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

I don’t have twitter/X , yet i knew about these tweets almost immediately.

word of mouth, media, external apps etc

You’re clutching at straws and it’s almost embarrassing.

You seem to have a weird obsession for the idea of closing EU internal borders as required/seen as the only solution to prevent illegal migration. I have lost count how many times you have referenced it at this stage.

Yes — whips, chains and closing the EU borders as the only solution to illegal migration. My weaknesses.

Setting aside my arousal for a moment however, I am talking about the subject of the EU. Right? And one of the defining features of debate about the merits of the EU is in relation to to the lack of control over borders that membership of the EU apparently imposes, yes? So when someone talks about countries replacing the EU with something else ...in the context of a discussion around migration ... I would be inclined to mention what the replacement of the EU border controls would look like and the extent to which people are willing to go in order to tighten those borders.

Anyway it's lunchtime and I'm WFH so it's time to open a Google Incognito tab and start searching images of checkpoints between France and Germany. Brb.

EDIT: I see you changed "fetish" to "obsession". You had it right the first time lad!

I didn't say there was. Then again you'd have said the same in Britain 20 yrs ago.

Moving the goalposts to fit the narrative of the day.

It's basically saying

"We fudged up border control and domestic security. Instead of admitting it and taking measures to fix it let's just claim it's our policy and it will all work out perfectly grand as the party and its supporters will get rich along the way"

An obscure minister fella? What?

I doubt they had much impact either other than pissing off a lot of people living here who saw it as an advertisement to economic migrants to come here and live off the generosity / naivety of the state.

The main draw is probably the very soft asylum system with little chance of deportation.

Would you blame them? One thing dealing with generally law abiding locals who are protesting vigorously and quite a different matter dealing with the opposition in Clonmel.

It's very hard to be believe that asylum seekers would choose to move to Ireland based on a single tweet in February 2022 by a minister nobody outside Ireland has ever even heard of.

Tens of thousands of asylum seekers are heading to the UK every year despite the fact that two recent Home Secretaries, (Patel and Braverman), were hard right and probably racist.

On the face of things our little island on the edge of Europe is not yet full - but our small population - akin to greater Manchester I’ve been told , has not to date shown itself capable of supporting our health, education, civic and housing services - all of which are over stretched and with long waiting lists.

I would like those representatives who welcome all comers to explain just how a society which cannot adequately support its own can take on the support of people from far more populous and fast developing countries.

… the golden geese - our future and newly qualified tax payers, just starting out on their lives —-are leaving.
Who EXACTLY is going to be paying the bills?

22k "Our comprehensive accommodation strategy is designed with those sort of numbers in mind".

So did we know this was coming? Nearly double what came last year?

Why cant we spring another Athlone size town out of thin air every year if the numbers stay at this rate. Jesus C.

https://www.businesspost.ie/news/exclusive-government-contacts-hundreds-of-property-firms-in-bid-to-house-asylum-seekers/

"Close to two hundred branches of estate agents and auctioneers have been contacted by the Department of Integration as its grapples with the accommodation"

Hundreds of estate agents and auctioneers across the country have been asked to identify available commercial properties as the government scrambles to house unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers.The Department of Integration has contacted more than 200 property professionals for large, vacant commercial and industrial units in a bid to ramp up the provision of accommodation for people coming to this country.Officials in Roderic O’Gorman’s department are already believed to be in negotiations with several interested property owners of larger units to lease or buy. However, sources cautioned it would likely be several months before accommodation would come on stream through the initiative.

‘Work is ongoing to identify supply pipelines for commercial conversions with a focus on empty office buildings’

A spokesman for O’Gorman, the Minister for Integrations said: “The department is committed to moving away from reliance on short-term, private accommodation and towards a core of state-owned accommodation.“Work is ongoing to identify supply pipelines for commercial conversions with a focus on empty office buildings, and contact has been made with commercial real estate agents and property providers.

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Government expects to have to move 250 asylum seekers from tents every week“The intention is to bring additional beds into the system this year,” they said.Separately, the government has launched a portal where property owners can contact the department directly to sell or lease a property with 150 beds or more.

Prompted

A spike in commercial property vacancy rates has partly prompted the Department of Integration to turn to the sector, sources familiar with the initiatives said.The department believes that estate agents and auctioneers are well-placed to identify suitable properties in need of refurbishment and act as a go-between at a local level for the department and property owners.O’Gorman’s department has pointed to recent Central Bank research which outlined vulnerabilities in the commercial real estate market, driven in part by hybrid and remote working patterns and the impact on lending costs of recent rate increases from the European Central Bank.

Research has indicated that some counties in Ireland have commercial vacancy rates of 15 per cent or higher.

According to a report published in January from Lisney, the estate agent, the vacancy rate across offices in Dublin stood at 16 per cent at the end of last year.

Implemented

O’Gorman, Green Party TD, announced plans in March to source 14,000 state-owned beds. However, there is a view within the coalition that deterrents need to be implemented given the numbers arriving in Ireland seeking accommodation.The move comes as the coalition scrambles to find suitable accommodation for asylum seekers. The issue has become a major political flashpoint in recent months. Government and opposition parties have sought to sharpen their immigration policies in light of the renewed focus on the issue, and ahead of local and European elections next month.Speaking in Dublin on Thursday, Simon Harris said that “a blind eye was turned by official Ireland” to the development of dozens of tents on Mount Street and that the country needed to have “a sustainable migration system.“It’s extremely important that we have obligations in relation to accommodation that we meet, but it is just one part of a broader conversation that needs to happen,” Harris said.

Across government, ministers have been tasked with delivering or reforming aspects of a new migration system.Heather Humphreys, the social protection minister, and O’Gorman have both been given six weeks to carry out a review of asylum seeker welfare benefits while Helen McEntee, the justice minister, is reviewing the government’s list of safe countries.Under an accelerated decision-making process introduced by the minister in November 2022, international protection applicants from safe countries receive decisions on their applications in less than 3 months.Peter Burke, the enterprise minister, is also set to step up targeted workplace inspections to ensure that businesses are compliant with work permit regulations for migrant workers.

Ah, we are no longer letting the Private market right the housing situation. Class.

Wow, so now we should tell people who they can and cannot form bonds with? Should we control Irish people the same way, maybe force them to play GAA, or the harp? You want to keep numbers small so you can control their lives. This place gets worse.

Is there a reason why the graph doesn't also highlight the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Going by the graph, you'd think the easing of Covid restrictions and the obviously globally-significant event of a relatively unknown Irish politician posting a tweet were the primary factors — and not the minor detail of a war which saw the displacement of 6 million Ukrainians across Europe. . .