All good things must come to an end

Well, folks, I hate to have to tell you this but I'm afraid I will be closing down the aul' blog. :-(

I'm heading back to uni, you see -- as a (*ahem*) mature student (how mature I will be remains to be seen. ;-) ) -- so I plan to be very busy over the next couple of years.

I started this blog nearly a year ago because I was frustrated at the lack of a debate about immigration here in this country. Certainly when 59 per cent of the population say they want much stricter limitations on immigration -- and NO ONE in our government seems to pay attention to that fact -- the need for a debate is an urgent one.

I do see some glimmers of hope that a debate might actually get going one of these days. The NO vote on the Lisbon Treaty also gave me hope that a good many people still value an independent Ireland and want to see its people and traditions preserved.

At the same time, I despair at the apparent obliviousness of so many others to the problems mass immigration usually brings -- as well as to the expansionism of the EU Empire. These are dangerous things to overlook. Our children may yet live to regret it if we fail to put a check on either of these trends.

It's certainly been gratifying, though, to see so many serious and thoughtful commenters who have entered into the discussion here and contributed so much (many, many thanks to you all!) -- including all of the guest bloggers! :-) Special thanks to BogsideBunny, Darren, Pete, Rob, Padraig, Zorro, Bert, and Andy for all the stories, comments, and analyses of their own that they sent me! My co-bloggers, each and every one. :-)

I'll still be checking my email, so feel free to keep in touch if you like! There are, of course, several other (terrific!) Irish bloggers/video bloggers/websites out there who also discuss immigration issues -- among them: PCSCZ; The Irish Savant; The Connolly Column; Corrupt Éire; and the Immigration Control Platform. Keep supporting their efforts (as I will be)! Better yet, start your own blogs (if ye haven't already!). Spread the word! Keep your friends and family and neighbours informed. Get the debate rolling.

Cheers everybody!

Slán agaibh --
Hibernia Girl

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59% of Irish want much stricter limits on immigration to Ireland

Just thought I'd remind everybody.

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So the English are a separate race from the Irish, eh?

Well, at least according to all these journalists (see headlines below) that appears to be the case.

JMJ, this is a LOT of sloppy writing/thinking about racism:

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race; 2: racial prejudice or discrimination. [link]

(Notice the key word there in the definitions? Race.)

The funny thing is, I'm sure most of these journalists would recoil in horror at the idea fact that English people -- as a group -- are actually somewhat distinct from Irish people -- biologically speaking, that is. We're not quite separate races, but we certainly are separate population groups, demonstrating once again that "race is a hierarchical phenomenon":

Thus, at a higher level you have Mongoloids, at a lower levels, Mongoloids are divided to East Asians and Native Americans, at a still lower level as studies have shown, Mongoloids can be divided into northern and southern groups and so on.

It is also important to note that genetic differences become smaller at lower levels of the hierarchy, even though our ability to differentiate between groups is intact. Thus, we can conclude with 100% certainty whether someone is a European vs. African, and also with 100% certainty whether someone is a Russian or a Basque, but obviously Russians are much closer to Basques genetically than Europeans are to Africans. [link]

However, none of this applies to why this English fellow won his discrimination case that he brought before the Equality Tribunal. The decision came down in his favour since he was discriminated against because of his ethnic background, not his race. According to the decision, nobody was slagging this fellow off because he was White (his race); they were abusing him because he was English (his ethnicity). Duh.

Still, the Equality Tribunal apparently also refers to this as 'racism' which is simply a gross misuse of the word that will continue to lead to confusion.

~~~~~

English pipe-fitter awarded €20,000 for abuse
By Grainne Cunningham
Tuesday August 12 2008
AN English pipe-fitter who was taunted, sniggered at and persistently teased about his nationality by work colleagues, has been awarded €20,000 after an Employment Tribunal found he was racially abused....

€20,000 for racially abused English pipe fitter
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
STEVEN CARROLL
AN ENGLISH pipe fitter who was verbally and racially abused while working for an engineering company has been awarded €20,000 in compensation by an Equality Tribunal....

Tribunal signals that discrimination against English people is no joke
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
RONAN McGREEVY
(...) Equality Tribunal director Melanie Pine says such banter could be construed as racism if the recipient is uncomfortable with it....

Englishman wins €20k for racial abuse in workplace
By Sarah Neville
Tuesday August 12 2008
AN Englishman has been awarded €20,000 after Irish colleagues taunted and racially abused him at work....

Compensation awarded for site abuse
1 day ago
An English pipe fitter who was racially abused and taunted in his Irish workplace has been awarded 20,000 euro in compensation....

Firm ordered to compensate employee for racial abuse
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
A Dublin-based engineering company has been ordered to compensate a former employee who was racially abused in the workplace....

Englishman wins Irish race case
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
An English pipe fitter has been awarded 20,000 euro (£15,630) in compensation after being racially abused in his Irish workplace....

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Diversity - Caucasus style

No wonder they don't get along! And here I thought the Balkans had a complicated ethnic composition.

Wikimedia Commons image.

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Poles expected to send MORE money home this year despite economic downturn

That's odd, wouldn't you say? How can that be??

Thanks to Pete (cheers, Pete!) for tipping me to this story from this past Thursday's Indo:

Poles will send home close to €2bn
By Jason O'Brien
Thursday August 07 2008

POLISH workers here are expected to send more money home than ever this year despite the economic downturn, with some commentators believing it will top €2bn.

Last year, Poles sent €1.33bn home from Ireland, according to the Polish Central Bank, NBP. But the bank estimates the figure this year will reach €1.87bn -- despite anecdotal evidence that Eastern European workers are leaving Ireland because of a fall-off in jobs, especially in the construction sector.

However, the actual figure may be higher. Two-thirds of Poles in Ireland send money home, but just 46pc use a bank account to do so. Others use specialist transfer firms such as Western union, or take it home on flights themselves....

Bankers in Poland have pointed out that the huge amount of money pouring into the country from Ireland, Britain and the US is improving the country's balance of payments and making the zloty currency vastly stronger against other currencies -- including the euro. [link]

Enjoy the ironic situation there described in that last sentence? As Pete points out: "So the employment of these people not only deprives local business, and the Exchequer, they weaken the currency overall."

That's right.

Remittances typically have negative effects on a host country's economy. Take the States, for example:

Claim: Remittances are also good for the U.S. economy.

Fact: In the U.S. national income accounts remittances are counted as an export of capital, and therefore a reduction to GDP.

It is often claimed, however, that this reduction ultimately will be more than offset by increased exports to a stronger Mexico. But so far there’s no sign of this. (See Table 1.)

Between 2000 and 2005 remittances increased by 205 percent while exports to Mexico rose by just 8 percent. Over that same period the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico more than doubled.

Not for the first time, the much-touted benefits of America’s immigration disaster turn out to be spurious—even for Mexico. [link]

Remittances might be a sort-of 'developing aid' for some countries, but this aspect of mass immigration is definitely not beneficial to host countries.

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Ten per cent of Irish college students studying in Britain - Ireland losing students because of "a lack of places"

Because those places are being sold to the highest non-EU bidders!!

From Monday's Indo:

Points race sparks top students brain drain
By John Walshe Education Editor
Monday August 11 2008

INTENSE competition for leading college courses has led to a "brain drain" which is driving a high proportion of students abroad.

As many as one in 10 students is leaving to pursue a college career in Britain, new figures obtained by the Irish Independent reveal. They show large numbers are enrolling in high-point and professional courses in Britain such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, journalism, architecture, civil engineering, primary teaching and sports science because they cannot get places here....

However, an analysis of the numbers of Irish students moving to Britain to study shows Ireland is losing many its best students because of a lack of places in colleges here. The figures reveal:

- The numbers studying medicine in the UK jumped from 214 to 523

- the numbers studying teacher training (mainly primary) rose by 50pc

- the numbers taking psychology increased from 470 to 602

- the numbers taking civil engineering and sports science has practically doubled

- half the Irish students in UK are taking postgraduate courses.... [link]

Well, of course the number of Irish students studying medicine in the UK has more than doubled -- 60 per cent of the places here have gone to non-EU students (i.e. those paying high fees).

And those places have gone, in some instances, to students who had lower leaving cert (or equivalent) scores than Irish students.

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Another scandalous higher education situation here in Ireland

As if it's not bad enough that places at Irish universities are being auctioned off to the highest non-EU bidders (legally according to the Irish High Court!), here's a case that the Irish Savant has drawn attention to in which an Irish person is in the scandalous position of having to pay overseas tuition fees:

My parents were both born and got married in Ireland. I was born in Ireland and have an Irish passport. I lived Canada for 5 years as a result of my dads job and came back to Ireland about 1.5 years ago. I applied to several universities in Ireland and got accepted. Now to pay EU fees you have to meet three requirements.

Basically they are: 1. Irish/EU Citizen OR REFUGEE STATUS 2. Lived in Ireland 3 out of last 5 years. Unfortunately I fail the 3 out of 5 year residence rule. So instead of €4000pa I have to pay €20 000 (UPFRONT!!!)pa. I can see the logic behind it - my parents weren't paying tax over to the Irish government so I shouldn't have a subsidized education. What makes me mad is that half ... these refugees don't pay tax and in fact have a negative effect on the country's income because they collect welfare.

Plenty of them have lived in Ireland for the last 3 years but my residence in Ireland before that time is way more extensive. I don't believe the ones that work pay that much tax over anyway. However, they can gladly take a place at the university and pay EU rates. [link]

Something is definitely unfair here.

Read the whole story over @ Savant's site!

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Zounds!

Sorry 'bout the light posting over the past couple of days, but I had to wait until my computer dried out -- after stopping it from floating away, that is!

Have you ever seen so much rain?! :-o

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"It's not a 'democratic deficit' in the EU elite, it's an anti-democratic culture."

Gene Kerrigan on a roll in today's Sunday Independent!:

Screw your No vote is the latest plan

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EU laws are just shhhtupid!

Remember the clever plan announced a fortnight ago to try to lessen welfare (child benefit) fraud? -- i.e. to make claimants pick up their payments at their local Oifig an Phoist in order to ensure that non-nationals hadn't returned home to Poland or Lithuania or wherever, especially given the fact that 13.9pc of non-Irish nationals were involved in child benefits fraud in 2007 (as compared to 1.7pc of Irish nationals). Well, that plan apparently contravenes (shhhtupid) EU laws:

New crackdown on welfare fraud may violate EU law
By RONALD QUINLAN
Sunday August 10 2008

NEW measures aimed at cracking down on welfare fraud announced by Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin contravene EU law, the Sunday Independent has learned.

The proposal to compel newly unemployed Irish and foreign workers to sign for their dole payments at their local post office each week is unenforceable under European legislation protecting the right of social welfare recipients to freedom of movement within the EU....

Ms Hanafin neglected, however, to make reference to EU Regulation 1408/71 which allows any person in any member state receiving unemployment benefit to travel to another EU country in search of work, without losing entitlement to their original benefit....

According to the legislation, the claimant is obliged to remain in Ireland for a period of four weeks after they become unemployed to look for work before leaving.

After that period has elapsed, and having travelled to the other EU country, the claimant is then required to register with the relevant welfare authority there.

From this point on, the claimant is legally entitled to continue claiming unemployment benefit from Ireland for a further three months without having to return here to sign for it.... [link]

"[H]aving travelled to the other EU country, the claimant is then required to register with the relevant welfare authority there...." Can somebody tell me exactly who is going to enforce that??

This is just nonsense. These EU laws are just a license for people to (continue to) scam the welfare system of this and, obviously, other European countries.

More from the article:

Currently, some 600 personnel in the Department of Social and Family Affairs are engaged in the process of detecting welfare abuse and fraud....

600 people dealing with welfare fraud! Think of the costs.

Previously: €15m in child benefits for children living in other EU countries

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"Garda spent €3 million on interpreters last year"

The expenses keep accruing. From the Sunday Business Post:

Garda spent €3 million on interpreters last year
10 August 2008
By Susan Mitchell

The Garda Siochána spent almost €3 million on interpreters last year, as the number of immigrants requiring translators continued to grow.

The Garda deals with over 200 languages and dialects on a regular basis. Between 30 and 40 companies provided interpretation services to the Garda last year, a spokesman said.

The Garda recently issued a tender for the contract, which is the biggest public sector interpreting contract in the state....

The contracts to translate for the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Courts Service and the Garda are the biggest public sector translation contracts in the country.

Together, the three bodies had an annual bill of about €5.75 million in 2007.

The HSE spent €750,000 on interpreting in 2007....

The Courts Service has a contract with Lionbridge, a multinational company with an office in Dublin. The Courts Service spent more than €2 million on interpreting last year, and expects to spend €2.5 million this year.... [link]

Garda Siochána '07 = almost €3 million
Courts Service '07 = €2+ million
HSE '07 = €750,000

And, from a previous post, Legal Aid Board '07 = €310,000.

Certainly adds up....

Previously: HSE spent €750,000+ on interpreters in 2006; Courts service spent €2,000,000 and Balancing the costs and benefits of mass immigration

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Nigerian embassy in Dublin says that the vast majority of asylum seekers from Nigeria are "economic migrants"

From the Sunday Tribune:

Exposed: The myth of Ireland's liberal asylum policy
August 10, 2008
Ken Foxe

Just 0.01% of Nigerians granted asylum in the past two years

NIGERIAN people arriving in Ireland have practically no chance of being granted asylum, according to figures obtained by the Sunday Tribune.

The figures, which also indicate that asylum applications from Chinese people are almost always refused, demolish claims by anti-immigrant groups that Ireland has an open-door immigration policy. Fewer than 20 Nigerian nationals have been recognised as refugees in the past two years, despite more than 1,500 applications, the figures show....

Of 1,513 applications from Nigeria in the past 18 months, fewer than 18 have been successful.

The Nigerian embassy in Dublin said the figures were unsurprising, as the vast majority of asylum seekers from their country were in fact "economic migrants".

A spokesman said: "This low success rate is to be expected precisely because our country is not on any UN danger list. It is not a conflict zone; there are no disturbances within the country. [Same as I said previously.-HG] We are running a democratic country"....

Aine Ní Chónaill of the Immigration Control Platform said: "Nigeria may not be a particularly nice country to live in; unfortunately that does not translate into an entitlement to refugee status. Almost all cases involve economic migrants, mostly people of significant means who have managed to leave Africa in the first place...." [link]

So, if we all know that 90 per cent of asylum applications claims are bogus -- and the whole asylum business is costing us an arm-and-a-leg -- why on earth are we continuing on with all this nonsense?

What a waste of time and effort and money -- all of which could, no doubt, be put to better use helping some of the 8+ million REAL refugees out there in the world.

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Educate Together school has no foreign national children in junior infants

This is kinda funny. One Educate Together school on Dublin's northside doesn't have any foreign national children enroled in junior infants this year. No wonder these schools are so popular! -- amongst the Educate Together fans that is. Other people, of course, have different preferences.

Minister considers new law to prevent schools from 'cherrypicking'
August 10, 2008
June Edwards

(...)

In one Educate Together school on Dublin's northside, there isn't a single foreign-national child in the junior infants class starting this September, despite the school's multidenominational ethos. The school is so popular locally that parents put their children's names down for admission almost as soon as they were born, filling up classes years before children are due to start in junior infants. Meanwhile Catholic schools in the same area are catering for large numbers of non-English-speaking children living locally....

Long waiting lists have prompted some parents to put their child's name down before they have even left the maternity hospital, says O'Donoghue. "In some of our schools in more established neighbourhoods, there are very few non-national children, simply because newcomers to the country aren't living there long enough to have their name down early. On the other hand our new schools in more recently established areas are almost the opposite with larger numbers of children who are new to the country...." [link]

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Half of Polish migrants say they intend to "settle in Ireland permanently"

This Indo article is from last year, but I hadn't seen it before last night (was published before I started blogging, too):

Half of Poles say they intend to settle here permanently
Saturday July 07 2007

AS many as 100,000 of the Poles living in Ireland have no intention of returning home in the near future, writes Ailish O'Hara.

But they still prefer Polish food and drink, and typically have two mobile phones - one Irish and one Polish....

The survey, from Polish market research agency ARC Rynek i Opinia (market and opinion), was conducted among 1,389 people on aeroplanes, coaches and at airports in Ireland and Britain....

In the survey, 49pc of the Poles questioned said they would not go back in the next five to 10 years.... [link]

Seems they're living up to their word -- as I posted here on the aul' blog last week:

Polish populations in UK and Ireland ‘staying strong’
Written by metroeireann.com
Thursday, 03 July 2008

NEW DATA from Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) indicates that there are still some two million Poles working abroad, at least half of whom live in the UK and Ireland.

Experts at the country’s Centre for International Relations are suggesting that migrants returning to Poland from Ireland and the UK are being replaced [in Ireland and the UK-HG] by the families of those who decided to stay on for work reasons or for a new life.

Statistics released by the Polish embassy in London reveal that currently there are some 300,000 Poles registered as working in the UK. The rest – some 500,000 people – are their spouses, children and even grandparents who have moved from Poland to look after their grandchildren. [link]

Previously: Migrants from new accession states still coming to Ireland in droves and Eastern Europeans NOT returning home in droves

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Population replacement ... in Germany

Via Gates of Vienna, from Wednesday's Deutsche-Welle:

Every fourth German family has migration background
06.08.2008

Every fourth family in Germany has a migration background. That's according to latest figures published Tuesday by the Federal Statistics Office which found this to be the case for 27 percent of nearly 8.6 million families with children under the age of 18.... [link]

So, that would be 25% of families in Germany -- according to my best guesstimation [edit 10/08] --the vast majority (ca. 84%) of that 25% of families in Germany -- are not German. [See my notes in comments section. Cheers to Marc for pointing out the ca. 2M ethnic Germans who returned to Germany in the 90s!)

Previously: In Frankfurt, 66 per cent of under 5s from immigrant families

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