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News Archive 2008» Conor Lenihan pushes the myth of replacement migration» 230 immigrants per day still arriving » Migrants fill 90% of new jobs as inward flow continues » 39% of people recieving rent supplement are foreigners » Dramatic drop in deportations due to 'softer' approach » Lisbon highlights the need for a debate on immigration » Immigration concern helped to boost No vote » Immigration 'new major concern' » No Irish pupils enroll at Dublin School » Principal calls for guidelines on wearing of hijab in schools » Equality ruling favours foreign workers » Where have all the Irish gone? » Bertie acknowledges problem but not that he created it » Most Asylum Seekers come here from UK » Migration has brought 'zero' economic benefit (UK) » Foreigners eight times more likely to attempt fraudulent child benefit claims than Irish » Mystery over identity of two foreign prisoners » Convicted Nigerian fraudster got Army medical job » Rise in AIDS due to Immigration » Censorship of ICP: Philosophical Society, T.C.D. Withdraws Speaking Invitation » 30% of prison population are foreign nationals » More than 100,000 Chinese live here already » Muslim Britain is becoming one big no-go area » New asylum scam exposed Back to Latest News» Back to Latest News SectionConor Lenihan pushes the myth of replacement migrationIn an extraordinary new twist to the immigration debate, Conor Lenihan, speaking at the Parnell Summer School on August 14 2008, has introduced the myth of replacement migration in relation to Ireland. In other words we are not, he says, having enough children to sustain our population and so we must bring in immigrants. This myth is demographic nonsense and was totally demolished by Anthony Browne in his book "Do We Need Mass Immigration?" Read the article by our PRO first published in The Irish Times, 10 August 2004 230 immigrants per day still arrivingEmigration is up; unemployment is up; and still 230 migrants enter the country every day. Writing in the Irish Independent August 20 David McWilliams says: "The political implications of a return of Irish emigration, coupled with net immigration into the country are again straightforward. People will get angry if 'our own' are forced to live in Queens or Camden while the country plays host to all sorts of foreigners. This is not a racist comment; it’s a political reality." Migrants fill 90% of new jobs as inward flow continuesIRELAND WILL continue to receive a significant number of migrants despite the downturn in the economy and a rise in emigration, Minister for Integration Conor Lenihan told the Parnell Summer School in Avondale, Co Wicklow, yesterday. Though PPS numbers allocated to migrants were down 40 per cent for the first six months of this year, "the flow continues inwards and 90 per cent of new jobs created in the economy have gone to migrants", the Minister said. This would continue, as would emigration, in a twofold process that was also a feature of other EU countries. He noted, for instance, that between 600,000 and 700,000 people left the UK annually. He also said that, while it was proposed that proficiency in English be mandatory for success in migrants securing Irish citizenship or permanent residency, he believed this should also be a requirement for success in their securing a work permit. Mr Lenihan said "inward migration will be a permanent feature of Irish society over the next 30 to 40 years". He noted that 12 per cent of children in Irish primary schools were the children of migrants or foreign-born parents, while the figure for post-primary schools was 7 per cent and growing. Link 39% of people recieving rent supplement are foreignersTHE State is spending around €150m a year hosting a "United Nations" of nationalities in rented properties, according to new figures. People from 161 different countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, are in receipt of the free rental allowance. They account for 39pc of the 63,000 people on the means-tested scheme, which costs a total of €390m annually and is generally open only to those who are unemployed. Although 61pc of people on the scheme are Irish, the numbers of immigrants on rent allowance has been increasing steadily. There are more than 3,000 from Nigeria, 3,000 from the UK, 1,950 from Poland and 1,130 from Romania. Small countries like the Bahamas, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Grenada and Honduras have just one citizen each on the scheme. Those also claiming rent supplement include 15 people from Cuba, 22 from Burma, 27 from Chechnya, 29 from Uzbekistan, 49 from Eritrea, 130 from Zimbabwe and 132 from Estonia. Dramatic drop in deportations due to 'softer' approachThe number of would-be refugees being deported has dramatically fallen even though more than 6,000 failed asylum- seekers are classified as "evading deportation". Immigration sources said it appeared a much softer approach was now being taken when it came to enforcing deportation orders, with only 43 people returned to their home in the first five months of the year. Immigration sources said it appeared a much softer approach was now being taken when it came to enforcing deportation orders, with only 43 people returned to their home in the first five months of the year. The numbers have shown a six-fold decline compared to 2004, when 599 people were deported. This year, the number is not expected to exceed 100, the lowest since large numbers of asylum-seekers began arriving in the state around a decade ago. In the past five and a half years, successive ministers have signed a total of 8,196 deportation orders, the Department of Justice said. Only 25% of them have been implemented with 2,066 people sent home, some on specially chartered aircraft and others on scheduled flights. So-called "mass deportations" also appear to have been phased out with only eight asylum-seekers deported. The departmental figures also reveal that since the beginning of 2003, a massive 6,173 people have either vanished or failed to appear for deportation. Lisbon highlights the need for a debate on immigrationBy Tom McGurk This column has been predicting it for some time and it may finally be about to happen: a debate about immigration and its wider consequences for Ireland. It could even be a debate free of the deadening influence of the politically correct. Indeed, in the aftermath of a close analysis of the result of the Lisbon Treaty referendum, which has revealed the extent to which public reaction to immigration fuelled the No vote, the timing could hardly be more appropriate. If growing concern about immigration in Ireland helped to fuel the No vote, some of the analysis of that vote is most revealing. For example, young people voted No by a margin of two to one; the majority of women voted No; and a large number of people who rarely vote in general elections also voted No on this occasion. Who could have expected such a result from such a gender and age profile section of the electorate? Given that it is also normally expected that a younger generation - particularly those who could be described as ‘‘Ireland’s euro generation’’ - would be more sympathetic to the challenge of a changing Ireland within the new European experiment, the size of this young No vote was totally unexpected. Why should so many young Irish be in such a mood? Add to this the fact that the turnout in working-class areas was unusually high, and that so many who normally don’t vote in general elections came out. Can one doubt the widening levels of public concern? For example, is this young anti-Lisbon vote about their growing concerns for their employment prospects and the shape of Irish society in the context of recent levels of immigration? Nobody knows, but is it an unreasonable conclusion to draw? Nor can there be any doubt that the Lisbon vote has at long last shaken our political classes out of their torpor. Those who for almost a decade have been hiding behind the platitudes of the ‘‘new Irish’’ multicultural jargon have suddenly realised that immigration has become a significant political issue. It is out there in their constituencies, and it’s a live issue. Recently, both Labour’s Ruairi Quinn and Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes admitted that they had been wrong about their previous advocacy of multiculturalism, and are now advocating a policy of integration instead. In the context of the controversy about the wearing of the Muslim hijab, Quinn said: ‘‘If people want to come into a western society that is Christian and secular, they need to conform to the rules and regulations of that country.” Hayes was even more emphatic, saying that it makes absolute sense that there is one uniform for everyone, and that the wearing of the hijab was not a fundamental requirement to be a Muslim, but more an example of modesty and cultural mores. The question of immigration has also finally reached the Dail. Last week, in a post-mortem debate on Lisbon, there was a general if somewhat reluctant agreement across all the parties that reaction to immigration had widely influenced the No vote. TDs Mary Harney, Joan Burton, Lucinda Creighton and Michael McGrath all expressed this opinion, while Chris Andrews of Fianna Fail went so far as to say: ‘‘Multiculturalism is not the way forward and strict integration is the best option. When one considers the examples of France and England, one will realise diversity has brought considerable problems. Ireland must address this matter.” But who is to address this matter, now that a serious debate - as opposed to a happy-clappy one - is threatening to break out? Look at the reaction of the National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPR) to the Lisbon vote. According to the NAPR, a government funded-body set up by Michael McDowell when he was minister for justice, if you voted No to Lisbon, you were somehow being racist. So some 54 per cent of the Irish electorate are racist? Ask Lucy Gaffney, chairperson of the NAPR, whose assertion this was. According to the NAPR website this week, Gaffney said: ‘‘The revelation that immigration was a contributory factor towards the No vote in the referendum demonstrates the major challenge of confronting and eliminating racism in modern Ireland. For all of us who are active in the area of integration, anti-racism and multiculturalism, this is extremely worrying.” This is precisely the sort of comment that has so damaged the complex task of creating integration in Ireland and in the process angered so many people. How extraordinary that an authentic expression of the public’s concern about immigration expressed in the Lisbon vote should produce such a reaction. Sometimes one wonders, given Gaffney’s remarks, if the organisations set up to help immigrants are the ones most likely to hinder them. Like most people involved in the vast number of organisations that have sprung up around immigration in Ireland, Gaffney is the classic well-heeled do-gooder whose expertise is in business, not social policy. Beside these government-funded organisations and quangos that have sprung up in the wake of immigration, we also have a vast collection of mostly self-appointed charities which have emerged. They are to be found day in, day out in the streets collecting money. Suddenly, it seems dealing with what they call ‘‘racism in Ireland’’ has become a huge business. The curious thing is that, in my experience, there is little or no evidence of racism in Ireland. Indeed, given the huge numbers who have arrived here and in so short a time, the general reaction here has been exceptionally welcoming. It sometimes seems that, irrespective of what the circumstances are, some of these organisations are determined to find racism in the community. We are the last country in Europe to have a wave of immigration and, for the moment, it seems we are determined on making the same mistakes as all the others made. For example, so much of British and French efforts down the years merely ended up with ethnic ghettos and the creation of a new underclass. In a curious way, the principal mistake that generation of failed multiculturalists made was the enormous intolerance they showed towards people’s fears about immigration. They also ensured that any debate was shackled by such political correctness that most politicians were frightened away. The Lisbon vote has clearly signalled the task facing us in Ireland and, given where the economy seems to be headed, the prospect of rising unemployment and economic downturn raises a classic scenario of competition between immigrants and native Irish for declining resources. That’s not something anybody wants. Immigration concern helped to boost No voteA fear of foreign workers taking jobs and driving down wage rates was an unspoken issue behind the Lisbon No vote. Immigration may not have raised its controversial head in the public debate leading up to the Lisbon Treaty referendum [see Censorship of ICP], but it was certainly on the radar of politicians on the doorsteps. Once the ballot boxes were opened, the issue of migrant workers became ‘the elephant in the room’ that few politicians had wished to confront before the referendum. ‘‘It was definitely there, but nobody really wanted to talk about it,” conceded Fine Gael deputy Leo Varadkar. ‘‘A lot of left-wing campaigns stirred the immigration pot, some deliberately and some unwittingly,” he said. Chris Andrews, Fianna Fail TD for Dublin South East, said politicians were aware of immigration concerns but were reluctant to open a Pandora’s box. ‘‘It has been a festering issue, but you’re not supposed to scratch a sore,” he said. Read in full | See also: No Vote and Immigration Immigration 'new major concern'From The Sunday Business Post, 22 June 2008 based on Red C Poll A clear majority of people say that there should be “much stricter limits on the numbers of foreigners coming into Ireland”. Support for this view is much stronger among those who voted No to the Lisbon Treaty – among whom 65 percent agree, and most of them agree “strongly” – supporting the contention that immigration was an issue in the recent campaign. However, the view is held across all demographics and political allegiances; half of all those who voted for the treaty also support this view. This belief is strongest among working-class voters and those who voted for Sinn Féin in the last general election – 78 percent of whom share this view, compared with 60 per cent of Fine Gael voters, 60 per cent of Labour voters and 57 per cent of Fianna Fáil voters. See also: Lisbon Treaty: No Vote and Immigration No Irish pupils enroll at Dublin School'Changing times as school finds no Irish-born pupils enrolling' Changes in the population were brought into focus yesterday when a Dublin school revealed there isn't a single Irish-born pupil among those enrolled in its infant classes for next year. The school is in the north inner city, where already nearly half the pupils are minority ethnic and language students, and that percentage is rising. Figures from eight local schools in the Dublin 7 area show that there are 1,839 pupils enrolled this year -- of whom nearly half, or 855, are minority ethnic and language students. In one of the schools, 63pc of pupils are from an ethnic minority. Another school with only 292 pupils has 26 minority languages students, while a third with 378 pupils has 25 languages spoken, according to a report launched yesterday. The report does not identify the school where no Irish have applied for places in September, but says that may change as demand for places increases. Dublin 7 is identified as an area of educational disadvantage by the report, which took account of literacy, early school leaving, access to education, academic under-achievement and underdevelopment of interpersonal and social skills. It adds that the north inner city has a significantly higher than average number of ethnic minority residents, standing at 34pc of the population -- or three times the national average, according to the 2006 Census. See Also : White flight in Dublin 15 | Hijab in schools Principal calls for guidelines on wearing of hijab in schoolsTHE PRINCIPAL of one of the largest secondary schools in the State has called on the Minister for Education to issue guidelines on the wearing of the hijab in State schools. This follows the department's refusal to offer advice to the school when a Muslim couple asked last September that their daughter be allowed to wear the headscarf in class. Nicholas Sweetman, principal of Gorey Community School in Co Wexford, said official direction would bring an end to the practice of schools imposing divergent policies and would clarify the issue for schools and Muslim parents. Correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act shows the school wrote to then minister for education Mary Hanafin last October, when a Muslim couple asked that their child wear the hijab in class. Though this contravened the school's rules on uniform, the principal agreed to the request pending approval by the board of management. Equality ruling favours foreign workersCompanies who employ foreign workers face the prospect of substantial compensation claims after one employer was ordered by the Equality Tribunal to pay €290,000 to 58 staff because it did not translate work contracts. Dublin-based Goode Concrete said it will challenge the tribunal’s ruling in favour of its staff, which was published yesterday. Each of the workers was granted €5,000 on the grounds their contracts and safety documents were not produced in their own language or translated by an independent party. This award came to €290,000 with a further €37,000 for three employees the tribunal said had suffered from stress and discriminatory treatment. Orla Goode, the company’s human resources officer, said it would challenge the ruling in the Labour Court. She claimed, if allowed stand, the decision would allow any worker whose contract is not in their home language to make a legitimate discrimination claim. “On the basis that there are 330,000 foreign nationals working in Ireland whose contracts are more than likely printed in English, this could cost employers €1.6 billion" Where have all the Irish gone?The Times Travel News 12/04/08 "Driving westwards from Dublin to the Atlantic, it's no exaggeration to say that your chances of meeting anyone Irish are slim. In the petrol stations, cafés, bars and shops you will find Poles, Lithuanians and Brazilians giving you the cead mile failte. But no Irish". Bertie acknowledges problem but not that he created it
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