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

I haven't supported investing pretty much nothing in housing.

Like him or not, he was the only politician down in Roscrea actually meeting protesters and spoke on TV about the crap down there without missing a heartbeat. He wasn't taken in by the "won't someone think of the children nonsense" and called it a disgrace what was happening. If I was in his constituency, he would have my vote.

These 1000+ should have done their research a bit better before rocking up here. And they know how to use ferries and airports. They're not under arrest and free to leave.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. But they didn't and I don't think they'll be volunteeraily leaving any time soon either.

I mean the government's new policy could be to sit on their hand and not many on decisions on anyone's asylum application and just let the number sleeping rough grow until asylum seekers stop coming and the ones here decide to leave. It certainly would be a bold new strategy.

We have legal obligations to people who are seek asylum. We can’t say we have no space.

We have 60k+ hotel spaces, I don't we will need people's homes or spare rooms. The State should realise that this problem is no just going to magical disappear, that people are not going to decide never to come to Ireland and claim asylum or that people will leave if they have to live in a tent for a while. Solutions like that are nonsensical. They need to start focusing on how to provide accommodation while we process asylum applications.

The ability for people to enter and stay in a country illegal will always trump the ability for a state to be able to deport them. Time people realise that.

This is real life, real money and we're a small country with finite spaces. Just because there is a hotel room sitting free, doesn't mean it should be hired out to the endless IPAs. More will take note, and more will come until we actually end this shite. I don't think laws written in 1951 at a time when the global population was less than half it is now (and travel was a chore) should be deemed relevant today's world either.

Looney limitless ideologies like yours will only serve to make the rich richer and everyone else poorer.

Since 1951 poor people have gotten richer and their standard of living has drastically improved. The notion that immigration makes people poorer is laughable, it generally tends to do the opposite most people. Again, you don't seem to grasp the reality that there is no way to "end this ****". People aren't just going to stop coming because you ask them nicely not to.

If I had a chronic illness I'm certain I wouldnt stupid enough to blame the foreigners for the poor health system. Especially given it would likely be a foreigner looking after me. Again, the notion that shipping out the foreigners will turn our health service into a world beater is laughable.

No, it's purely the Government's fault. This isn't about an 'increase in foreigners', I never mentioned race or foreigners, you did. It's about a rising population, and a health system that is crashing. The more the population increases, the more health staff and resources will be required. It is simple maths.

It doesn't bother me where health workers come from once their qualifications are legitimate.

1,000 IPAs on street now, and a further 20,000 in the pipeline for this coming year. Let that sink in.

The Irish times hits the streets of Bundoran, somehow only bumping into Irish hoteliers and Ukranians who say everything is just great (the bumping into Ukrainians bit is a tad more likely to be fair ). The town is flying , sewerage system is great , the schools are full (only presented as a good thing ) and they can handle any amount of people and sure we need the workers. 😂

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/02/24/from-war-torn-kharkiv-to-surfing-in-bundoran-how-one-town-is-managing-a-new-ukrainian-population/

What needs to be realised is that these (supposed) "obligations" are not intended to be a suicide pact.

We've already accepted over 100,000 new arrivals in the space of the last 2 years. We've put them up in hotels, nursing homes, fields, and pretty much anywhere the Department could get its hands on - still more keep arriving and many of these from places with no direct route to Ireland or from/via other European countries or the UK.

Most of these aren't refugees fleeing persecution. They're economic migrants seeking a better life. Now, there's nothing wrong with that HOWEVER there's a massive difference between an educated, skilled migrant coming with the ability to support themselves from the start, and someone arriving under false pretenses in search of handouts.

The first group are always welcome and will be an asset. They'll also be pretty much self-sufficient and contributing from the start. The latter group will always be a drain (financially and otherwise) unless we also invest significant efforts in upskilling and integrating them. This is on top of the costs of the State housing them, feeding them, and giving them a range of other benefits and "freebies".

You can keep claiming that there's obligations and no way to stop them coming , but there absolutely is! In the short-medium term we could..

- Cut the benefits package dramatically for not just the newly arriving Ukrainians but all who don't fit the first type of migrants above to reduce the "pull factor" (though why Ukrainians are still arriving 2 years later - and skipping over the rest of Europe in the process - is somewhat of a mystery given that the conflict still remains largely confined to a proportionally limited area of a vast country and indeed Ukraine has regained or fought the Russians to a standstill in several of the affected areas :

- Refuse entry to anyone who can't produce valid and verifiable documents at the point of entry, or those who arrive illegally in the back of a container (from generally another safe country, France). Send them back to wherever they embarked from.

- Deport any non-EU migrant who is convicted of a serious crime in this country to wherever they came from (originally or via). It's nonsense that not only should we suffer the consequences of their criminality or violence, but then have to pay to imprison them too. Similarly, eliminate the endless appeal mechanisms that delay decisions on eligibility or deportation. They should be entitled to ONE appeal and if that fails, back where they came from with an escort to the airport by Immigration officers or Gardai.

- Use our supposedly strong relationship and influence within the EU (or even just exercise our existing opt-outs) to further limit the numbers arriving. In the worst case, Ireland should simply refuse to accept any more entirely. Let the EU threaten their fines and bluster in the media all they like - it's not a dictatorship and we're supposedly partners not vassals. Let's put the issue right back where it started... On the floor of the Commission.

- Longer term then we could reform our immigration rules and resources therein to further support the basis that legitimate migrants and refugees will always be welcome - but in sustainable numbers, and where decisions on their eligibility need to be made, that the staff and resources are there to make these quickly

What's missing is the political will to enforce and explore these options. Instead we have a bunch of weak, self-serving EU sycophants across the main parties, and an array of opportunists posing as NGOs hanging on and making a fortune from all this.

Meanwhile the integrity of the country is falling apart the longer it goes on. The social contract between the Government and the Irish people has been damaged. Our interests and needs have been subordinated to the needs of randomers with a sad story, or outright chancers looking for handouts.

You (and others - both on this thread, in the media and in the NGOs and Government itself) keep trying to confuse these latter types with the first type of migrant to make your case, but the two are not comparable at all, and everyone can see through it - I say everyone because even the advocates aren't so blind as to not see what's happening (the issues are reported daily at this stage after all), but for the aforementioned self-interested reasons, are wilfully trying to ignore and deflect from it.

So there are absolutely things we can and need to do to address these issues both in the immediate and longer term. We just need to demand it from the politicians by making our views known through engagement with them, peaceful protest, and asking their positions on these issues when the upcoming elections have them out canvassing for our support.

This is OUR country and it'll be our people and children who have to face the consequences of these decisions - or our own inaction, and I for one am far more concerned about that than the opinions of a biased media, weak politicians who've failed dramatically in most areas over the last decade (for all the headlines of how wealthy and successful we are, are we ACTUALLY in a better place than we were say 5 years ago?), or a group of EU bureaucrats who certainly aren't concerned about Ireland’s interests in the first place.

We just need to stand up and say enough is enough! No one else is going to do it for us.

No we dont just like any other European country can stop it. Stop with the bs.

It's like talking to a spoilt child." I want more. No you can't. Stomps foot. I want more. Ya cant have more you have enough." Total tantrum.

Ireland has gone above and beyond it obligations. Time to reign it in big time.

Well over 50% of medical students in Ireland are international students. Ireland has a Small number of college places. So not many Irish born doctors graduate. Of those a % go abroad to gain more medical experience in larger population countries. Most come back after a few years. There’s just not that many of them to start with.

Of course it doesn't make poor people poorer. People on social welfare or low incomes are provided with HAP and affordable housing.

But yes, current policies like no rent freezes and a deliberate policy not to increase the supply of houses are clearly a huge problem and a massive reason rents and houses is a major issue. Not foreigners though.