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

How is any of this relevant ?

Nevermind you double down on your incorrect posts ?

Don't you mean people trafficking?

Probably because he was busily ATTENDING the Easter celebrations , laying wreaths etc and all this while recovering from a stroke !

Maybe he would have attended the other celebrations but chose to tweet instead ?

Maybe there are pigs flying past your window

Does anybody, except maybe you and John , really care ? But you just keep on ,

And I was responding to @Lotus Flower 's hounding another poster about Michael D not tweeting her a Happy Easter 😁

So it's aggressive now to call a post for what it is and provide links to disprove it ?

That a bit hypocritical .

They don’t look like Easter celebrations to me, as in ‘Christ died, buried and risen’ according to the Catholic faith.

Rather they look like 1916 commemorations, which is different.

Not important really but the remarks back to OP were unnecessarily snide, or maybe baiting.

If you had a holiday home would you hand it over?

For all the posturing and grandstanding by Simon Harris, Micheal Martin, talking heads in the media and others, this is a very simple situation to understand.

Ireland has/had - as with so many things - a lax, informal "be grand" attitude to immigration in general. We have a similar attitude to controls in general. We rely on voluntary compliance with the rules rather than active monitoring and enforcement in all areas of society and governance.

While that generates a relaxed casual attitude and environment, it also leaves the systems open to abuse and neglect.

This is why we have generations of people claiming welfare supports, engaging in low-level "shenanigans" to work around whatever controls there are, and the general admiration of the "cute hoor" I've referred to in previous posts.

None of this is new, none of it is a surprise, and it's endemic in Irish society and has been since probably the formation of the State.

The problem exists for those who DO play by the rules, who do believe in fairness and contribution, because they are the ones who suffer the consequences of this double standard. Their integrity and honesty is seen as weakness and even foolishness and they are the only ones who face real penalties or loss as a result.

Now add thousands upon thousands of migrants who arrive here purely for selfish personal reasons - economic opportunities, financial support, training and education, housing and medical services etc. Unlike those who arrive and enter in the correct, legitimate and legal ways, these people arrive under false pretenses, or via (numerous) other States before they land here.

As I've said before, by that very first act they demonstrate that they do not respect our laws or borders and are prepared to take whatever actions they can to achieve their aims. It's bad enough that we have our own native cohort of such people, but we are under no obligation (international, moral or otherwise) to accept even more chancers and law-breakers into an already creaking (if not already broken) process/system.

As the most recent poll shows, three quarters of the population recognise this and understand that Ireland has become a target and soft touch for these people. I can only hope that the same number aren't taken in by the somewhat frenzied and desperate reaction from Government in the last few weeks and months as they've tried to do a 180 turnaround on their previous positions, which is only a response to the threat of their members losing their seats or not getting a spot on the gravy train in the upcoming elections.

Even more hollow are the continuing attempts to deflect from the reality of the situation, the gas lighting and goal post shifting from those still advocating for the "cause". It's extremely transparent and pointless - very few are buying anymore thankfully.

Some of the points being raised here around cultural and societal impacts, demographic shifts and the future makeup of our country are very relevant and very real. The same types as above will continue to call this "racist" or "xenophobic" of course, but their bleating is meaningless in the face of the very real changes already underway. Changes that many of us will see the start of, but which our children will have to live with. Changes which we only need to look to our immediate neighbours to see the consequences and outcome of.

No thanks. That's not the Ireland I grew up in, am working to support and contribute to, and want to leave to my son and his children. I make no apology for that, will always advocate for Ireland's needs and interests to come first (only then should we be worrying about others - which still doesn't include bringing them home), and will still call out the issues and obvious sleep walking into further problems that we're doing.

As I've also said folks - do get out and make your feelings and voices heard in the next few weeks and months, and think hard about who you vote for before you make your decision.

We've already seen the shift because of the political fear in FF and FG (not so much the Greens who are determined instead to ram as much of their delusional one-note tax driven ideological agenda through while they can), so changes CAN still happen and be demanded by the electorate - IF we're smart enough to realise it and the consequences of NOT doing so that is!

75% unemployment rate for Somalians in the UK. But I'm sure this guy will be a real benefit to Ireland. We should be happy to fund his legal costs and everything else for him and his wife and 7 kids for the rest of his life. Think if how much we will gain from it! More like him I say, clearly it's racist to suggest that this can lead to anything negative

I hate our be grand paddywhackery nonsense. Too many unserious people in serious positions in this country.

Time to grow the **** up as a country.

Even not committing to NATO defense spending is childish. Neutrality doesn't wash anymore.

We've seen similar discussions in Britain that the place was supposedly much better in the 1950s, when it was nearly exclusively white and English : but many people who actually lived through the period say "Em no, it wasn't….it was a grim and depressing place".

The opening up of Ireland to other cultures and outside influences surely had to be a factor in many of the profound changes we saw i.e. TV and cinema, returning emigrants, immigration and so on. The point being that there are two sides to the whole 'cultural and societal change' debate.

I disagree.

If people want to hound other posters about silly stuff they should not complain when they are called out on it .

Tripe is best boiled .

Brilliant post. Thank god you post on here.

Because I would not dream of posting to somebody at that hour but you and the other lad thought that was ok.

We all have family and work situations... you don't know mine , but I don't need people replying to me past 1am in the morning if you don't mind , even if I am online reading .

The current UK government is probably more to the left than Harold Wilson's labour government was. TINO, Tory in name only.

After today, it is very obvious we are not neutral, the very people who are waving Palestinian flags and telling us to take in more asylum seekers and take them all at face value. Will we be bleating on how we can't join Nato or a European defence group because we are neutral.

Our government have made far too much noise about what is happening in the middle east. Yes, condemn the atrocities, but don't put all your eggs in one sides basket.