



  • Registered Users Posts: 265 ✭✭high_tower


    Why have some counties like Donegal got so many ?? There must be some level of corruption. Or are they just especially greedy up there.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,561 ✭✭✭jackboy


    In many parts of the country loads of the hotels are owned by a single individual. When they convert from tourism to the asylum seeker/refugee industry then obviously that area will have a high concentration.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,326 ✭✭✭✭Loafing Oaf


    A lot of wisful thinking, verging on delusion here. I'll just pick out one point

    Say a Sinn Fein Government needed the help of Independents to form a majority.


    This is very unlikely to happen in reality. If SF tries and fails to put together a 'true left' government, it's next port of call is much more likely to be FF than Healy-Rae & Co. They could after all have attempted to put together a left government with the support of Inds but they didn't even try because they knew they would only make themselves ridiculous tryiing to cut grubby little side deals with every parish-pump-priming gombeen, and the effort was almost certain to fail in the end anyway...



  • Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Interesting how you have gone from claiming to not be far right to cheerleaders far right strategy

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭Stephen_Maturin


    That blog is a load of total rubbish “how we win”, weird way of looking at things.

    Separate from that nonsense anyway, were you able to find anything on how dropping a couple of hundred people dependent for everything at a time into small rural towns doesn’t impact availability of services for the local inhabitants?



  • Registered Users Posts: 299 ✭✭bertieinexile


    Thanks for the thoughtful response.

    I don't know about SF + Independents being all that unlikely. If SF were a few seats short of a majority wouldn't it make more sense to take on board a handful of Independents rather than the whole of FF.

    As for grubby and short lived - the previous government to this, Kenny/Varadkar, depended on nine Independents and ran its term.

    Something else I alluded to in the piece: You hear a lot of leftist parties discussing their attitude to a future coalition with SF. To my mind they don't seem nearly worried enough about SF taking their seats. If there was an election in the morning I think SF would have a good chance of picking up every PBP seat.

    Last time PBP depended on SF transfers more than anyone else when SF were getting two quotas everywhere while running only one candidate.

    Half of Brid Smiths vote was SF transfers. No wonder she's retiring.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,326 ✭✭✭✭Loafing Oaf


     If SF were a few seats short of a majority wouldn't it make more sense to take on board a handful of Independents rather than the whole of FF.


    Well SF falling a few seats sort of a majority is not a realistic proposition on recent opinion polling. Sf + the entire rest of the left falling just short of a majority is just about feasible if SF perform to the absolute max, but then you would not be looking at SF as a negotiating bloc but 'the SF-led Left', which is already a precarious enough edifice (would the remanants of PBP and whatever else is left of the 'hard left' even be interested in a government formation deal on any sort of reasonable terms?), before you even consider approaching a fractious bunch of independents from the far end of the political spectrum. Once we get into this sort of territory, which IMO is the best SF can realistically hope for, then a deal with FF that would offer stability and a comofortable majority starts to look far more attractive to SF than the every-last-TD-bar-FF&FG clown car alternative.



  • Registered Users Posts: 299 ✭✭bertieinexile


    Very enjoyable discussion and I'm sure we can rely on the admin to let us know if we're getting off topic.

    I think you're being a bit too dismissive of the workability of a government dependent on 9 or 10 Independents especially since we've had a stable long lived one recently.

    On the other hand I would by no means write off the possibility of SF partnering up with FF. It would be the final nail in the coffin for FF in my opinion. SF would strangle them and mop up the remnants.

    It's the kind of self centred thing Micheal Martin would be up for but presumably he'll be gone before decisons like this are being made.

    Slim chance of it if the next FF leader was one who was looking to promote the party instead of himself. Such an old fashioned idea.

    How would an opposition of 30 FGers and 20 Independents function? I don't think the current all party consensus and groupthink would survive it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 972 ✭✭✭_Puma_


    Very relevant considering what's been going on in this thread.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,538 ✭✭✭suvigirl


    Emergency accommodation in this country is comprised of 60% Irish homeless. 40% non Irish homeless.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 16,326 ✭✭✭✭Loafing Oaf


    I agree that hooking up with SF would be a disaster in the medium to long term for FF but if FF+SF is the only feasible government it will have to happen irrespective of who is FF leader. What you are suggesting about an SF-FF deal being more likely under Martin is contrary to conventional wisdom. I'm not sure agree but ever since this 'intervention'

    I've never been sure about Martin's bottom line on this question. Perhaps he harbours delusions about going down in history as the man who brought SF in from the cold?



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