Dick Spring suggests a halt to Immigration!

[kerrynorth]

Dick Spring was on the panel of the Marian Finucane show yesterday. I was listening to the first part of the programme from 11am (I prefer Sam Smyths at 1130am on Today FM myself!) when the matter of immigration was rasied I was surprised to hear Dick congragulate Enda Kenny for his comments on immigration and he suggested that we should halt the levels of immigration due to the pressures it was putting on public services especially on the health services where an additional 200000/annum population was going to mean that public services were going to deteriorate further. He was not happy either with the notion that 20% of the population could be non-national within 5 years.

He heavily criticised the profession of politics for failing to deal with or even discuss these issues and that this was principally because if you raised the issue of immigration then you would be tagged as a racist or of having played the race card. He also referred to the lack of integration saying that he often sees (in Tralee) immigrants going to the supermarket or off-licence on a Friday evening stocking up for the weekend and making no effort to integrate with the locals.

Even more surprising was that none of the panel disagreed with him. Marian Finucane seemed to positively agree with him. I could not have imagined a couple of months ago that a discussion on immigration taking place in such a calm and rational manner without people throwing the racist tag at one another.

Has there been a sea change in attitude on immigration in the Labour Party or in society in general over the last few months. It is well worth a listen if RTE have it up on podcast!

[Munion]

*ahem, clears his throat*

RACIST! RACIST! RACIST!!!

Just thought i'd get the stale, usual chant in that arises whenever anyone ever wants to even discuss immigration.

I listened to the programme myself and agreed with a lot Dick had to say.

[jimmyireland]

Terry O'Brien the Labour Party candidate in Kerry North and the man charged to win back dic's seat went on Radio Kerry this morning and agreed with him.....

[kerrynorth]

Terry O'Brien the Labour Party candidate in Kerry North and the man charged to win back dic's seat went on Radio Kerry this morning and agreed with him.....

I missed that Jimmy, was it on Kerry Today, I turned it off at 10am.

[dealmachtigeier]

What kind of immigration was he talking about?

Immigration from other EU member states cannot be stopped, so that's a non issue.

Immigration from non-EU member states can of course be stopped and it would be irresponsible of any government to allow anyone who wants enter the country.

The question is: should immigration from outside of the EU be stopped?
Do we need workers from outside of the EU in Ireland? If we do then it's foolish to talk about closing our borders.

If we're talking about asylum-seekers then that's a completely different question. We're obliged to accept genuie cases. Problems arise when we don't deal with applications quickly enough.

Immigration is closely related to integration.

People who make a positive decision to come join Irish society, to live and to work in Ireland will by far be more inclined to integrate into Irish society, if their integration has been a happy experience.

[kerrynorth]

What kind of immigration was he talking about?

He was against the open ended immigration that would include the open labour market to the EU accession states.

[FutureLabourLeader]

It is quite clear from our neighbours in Britain and France country's which have experienced high rates of immigration over the years that serious problems open up in particularly in areas such as adequate housing and standards of living and general public services. Lack of integration can also lead to ignornace and twnsion on both sides take some elements of the Muslim community in Britain for example.

[angelcountry]

First and foremost if we're thinking of halting immigrations to our
Country we must take a look at the figures coming into the country
Before we open our ''basket'' to be honest.


Then is it a must that the non-national participate in our local life or pub
Life before they're accepted as part of us :
But we must recognise that every citizen has the right to live their life the
Way they like as far as they did not contravene the law or another
Person freedom which is one of the basic concept of the law and life.

But we must aslo recognises that our own people does uses our health
Services aswell dont they :

But for the non-nationals it's like they should die if possible because of
Our greed and hate,well to be honest i think it's about time the
Government discuss it in the election and put a stop on the racism
Against the non-national in the state.

[jimmyireland]

Terry O'Brien the Labour Party candidate in Kerry North and the man charged to win back dic's seat went on Radio Kerry this morning and agreed with him.....

I missed that Jimmy, was it on Kerry Today, I turned it off at 10am.

ya...was on at about 10.10

[angelcountry]

First and foremost if we're thinking of halting immigrations to our
Country we must take a look at the figures coming into the country
Before we open our ''basket'' to be honest.


Then is it a must that the non-national participate in our local life or pub
Life before they're accepted as part of us :
But we must recognise that every citizen has the right to live their life the
Way they like as far as they did not contravene the law or another
Person freedom which is one of the basic concept of the law and life.

But we must aslo recognises that our own people does uses our health
Services aswell dont they :

But for the non-nationals it's like they should die if possible because of
Our greed and hate,well to be honest i think it's about time the
Government discuss it in the election and put a stop on the racism
Against the non-national in the state.

I think it's good for political discusion in reality :!: