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

Or they could just leave the hotel that was there as it was.Now their spending more taxpayers money on an unnecessary facility.

It's pure corruption (probably legal but still clearly wrong) by the government and the hotel owner.Government contract with guaranteed money for the owner of the hotel and the governments gets to solve a problem they created themselves all while spending tax payers money.Easy for the government to do this and make their decisions when it isn't the politicians own money being wasted and it's gigantic social welfare payment for the hotel owner.

Accomodation is needed across the country. They contracted Rackett Hall. Complaints against Rackett Hall were that the only working hotel in Roscrea was taken away. Government are providing funding to address that in order to provide a hotel.

They should have left Racket Hall alone.There isn't a bottomless pit of money for the government to be creating new hotels with because they fill up existing ones with immigrants/refugees etc.

Nobody could have foreseen the Ukraine war.

I don’t usually comment on this kinda stuff, but you motivated me.

If you grew up in the 80s (you claim to know people who made a good living in those plants) then you and I probably know each other, and probably were in St Nathys/tech/Convent at the same time.

I do not recognise the description of the towns in your post, I do recognise your type though, you have existed there for decades. For clarity, both towns have had foreign workers living and working in their plants for decades. Integration has been limited in that they often keep to themselves, there seems to be a very strong family/community spirit/bond amongst them, I suppose similar to the Irish in America, but I can’t say there has been a huge effort, particularly by young local people to help integrate them into their lives either. The kids hanging around have always been there, I was one of them, standing outside the chipper having a chat, but also getting up to devilment. I am not aware of any issue with non Irish youngsters around the town that isn’t also associated with the locals.

Both towns have limited industry and employment opportunities, both are better for the meat plants being there, without them and the wages spent in the town, businesses would be enormously effected, and you can be absolutely certain, there would be an outcry if they disappeared.

If anything, those towns are an example of how large numbers of people from very different cultures have coexisted for decades, and freebritney, no one I ever knew, and you are probably the same, grew up in the 80/90s wanting to work in those plants, lots took the job if it was the only thing going, but left if anything else came along.

So, both towns are better for those industries, those workers from abroad, and without them, both towns, certainly in the 80/90’s would have been tumbleweed towns. We all knew people who slagged off the foreigners for their clothes, their colour, the fact that they were different, we used to just think locals who did that were dicks, now I suppose the internet makes it easier to say those things anonymously.

I think you picked me up wrong. I never critised the asian communities in either town, I just stated a fact that they generally don't integrate. They came to work, were law abiding and kept to themselves. They did drive down the wages and yes, working on the belly line wasn't the most sought after job, but you know the wages were decent. I am simply making the point that both had a large immigrant base to begin with and now the recent influx has tipped the balance from sustainable to problamatic. If your from the area then can you explain why Charlestown, Swinford, Foxford, Kiltimagh, Tubbercurry, Curry, Aughamore and all the similar sized towns haven't had to amalgamate and haven't suffered such a drop in demographics. Please don't be vesicious and equate teens standing around on the street with adult men with hoods pulled up huddled on corners. It may be a cultural thing and they might not mean to do it but it is intimidating.

It’s hard to take the so called ‘left’ gives their support to these well connected profiteers ahead of Irish workers losing their jobs in the tourism industry.

The FG counciller from Westport on the Pat Kenny show spoke really well on the matter this morning. Tourism down 50% in Westport due to all the rooms being used to house IPA's, he called out the profiteering going on at the moment. Miriam O'Callaghan savaged that gobdaw on Prime Time last night and rightly called out the insanity of what they're doing in Roscrea. Shutting down and turning a going concern of a hotel into a refugee centre and then announcing they were going to open a "community hotel" in the town in it's place. When you see what's running the country and see the clusterf**k they're making of things you dispair.

Maybe instead of sending the public order units to peaceful protests send them to Dublin airport arrivals and force anyone with no documentation back on to the aircraft they got off and returned to country of origin

True, but maybe we could have foreseen the consequences of offering the most generous welfare supports in Europe to Ukrainian refugees. We could have maybe reduced those supports quickly when it became apparent that the system was attracting numbers we couldn't accommodate and attracting refugees from other European countries. We could have done all those things before a small problem mushroomed into this crisis.

how long is this going to be an ""emergency" for? Its what every politician comes out with , every single time!

Surely after 2 years we are not still on an "emergency" footing?? In 5 years time will it still be an emergency? Its like the catch all, fall back excuse for everything regarding immigration in this country? The great big excuse for allowing this mess to continue!

Honestly, it does not take rocket science to realise that the pro-people for all of this carry-on, and I mean the regular Joe that is somehow pro for all of this, will no doubt have an epiphany in 5-10 years. It'll be a case of "told ya so" for 90% of them I imagine. If ROG lasts another election, then this country will have sunk to a new low. He is incapable of his role.