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

Interesting point on this is that the IT poll today shows FG increasing their vote share and SF continuing their freefall.

FG and SF are now on equal terms at 23% vote share each.

I have said for months that we will most likley see a return of the FFG govt & this is looking even more likley now.

Independents seem to have stalled at 17%.

The polls today are showing a big increase for FG and an accelerated drop for SF.

FG now top party again. Sharing first place with SF.

Its only a poll i know, but has there been a bounce with Harris taking over? It appears so.

Is that in addition to the 90 on the Grand Canal?

a paid for poll taken in leafy suburbs no doubt.

Maybe I'm wrong and will be different in the secret of the polling booth, but anyone I talk will not be voting FG.

I see your point, but either way the same poll previously had SF on well over 30%.

I dont think there is much doubt SF are losing support.

I think the question is are their votes going to independents or back to FFG.

5 days and back up to 90 tents…

Thanks - actually really appreciate that.

My background is in IT and management but I've always fundamentally had a belief in fairness and what's right. These may be trite concepts these days but things like the waste, incompetence, corruption and apathy that's displayed across so much of our services, governance and leadership genuinely annoys me.

I hate the "be grand" attitude that dominates these things, or the admiration for the "cute hoor" that very much still exists. They enable all of these things. The politicians we get are because we don't engage properly as a society and too many people quietly know that they'd do many of the same things if they had the chance/the balls. There's no thought of the longer term consequences, the impact to people or society, or any real direction for the country. We're entirely reactive and we are completely subservient to the demands of others - lobbyists, the EU, "big business" etc..

It really frustrates me that people who try to do things right and play by the rules is not only unrewarded but seen as stupid by the same segment of society as the above.

We need to really take a step forward. Get involved in the process, think of the bigger picture, and what sort of country do we want to live in and leave to our families.

As I said, no-one else will do it for us.

I think Ireland hasn't had to deal with any real issues as a nation before. Normally we hope the problem goes away or someone else tackles it.

We have been ridiculously lucky benefiting from science and technology advances and investments from MNCs in these areas. That + English speaking + EU membership = Goldilocks economy.

This government will try and spend its way out of a difficult problem. This will blow up the national debt and destabilize the country. They are desperately trying to avoid another housing bust by increasing demand and reducing supply. It's like an unfunny cartoon.

They don't have any other cards to play. That's all they understand. We got a slap in the face in 2008 and our permanent government did not learn from that.

Yes. You do all those things, and that's great. But you have been enabled to do many of those things by virtue of the fortunate circumstances you were born into. You were born into good healthcare, a stable society that allowed you to grow up peacefully and to access a high level of good education and training.

You own land and keep it well — but your land is in a temperate climate, you are largely not at risk of it being ruined by natural disaster or destroyed by war or of it being taken from you without legal recourse. Your right to private quiet possession of your land is protected by a strong rule of law.

You pay taxes — because you live in a country with a functioning administration of taxation which is again supplemented by strong rule of law. Should misfortune befall you, there are many safety nets to at least break that fall.

You served your country's defence forces and this is to be respected, but you chose to do so — you were never put in a position of having to take up a gun to defend your home, or indeed simply having to flee your home because an invading army or group of maniacs came with guns.

This is not to say you should feel bad about this, or guilty. My objection is to those who demean migrants without acknowledging that much of the distinction between "us and them" in terms of our wonderful educated trained Western refinement is based on pure luck. And despite the fact that many of them have navigated an obstacle course in life far harder than the one we had to, and grafted hard, there is still a narrative pushed that poorer migrants are just lazy spongers.

It is easily possible to be pro-controlled migration without that mentality — but some would appear to believe they are mutually exclusive.

Got the name wrong, it was the Grand Canal, heard 75 on newstalk bulletin, it has increased again

Let's not forget that our current state as a country was not always so.

100 years ago we had an armed uprising and civil war to establish our freedom.

Our population was poor, uneducated and with little opportunities. Less than 100 years before that many were starving and dying.

Those who made the decision to leave weren't welcomed with welfare and housing and money. They weren't welcomed at all in cases. They had to work to survive and if they didn't they didn't.

We fought through a lot of hard times ourselves and sacrificed and lost a lot of people in the process to get to where we are today. The benefits you speak of were earned not gifted. The opportunities we now have were the result of flawed men like Haughey laying the foundations of the IFSC and multinational investment. The peace we've earned came after decades of fighting and loss and thanks to the efforts of people on both sides to fight instead for a better future - but again, no one handed it to us.

Many (no not all) of the people who you are advocating for want the benefit of our efforts but without any of the sacrifices and efforts we made to get them. It might be understandable but it's not their right or entitlement.

What they probably should be doing is what we did: demand the changes and reforms and improvements at home. It won't happen overnight and it won't be without pain and sacrifice but it's the only long term solution. It's just not possible to relocate the population of those less fortunate to places like Ireland and Europe, especially when they expect to be supported, trained, and funded from day one and potentially indefinitely.

It's not our job to take on the responsibility for solving the problems, desires or ambitions of anyone who happens to arrive on our shores. We have our own people and problems to deal with and they must always come first. That's the promise and commitment between the State and it's people - it's the basis of the social contract.

Charity begins at home as I've said. We've done more than our part. We only have so much to give and so much we can do and we've gone beyond that to the point of compromising our ability to look after our own problems and needs.

It can't continue. It also ultimately will do nothing to address the reasons why people are leaving their own country. Quite the opposite - it'll make it worse for both the source and the hosts.

and it that means just voting for an Independent and nobody else then do it. Do NOT give 2nd, 3rd, 4th preference votes!! These votes will still get mainstream politicians in on transfers!

If I could thank hundred times I would.

Nail on head.

Lets see how this one plays out because Harris has committed to not allowing the camps to repopulate. But of course, they will; in the absence of any accommodation.

If it goes unchecked it obviously want take long to reach 1000 tents. The govt are really in a mess with this now.

Other than business owners looking to increase the cheap labour pool or property moguls looking to jack up real estate prices, I don't see who would be in favour of……

Oh, wait, I just got it