Mary Lou strongly opposes closed door to EU migration

[FutureTaoiseach]

Ireland is being hypocritical as it's people went round the world in just the way that poor people from eastern Europe are trying to better themselves ... and now that the Irish have come up in the world they don't want to know ... even to the point of not wanting their own people home .
Blatent hypocrisy to be shipping families off in dead of night while ass-licking the yanks to try and stop the Irish illegals being deported.

We have no problem with our own people returning here. But we have gotten to a stage in terms of the non-national population that it took Britain, Germany and France 50, 40 and 30 years to get to (around 10%+) in just 10 years. We have already been more generous than most of Europe on this issue and are entitled to pull the brakes at this stage. And as for us going "all over the world", so too did the English, French, Spanish etc. and they are cracking down hard on immigration, so don't give me that.

[Mise_Eire]

We have no problem with our own people returning here.

Strange then that you are doing so much ass-licking with the yanks to stop them returning some 50,000 illegals ....

And you haven't made much of an effort to help the burnt-out Irish people living in horrible circumstances in GB return home ......

[Catalpa]

An average of 5% annual growth in our living standards maintained for some 15 years was not feckin awful at all - it was bloody amazing!

Where and with what other Economy are you comparing this growth rate with BTW?

Sighs - try and think man - or woman.

The point I'm making is that when you start from an absolutely feckin awful baseline, a huge growth rate doesn't necessarily mean that you become wealthy - it means that you may have moved from being a basket case to being woeful.

Think about it - the economy of somewhere like Somalia could have a 100% growth rate in a decade - but it still wouldn't be a rich country...because it's starting at the very bottom of the heap.

Ireland is being hypocritical as it's people went round the world in just the way that poor people from eastern Europe are trying to better themselves ... and now that the Irish have come up in the world they don't want to know ... even to the point of not wanting their own people home .
Blatent hypocrisy to be shipping families off in dead of night while ass-licking the yanks to try and stop the Irish illegals being deported.

Well we were a basket case from around 1980 until about 1994 IIRC. Given your line of reasoning the growth rate of the Celtic Tiger could be described as 'woeful' too given we strarted from such a low base.

BTW this State in the 1960's had a good standard of living, well above the European average if all European States are included.

even to the point of not wanting their own people home .

Got a Link to that one please?- because TBH at this stage in the thread your beginning to sound like a BS.

[FutureTaoiseach]

We have no problem with our own people returning here.

Strange then that you are doing so much ass-licking with the yanks to stop them returning some 50,000 illegals ....

And you haven't made much of an effort to help the burnt-out Irish people living in horrible circumstances in GB return home ......

I don't entirely agree with Ahern's policy on Irish illegals in the US. I think though that we are entitled to put our own people first, wherever they live in the world. I don't favour an amnesty for the Irish in the US, but I think those with strong roots there over decades should be perhaps treated more leniently and let stay. Illegals who came over in the last 5 years though have a weak case, coming as they did from a rich country. I agree we should help Irish in the UK and elsewhere and want to return to do so. But when you say "You haven't" I remind you I am not the govt (whatever I might wish).

[Mise_Eire]

Well we were a basket case from around 1980 until about 1994 IIRC. Given your line of reasoning the growth rate of the Celtic Tiger could be described as 'woeful' too given we strarted from such a low base.

DOH! -you really are SLOW .... where did I claim that the growth rate was woeful?

even to the point of not wanting their own people home .

Got a Link to that one please?- because TBH at this stage in the thread your beginning to sound like a BS.

Too lazy to google ?

In advance of last Friday, and one of those increasingly awkward and embarrassing Paddy's Day White House falderols, Bertie Ahern promised to bring the issue of illegal Irish immigration to the top of the agenda with George Bush.

And isn't it funny that so many of those Irish people, who are quick to call for the deportation of foreign asylum seekers from our own shores, are the first to start blubbering when the same rules are applied to Irish illegals in America?

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ ... e_id=13822

No favours for Irish illegals in America

HOPES of a special deal for 50,000 Irish illegals living in America have been dashed.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been told there can be no individual arrangements to help the Irish obtain legal status.

Instead Republican Senator John McCain insisted the workers could only be included in an overall agreement dealing with the 12million such foreigners believed to be in America.

But he said he was hopeful legislation he and Senator Ted Kennedy are championing will prevail over more draconian attempts to tighten immigration laws.

But Mr Ahern pledged to keep up pressure on the issue as he conducted intensive lobbying which saw him meeting other leading political figures as well as being guest of honour at a Congressional lunch attended by US President George W Bush.

Irish politicians have been touring America trying to drum-up support for special measures to help Irish people living illegally in America.

But it seems their fate will now rest on the McCain-Kennedy Bill which aims to grant legal status to immigrants if they can prove they are gainfully employed and have committed no crime.

The Bill would apply to all nationalities but has faced hostility from some right-wing opponents.

Senator Kennedy said: "The status of the 50,000 to 70,000 undocumented Irish in America needs to be adjusted."

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpo ... merica.asp

Ahern in final push to help illegal emigrants

IRISH Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern will fly to Washington this week in a final push to try to help illegal emigrants in America.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpo ... grants.asp

[jady88]

As a nation we must place our citizens first. This is a basic principle of any society. However we should not become completely wrapped up in this notion of "protecting" ourselves.

[Mise_Eire]

But when you say "You haven't" I remind you I am not the govt (whatever I might wish).

I was using the "you" in response to your use of the royal "we "

We have no problem with our own people returning here.

[sackville]

However we should not become completely wrapped up in this notion of "protecting" ourselves.

big risk of that under your crowd!

[wizzard]

UK business leaders seek 'unlimited immigration' from new EU states

The leaders of Britain's biggest businesses employing millions of people have called on the Government to allow unlimited immigration from Bulgaria and Romania when the two former Eastern Bloc states join the European Union on 01 January, 2007.

They said any break in the "open door" policy that has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants from Poland and other eastern European countries come to Britain would be a major mistake. The business leaders have put their names to a statement issued by the Business for New Europe Group (BNEG), a pressure group calling for further integration.

[FutureTaoiseach]

Of course companies want an open-door to endless cheap labour.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaki ... king40.htm

Low wages at Jurys exposed in UK TV report

Workers at one of Ireland's most famous tourism companies, Jurys Hotels, are being paid less than a third of the minimum wage, according to a British television report today.

An undercover investigation at the Jurys Inn, Southampton in the south of England, revealed some workers were receiving less than stg£1.50 per day. The national minimum wage in the UK £5.05.

The workers were employed by a firm called Foremost Logistics Services, which were subcontracted to Jury's Inn.

The Sky News report shows eastern European workers, many of whom have little or no English, performing housekeeping duties working an average 6-hour-day.

The broadcast shows a supervisor telling an undercover reporter he would be paid £10 a day while training. She also said he could expect to clean up to 16 rooms per day once he became proficient.

But after six days, the reporter only managed to earn £58.

Cleaning rooms at a rate of 16 per day would leave a worker earning marginally less than minimum wage and the report found the most rooms anyone cleaned was 12.

Time sheets obtained by the reporter showed that over four days only three members of the housekeeping staff earned more than minimum wage.

When the reporter brought his concerns to the attention of the subcontractor's supervisor and the hotel manager, they refused to discuss the matter and threatened to have him removed by security.

The hotel manager said she was "not bothered" that the cleaning company was not operating in line with minimum wage requirements.