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

Councillors might not have any power over who enters Ireland, but they can stop the government sticking them in their area.

How?

What ever about war. How bout getting these countries sort their shite and stop sending people our way. Make them more appealing to live in.

I see a story about the modular homes. A family in Sligo talking about it and how happy they are. They have an income of €970 a month( social welfare) and pay 16% of this on rent .

We are a very generous country indeed.

I had to laugh today. Local St Vincent de Paul was selling off all toys etc for €1. And a local Ukrainian was robbing them. The mother had to go after her to get them back.

We definitely have a high percentage of non nationals, it is true. But all it tells us is that we are a high immigration and high emigration country. There are more Irish people living outside the country than there are non nationals living in Ireland - we are quite the outlier in the whole immigration / emigration thing.

Social housing no. 1 priority should be for all people work/contribute and cant afford crazy rent and high house prices. That includes EU and Non EU (legal) workers. I stress the word workers. Also people with disabilities - Irish, EU, UK citizens, and non-EU who worked legally and contributed but now have a disability.

Second priority, should be for Irish, UK, EU citizens who are unemployed and make no effort to work.

Final priority should for non EU who dont work and never worked/contributed .. like the family in Sligo previous poster mentioned.

Thats how I would like to see my taxes spent.

Temporary accomidation is outside scope. Every person needs a temp roof over their heads regardless of who they are.

Maybe accommodation should be for people here. Not people who just found ireland on a map in the last 10 mins

Nah - in a years time they could be living somewhere else and paying taxes there. Whereas an Irish citizen overwhelmingly inherits that status from their parents. Their Irish citizenship is just an administrative acknowledgment of their Irish nationality. They have a connection to Ireland that continues, regardless of where they work or pay taxes. A connection that person who simply works and pays taxes (lets just assume they do) in Ireland does not have. The non-Irish citizen in your story isn't going to support giving me - an Irish person - a voice in the policies of their home country. Why should they have a voice in mine?

Ireland is a country and a nation, not just an economic zone shared by the people who happen to work there at the same time. We're Irish, not just workers in the local franchise of McDonalds.

We've got two clearly different views of the world. One, you view countries as being economic zones rather than expressions of nations - nations being people. You see GDP. I see people. Two, you think the issue of Dublin going from 20% foreign born to 50% foreign born is not a policy choice. It is just something naturally occurring event that we have to manage as best we can.

It isn't. It is a choice. If Dublin goes to a scenario where a minority of the people living within it were not born in Ireland that can only have occurred due to Irish government policy aiming for that outcome.

I agree with you that people make nations.

But its hard to argue that if one person lives in said nation for 10 years, integrates into society and contributes financially and socially, that they shouldn't be allowed a vote.

Is that not the exact opposite of inclusion?

I am not saying Dublin should aim to be 50% non irish, I am just pointing out the idiocy of having a policy in which half, (or even all) of the people that live in a country cant vote on national issues but yet everyone that can vote lives 1000 miles away.

Its not about just financial contributions, its about societal ones too.

If the irish you speak of are so loyal and dedicated to their country, why dont they live here or contribute anything to our society?

No. You have to see the bigger picture.

The times they are a changin' and the day when ireland is majority non irish born will come.

The notion of irishness you have is just that. A notion. But of course, you are entitled to think it.

As I say though, your argument hollows out fast when the majority of irelands population arent eligible to vote.

You are focusing too much on the financial aspect.

Many people from other countries live here because they like it here and they contribute socially, as well as fiscally.

Irish people living abroad contribute next to nothing.

If ireland tomorrow is a land of non irish born, then thats what ireland is.

And even if those non irish born dont get to vote because they arent citizens, their children will be citizens by default in most cases.

The trajectory of change is clear.

There was a good article in The Times yesterday about the soaring number of gun crimes, indeed it has the highest in Europe. The overwhelming majority of the people involved in gang crime are young men who were born abroad or whose parents or grandparents emigrated to the country.

Do the people with their placards saying all refugees welcome, seriously believe we are going to get a better class of refugee than that which went to Sweden ?