Exactly. Time to say “enough already”. We can’t afford for ourselves at the mo. Time to apply the brakes.

@Declan: We can afford ourselves. Ireland has always been running at a loss. The scale has increased. We just choose to spend the money we have on baillng out private gamblers in banks.
It serves the power mongers well to have people argue over these issues because it A)Distracts us from what they are doing which would make us very angry and demand change and B) It makes us argue with each other, divide and conquer.

There’s always one !

As sure as the sun rises in the morning.

The help is there for homeless people but the majority of them are drug addicts and need to sort out that problem first, otherwise they’ll always be homeless.

This bill is justified, why should asylum seekers not have accommodation, food and a few comforts while their fate is decided, If they’re seeking asylum, they’ve obviously been through something terrible and had to uproot and leave their own country. It works out at around €13,750 to look after them.

That may be true in some cases, Damien. However, I suspect not all “asylum” cases are genuine. Not every story is genuine. I don’t say that in a heartless way. I say that to be realistic. Look at the Nigerian woman who was deported recently from Sligo. She lied & cost the taxpayers a hell of a lot of money. The bill may be justified in some cases but not “all” cases.

@Declan: The comment never said ALL cases. Why is that your focus? As for the Nigerian asylum seeker looking to staying Ireland, she did lie. And if it was a cultural practice in my home place that young girls should have their Clitoris cut off (FGM) which was what she was trying to avoid, I would probably lie too.

It wasn’t cultural practice in her (Pamela Izevbekhai) country.

It is practised in small pockets on Nigeria which is a *huge* country.

This lady had lived in britain, and her husband continued to live there. She was refused alylum here a number of times previously.

Her husband was arrested in the back of a van being smuggled over the border
She lied in court, and produced false paperwork.
There was solid evidence that the ’3rd daughter’ never existed !!! There was no birth cert nor death cert in the hospitals.

We should have aleays had a tighter system, and it tokk us some years to cop-on and tighten it up.
All these people meed to be returned unless they can produce solid verifiable evidence of persecution.

@Johnny: I didn’t say it was a cultural practice in all of Nigeria. My comment says ‘Home place’. Also, one of the challenges for asylum seekers in producing hard evidence is, for example, if you are fleeing political persecution from a state or power institution that you speak out against and the gardai call that state to ask if their story is true, What do you think the home authorities will say?

@Alan

Handy that isn’t it ??

Agreed charity begins at home , time to say no and stop has come and its been long overdue,system has been abused eg how can a nigerian or chinese person seeking asylunmake ireland the country of choice when it is obvious that they stopped in other countries before, scam!!!!

Could it not be that some of those people were granted citizenship, were deported, returned by themselves, decided to get new identities or just got lost in the system.?! I dread to think of the true and actual figures representing the time between 1999-2012!

10s OF 1000s OF FOREIGNERS STILL MOVING TO IRELAND

Here is part of your answer
DESPITE migration into Ireland dropping since 2006, 10s of 1000s of foreigners are still coming to live in Ireland every year.

Central Statistics Office(CSO) figures have surprised those who believed Ireland was no longer appealing to those from outside our shores.While the demise of the Celtic Tiger has made this country less attractive to migrants, it remains the destination of choice for large numbers of ‘new Irish’.
Examiner July 01, 2011

Now that…is a good question

very profitable business asylum seekers,a lot of connections to a certain political party

An asylum seeker receives ?19.10 per week to cover all incidentals. Do you really think we are spoiling them? Compare it to the dole, We all know people, Irish people, who actively avoid work so they can enjoy the trappings of the state such as medical cards, public transport, rent allowance etc. And they are not in fear of their lives ot their freedom, unlike an asylum seeker.

Alan I don’t believe that for one second. Where does all the gold, new clothes, phones and money for getting their hair come from? They must be given taxis and plates by the government because they would be a long time saving that up!

Disgusting… It should be a countries number 1 priority to protect the weak and endangered. No matter what side of an imaginary line they happened to e born.

I Love Lamp do you know for certain that these people you see covered in gold with fancy new phones and so on are asylum seekers ? Not every brown/black person is an Asylum Seeker.

I can hear the ‘they took our jobs’ from here.

I forgot to say I would much rather they were working. If they’re better for a job than an Irish person, that’s the Irish persons fault and the best person for it should get it.

I wouldn’t say well. I would say those in the asylum process are existing until the have been granted or denied asylum and then can get on with the rest of their lives. Oh and I think you should youtube ‘South Park they took our jobs’ to understand what I was really getting at!

I was thinking that I was going to link it myself.

@Ilovelamp: What part dont you believe? As for taxi plates etc, You might be combining Asylum seekers & Economic migrants as the same thing, which they are not. Not every ethnic minority person in Ireland is asylum seeker. Some are just like my mates who went abroad from Ireland to find work and opportunity.

I’m sorry but I didn’t realise they handed out visas to live here for taxi drivers. My brothers girlfriend from Canada had a hard enough time getting in here to stay for a couple of months.

Why did she have a hard time getting here from Canada? it is very straight forward.

Vote for Mick Jones.

alan Hayes

You are a full on pro immigration gombeen. You are fully on board with the no-nations no bordes marxist nutjobs. You are nearly there with making sure the rest of us have no front or back door, and only the high priests of multicult get to have that, such as yourself. What a selfish Gob****.

They get 20 quid a week, do not pay for room and shelter, they get 3 square meals a day, have heat and electricity. They also are entitled to exceptional needs payments, which can allow them a whole array of itmes like phones etc. And dear boyo, it has been proven and stated by the state that the majority of asylum seekers are not in fear of their lives and are in fact telling lies.

Back to certain death in many circumstances? You sound like a real nice person Louise. Hope you never have to flee your country and seek shelter in another because you are being persecuted.

What about back to the country they came from Paul? Last time I checked we don’t border any war torn countries, sad reality is the asylum system in this country has been abused and tarnished by fraudsters and crinimals like Pamela Izevbekhai making it harder for genuine cases!

Your comment doesnt any sense. What does bordering war torn countries have to do with it? There is more than one way to get out of a country where you are persecuted than by crossing the border into the nearest country. Under international law we have obligations to provide safe haven to those who flee persecution because of their race, religious beliefs, nationality, political opinion or membership of a social group. Do you suggest we become global pariahs and extricate ourselves from the Geneva convention? I think you are confusing the issue of applying for asylum in the first country of entry in the EU with the rest of the world. Those seeking asylum in an EU country need to do so in the first EU country they enter. This does not apply outside of the EU. Now the last time I checked the EU was in bad shape but we have got to the war torn state just yet so. Yes the asylum system can be abused but it is not fair to tar everyone with the same brush and it is horrific to suggest that we would send someone back to a country where there is a risk that they would be persecuted. Absolutely barbaric.

@Paul, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure our transport hubs don’t have many non-European countries as entry points so I would have to think that when we say send them back, let’s send them back along the countries that they’ve already travelled through.

Its not a fact. Its a generalization.

It’s a reality Alan! Majority of Asylum seekers in this country are economic migrants! Cant imagine many refugees can afford to hop on a flight and fly half way around the world! ‘One way ticket to Ireland please!’

@mac: You want the border closed? Coming from the north? Then you want the army out? Are you leaning to the right? Careful you don’t fall over.

I remember when the ASYLUM SEEKERS guaranteed the bank debt after the ASYLUM SEEKERS and ASYLUM SEEKERS had ran up speculative debts on the property boom. Then I recall CHIEF ASYLUM SEEKER saying, it’s ASYLUM SEEKERS way or Frankfurt’s way. And that was the day I realised that it was the ASYLUM SEEKERS who ruined the economy :)

Send a few people back to countries where they will be raped, beaten, mutilated and or murdered etc.. because we could save a few bob? Who wants to live in a country that would sanction such atrocities!

Paul, thats a bizarre and emotional statement to make.
On what basis do you make such a comment ??
how do you know these things ??

Because then the debate will be about who is saying for the boat.

What work? there’s over 400,000 umemployed in this country, we can’t afford to take these people so matter how much we would like to.

Troll

Wasn’t Australia stolen from the Aboriginal People? Wasn’t Australia populated with planters and convicts? LoL you have no heritage in Australia.

yes we have heritage, we are a young prosperous nation and moving forward all the time. no history is pretty and the aboriginals received an official apology. kinda lame coming from the Irish like yourself. you keep coming here in 100s daily.

I knew the racist card would be thrown at some stage. Throwing the “r” card will not stifle debate, Mike P. I am of the opinion that if someone throws the racist card, that person really has no argument. Just throw the “r” card to shut people up & stifle debate. Peoples comments here are realistic to date. So – the “racist” card doesn’t wash with me.

It’s the neoliberal agenda.

@Declan: Have you anything to say about the rest of his comment?

When people use the racist card you should trump them with a full house…

@Alan: Apparently he doesn’t…

“Most asylum seekers are here because they are being persecuted”

On what basis do you make that statement ??

What is wrong with people Sean is that most people are not aware of the subtle machinations of the right wing media. They don’t see what yourself and myself see, a concerted effort to apportion blame to the weak and vulnerable in society instead of the people who really are to blame for the economic collapse, i.e. their mates. I’d rather spend €1bn on helping asylum seekers than on bailing out bankers, which is what we’ll be doing in the coming weeks with more bond payments going into the black hole.

Wolfgang,
What evidence do you have that they have had ‘terrible lives’ ?
Because they said so ?

If I was having a terrible life in Ireland, I could afford to fly almost a thousand miles over 7 countries to get away from it !!

i had really hoped our naiveity in this area had passed, but sadly it seems not.

@Johnny: That’s why most of the worlds refugees live in neighbouring countries to where they flee. Because they eime from the poorest parts of the world. Because they don’t have money and because they live in hope that they can return to see their family & friends in the future.

Ok, go fly over to the countries they’re coming in from and see how well you live there.

Good to see vacuous racism alive and well.

Haha, amazingly enough I actually agree with you Wolfgang. The journal is a strange place. Mild racism is perfectly acceptable here. And I would guess that mild racism is fairly acceptable in SF circles too.

Poor argument Paul! Your whole statement there is racist! Are you saying only black people can be asylum seekers?

Its not at argument, its an observation. So many people saying get out, we dont have enough, they are rich, taking advantage etc…. Its quite clear the majority of people here haven’t got a clue what the different between an asylum seeker and an economic immigrant is. It doesnt take a genius to work out that the majority of ethnic minorities in Ireland are not native Irish. The uninformed tend to assume that anyone who does not look like themselves is an ‘asylum seeker’ and here to take advantage. I wonder how many people have ever actually met an asylum seeker and listened to their story as to why they are here? And anyone who has and still believes they should be sent back because we can’t afford to give them shelter then is a complete heartless moron.

Obama is Irish.

WTF has this got to do with Obama? Who ever said the Asylum issue was a race issue? Loose change Mensah? Right now we’re borrowing money to pay the welfare/public sector bills and to keep the street lights on! The RaceCard is a tired cliché!

Deport deport its the only way most of these asylum seekers are scam artists and want to play the system, we must say no and go ath the same time no, not wanted not needed we have our own problems at home without importing the problems of others who just want to play the system for what they can get

“most of the asylum seekers are scam artists” Now, kind sir, will you link me to academically referenced and peer reviewed research proving said claims? No, cause you made em up :)

Martin
Here you go smug wimpboy, apart from the fact that anyone by virtue of being here has skipped over an array of safe countries is by definition here fraudulantly and thus a scammer. But your look-down-your-nose wannabe better than you, attitude of smugly thinking that you have the uncounterable arguments and any who support strict border control must be uneducated, is a banner signalling your own insecurity and weakness typified by exetreme lefties. Pathetic.

MAJORITY ASYLUM-SEEKERS PAY TRAFFICKERS AND USE FALSE PASSPORTS

“The asylum system is open to abuse, it is being abused, and has proven itself to be costly in terms of establishing the ‘bona fides’ of asylum seekers who manage to travel here.”
said an Official Justice Dept. source

The majority of people who seek asylum in Ireland pay traffickers to get to Dublin using false passports.
Sunday Times: 13 Sept 2009

Smug wimpboy? Aww, upset you did I Lorna “The racist” Mulreavy ;)