Asylum seekers need help.. as do many Irish people with no home
IF the public is sceptical of the Government’s plans to house an annual influx of up to 16,000 asylum seekers, it has every right to be.
When the Coalition of Chaos can’t find homes for a record number of 13,530 Irish people languishing in emergency accommodation, sometimes for years, people have every right to be suspicious.
While ministers and their NGO camp followers maintain there is no link between the housing crisis and huge numbers of people coming to this country, that is clearly not the case.
If there are a finite number of units and a huge demand fuelled by an exploding population in an already dysfunctional housing market, how could it be otherwise?
An Irish Times poll this week revealed that the most dominant issue for voters is immigration followed by housing.
However, the Government seems to be oblivious to the public’s concerns as within 24 hours of that survey ministers announced Ireland will opt into the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact which could see tens of thousands more asylum seekers flood into this country. Already
Ireland is seen as a soft touch when it comes to migration as deportation is extremely rare even if permission to remain here is refused.
Indeed official figures show up to 70% of people on average seeking asylum each week have made a similar application in another country.
Ireland opting into the Asylum and Migration Pact could make Ireland an even more attractive destination.
The Government hopes to move away from using private accommodation such as hotels and guest houses and intends building 14,000 beds for international protection applicants by 2028.
This will come as a blow to the millionaires created by the Government which has spent billions of taxpayers’ money renting private accommodation for migrants. But there’s a silver lining for their pals in the construction sector as those billions will now be diverted to the building of huge reception centres around the country.
Proving ministers learned nothing from the referendum humiliation, the Cabinet signed off on this radical move without public consultation or Dail scrutiny.
To meet the expected influx, thousands of prefabs and modular homes will be built on State lands.
The 13,530 Irish people in emergency accommodation and the tens of thousands of families on housing lists might well ask why similar emergency measures were never enacted to help them.
In a separate programme, which went under the radar this week, it is being proposed up to 120 local authority homes be made available annually for Syrian and Lebanese refugees.
Good luck to politicians from Government parties in the run up to the local elections explaining to families who are years on waiting lists why people from the Middle East are getting new homes ahead of them.
Sinn Fein, feeling the heat from their supporters, claimed the majority of measures contained in the Asylum and Migration Pact are not in this country’s interests.
Justice spokesman Pa Daly said the party is opposed to open borders and called for a “well-managed migration system – one that is fair, efficient and en forced”. The aim of the Government’s new plan is to dispense with the old Direct Provision system and move newly-arrived asylum seekers into reception centres until a decision is made on their status.
The Government has not addressed the potentially dire consequences of the decision they made and are merely replacing one crisis with another in the very near future.
If recent polls are to be believed – up to 75% want limits – the Government opted into the new EU Migration Pact against the express wishes of the Irish people.
Ministers are also not heeding the findings of the Department of Defence commissioned National Risk Assessment published yesterday which suggests that, in a worst case scenario “mass inward population displacement” could overwhelm the economy.
Denmark on the other hand decided to opt out and can now set its own limits on the numbers coming to that country.
In the future when the numbers of migrants increase no doubt government ministers will once again claim they are powerless to act due to their “international obligations” which they entered into voluntarily. Unless I’m mistaken, I’ve yet to hear a Government minister state they have an obligation to provide housing for their own citizens.
Government has not addressed the potentially dire consequences