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

I believe that they do need a visa and if the person is pregnant mid or late stage they won't issue a Visa to the UK until after the birth

The George Floyd protest in Dublin was a more poinient example of woke emulation .

The idiotic arson attacks are playing right into the government's hands. The immigration debate has been pushed to the sidelines while everyone focuses on the dimwits that see setting fires as a solution. The mind boggles at the stupidity levels.

I'd firmly disagree.

While I Don't condone the alleged arson attacks other than them there has been a good collective media effort not to report/downplay on illegal migration.

It seems this is all that is keeping the conversation going.

They can still come in not noticeably pregnant on a flight or from the UK pregnant and wait .The likely hood of being deported is very slim .You hear much about this scam these days .The previous minister 'normalised ' it by saying just people getting on with their lives !

I wouldn't see it that way at all, all I see is a clear indication where government priorities lie, garda resources found immediately and thrown at arson attacks but not enough available for checks on immigrants, general policing, arresting & deporting illegal immigrants, etc for years.

Same as how housing for immigrants has been given a far higher and immediate priority than housing for Irish people.

How has housing for immigrants be given an immediate priority?

That 800k was incurred by the Dept of Agriculture — who (if I understand the system correctly) are not in charge of nor do they receive budget for the treatment of scoliosis among Irish children.

Bit of stretch to somehow say that the animals were given priority over the children when we are talking about spending in a Department whose remit closely relates to animal welfare.

Showboating for an EU agenda lol f**k me I do wonder how half the people on here sleep at night when everything from housing to dog surgery is an almighty conspiracy to please some officials in the EU who are conveniently never actually identified ...

Circa 2 billion pulled out of their back pocket the last couple of years to house immigrants, planning restrictions thrown out the window immediately, suddenly vacant government buildings being converted into housing, full new estates and apt blocks being bought up out of hands of private buyers for social housing, etc etc etc,

While a long term housing crisis has forced working people in their 30's to be still living with their parents unable to have a proper life, recent graduates still leaving the country, couples on very decent incomes fighting each other with crazy bidding over crap houses just to try an put a roof over their heads because they are getting too old to try and start a family, the list goes on and on - imagine where would be if the same cheque book and enthusiasm had been thrown at proactively solving our housing problems 5-6 years ago.

Look mate, I'm not here to defend the spend. As far as I'm aware, the huge outlay was acknowledged and the State no longer will be covering these costs. I imagine it's one of those things that was in place but probably wasn't designed to really work in the context of a refugee crisis within Europe itself and huge numbers of asylum seekers arriving. And it seems to be something being experienced elsewhere — Norway for example has spent €5.5 million on Ukrainian pets seemingly: https://ground.news/article/norway-has-spent-63-million-kronor-on-ukrainian-pets

But anyway, my point was that this kind of spending is not "diverted" away from healthcare. Budgets are apportioned to a great many things in this country that aren't as vital as healthcare, that's just how a national economy works — it doesn't mean those other things are given some priority over healthcare.

But the government were being forced to talk about their immigration policy 2 weeks ago and they were panicking and coming up with all kinds of hair brained ideas (chartering deportation flights and building massive reception centres). Now they get a pass on all that and will focus their spoof on the idiotic brainless arsonists.

My point stands, the fires are letting the government off the hook.

"Money is allocated across a great many things in an economy." - If you read the article you will see that they had more demand then anticipated and kept going with it for a long time - it was caarte blanche it seems - so money wasn't allocated in this case firstly. As I also pointed out to you in my last comment, I very much doubt this money came out of any departments budget - it has come out of the free for all refugee money hasn't it? Money that could be spent on anything else, even the OPW, now or at any point in the future. Bureaucracy is not an excuse for incompetence or poor decision making in my opinion.

I did start another thread yes, to discuss the mad government spending. If it was the pets of the citizens of Kerry I'd be starting it too.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121744420#Comment_121744420 The thread title is the article title also - just so you know im not trying to steer the conversation in any way. The whole reason for starting another thread is to not dilute this one with talk of misallocation(in my opinion) of gov funds.

I appreciate what your saying, but this is a thread about refugee policy. This brain fart is related to that policy.

You are right, in this day and age, in an economic success story such as Ireland priorities such as scoliosis do need to be considered vs trivial cultural events, but I am trying to stay somewhat on topic, hence the other thread.

The simple fact of the matter is that money, in my opinion, was moronically allocated(or whatever we want to call it) when it could have been spent on any amount of other things.

The 3 million on St Patrick's day probably pays for itself in the revenue it generates every year though and lets be honest its the most Irish day of the year so most people will be absolutely fine with that.

€800k on pets for people who claim to be in dire straits fleeing a war is not okay, id love to have a pet but have neither the time nor spare money for one so you have to question what those Ukrainians were thinking bringing their pets with them?

They must have been pretty sure the Irish taxpayer was going to bend over backwards to give them and their pets a cushy life anyway, even getting a pet from Ukraine to here cant have been easy so you really have to wonder what their priorities are, it wasn't working as hard as they could to payback Irish generosity if they have a pet to look after.

And I appreciate some bleeding hearts will say "Oh they had to bring their dog with them for the kids" but again that does not sound like the actions of someone fleeing for their life.