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

Ukrainians are being charged for meals in some accommodation centres as there was a story in the Sunday Independent a few months ago saying they were objecting to paying €10 a day for their meals in Breaffy hotel in Mayo because international asylum seekers didn't have to pay.

The benefit changes announced yesterday didn't go far enough. Benefits should have been cut for those already here as well who are getting state accommodation and those in employment should have to pay towards cost. It took the government over a year and a half to act on something that was obvious to many for a long time.

Anyone caught destroying their own passports should be charged and jailed

The penny is finally dropping that Politicians can use the immigrant card to bang the populist drum for pre election support to great effect. England have made a dog’s dinner out of immigration, dividing the country and causing hate & blame when they could fix it if they wish.

I was living in the U.K. 2016 when the preventable Brexit disaster happened. The same applied there - politicians could’ve easily done something to prevent immigration becoming an issue instead they chose to use it to serve their own interests. Immigration is a gift that keeps on giving and sod any fall out as local communities and local governments can sort it out with limited resources. Which brings us back to the problem here of local communities struggling to manage with housing & accommodation.

This is a political choice with a government failing to listen to people’s concerns and failing to address the housing problem.

Sadly, I see Ireland going down the same path as the U.K. where immigration is seen as the whole problem & root cause of unrest when it’s all down to political choice and main stream media failing to make politicians accountable for disastrous policies.

Lots of things thrown into that post that are not true at all.

They get three months free usage

What’s your take on the rest of the “package” being offered? Is it something that’s sustainable in your opinion?

An post offer a free SIM card and one month free. I don’t know what other networks offer. An post also waiver transfer fees for sending money to Ukraine 😂 and you can post letters (up to 100g) and postcards to Ukraine for free too.

https://www.anpost.com/Community/Support-for-Ukraine

Anyone know what FG Senator Garrett Ahearn' thoughts are on this recent development to restrict new arrival benefits? is it mean-spirited? Should be reversed? Has his opinion shifted since July 2022?

I know O'Gorman sent out the invite in multiple languages but I am sure he wasn't doing it off his own back and it was discussed and agreed and cabinet that this would be done. I think if O'Gorman did it off his own back TD's in FG and FF would have turned on him considering the absolute mess it has made. I think certain politicians have been using this crisis as way to enhance their reputations when eyeing up other plum roles either in the EU or UN and as we have seen from the way they have tried to shut down any debate on this by labelling anyone with an opposing view either a racist or far right merchant.

A sim card isn't a phone

It's stated repeatedly in this thread they get free phones. They don't. It isn't true.

There is no free phones. At this stage its deliberate disinformation claiming there is.

Ok, the government isn't giving Ukrainians free phones (devices) but they do give them free phone SIMS.

I'm pretty sure every Ukrainian already has a phone, so it's redundant.

Absolutely... For years we've been told that there's no easy fixes to our long-standing issues, or these things take time, need to be properly considered etc.

Yet here we are 20 months later with 100k+ refugees (and the rest) being met with full welfare and bonuses the Irish don't get, full entitlements to work, waivers on normal criteria around driving and insurance, medical cards, priority housing (including modular housing that we were told wasn't acceptable under planning previously) etc etc - and now they want to go home for Christmas to the warzone they fled in fear of the lives.... hmmmmmm!!

It's bad enough that all of this has been given at our expense without question, but worse again that these people are being given things that those who are paying for it all don't get, or are being pushed down the list as a result.

It's State-sponsorted and taxpayer-funded discrimination against the natives and legitimate citizens of this country by a Government that has no mandate from the electorate to be doing so. We haven't even really talked about the long term effects here of the inevitable family reunifications that'll be demanded, the consequences to the demographics of the country, the effects it'll have on the political and social arena when these people are given citizenship and start voting in their own representatives and so on.

None of these things would be an issue IF they had happened over a far longer timeframe, with properly enforced (and existing in the first place!) checks and balances and qualifying criteria, and the infrastructure to properly integrate these people - but instead we've allowed a free-for-all for most of the last 2 years and this is the result... a country that can't provide supports for not only these newcomers but its own citizens, and where any dissent or questions are shouted down, ignored or (soon - if McEntee gets her way) silenced under threat of prosecution.

As I said the other day, I fear this country has passed the point of no return. We are a impotent EU satellite state with a bunch of TDs completely beholden to the interests of the Commission and NGOs rather than the interests, security and stability of this country and its people. I can only assume the end goal is to completely dilute the notions of nationality, sovereignty and independence in favour of this grand multicultural dream (which hasn't suceeded anywhere else its been attempted). As self-obsessed as they are, our TDs aren't so blind that they can't see the effects and the growing discontent this is all causing so I can only presume they're "following orders" and/or have been promised golden parachutes for playing their roles.

The rest of us though.... well, those with the means will relocate. Everyone else will just have to live with the fallout of this debacle for decades to come.