XPost: misc.immigration.usa, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   The three Gardai - Irish police officers - walk down the rows of   
   passengers on the bus, a few kilometres south of the border with Northern   
   Ireland.   
      
   Observing this is the head of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, Det   
   Ch Supt Aidan Minnock.   
      
   “If they don't have status to be in Ireland, we bring them to Dublin,” he   
   explains. “They're removed on a ferry back to the UK on the same day.”   
      
   Asylum applications in Ireland have risen by nearly 300% so far this year   
   compared to the same period five years ago. A spike in arrivals from the   
   UK has been driven by various factors, among these the UK’s tougher stance   
   post-Brexit, including the fear of deportations to Rwanda, as well as   
   Ireland’s relatively healthy economy.   
      
   Most asylum seekers coming from the UK to the Republic of Ireland enter   
   the country from Northern Ireland, as - unlike the airport or ferry routes   
   - there is no passport control. The Garda checks along the 500km-long (310   
   miles) border are the only means of stopping illegal entry.   
      
   Det Ch Supt Minnock told the BBC that 200 people had been returned to the   
   UK this year as a result of these checkpoints, thought to be only a small   
   fraction of those crossing the porous border illegally.   
      
   More than 2,000 people who arrived in Ireland illegally have been issued   
   deportation orders so far this year, a 156% increase on the same period in   
   2023. However, only 129 of those people (just over 6%) are confirmed to   
   have since left the state. The government has said it will begin chartered   
   deportation flights in the coming months, and free up more immigration   
   Gardai from desk work.   
      
   Onboard the coach near the border, the Gardai question a young man about   
   where he lives. He is Algerian - a student, he says. The police are   
   suspicious and he is taken to the detention vehicle while his identity is   
   checked.   
      
   A veteran of war crimes investigations in post-war Bosnia - as part of an   
   EU police team - Det Ch Supt Minnock knows well the violence and poverty   
   that drives migration.   
      
   “This is growing at such a scale because of the conflict and instability   
   right across the world,” he says.   
      
   Public concern over immigration is closely linked to Ireland’s chronic   
   housing problem. The Republic now has the worst record in the EU for   
   housing young people.   
      
   The CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, Nick Henderson, says the crisis is a   
   “perfect storm”, created in part by the failure to build enough housing   
   stock over decades, and a government unprepared for the upsurge in asylum   
   seekers - known in Ireland as International Protection Applicants (IPAs) -   
   needing help with accommodation.   
      
   “[The government] is only able to provide accommodation through private   
   contractors. That, coupled with an increase in the number of people   
   seeking protection in Ireland, and against the background of a housing   
   crisis has meant, in effect, that Ireland's asylum reception system has   
   really collapsed.”   
      
   In nearly three years, the number of asylum seekers accommodated by the   
   state’s International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) has more   
   than quadrupled - from 7,244 to 32,649 people. Over 100,000 Ukrainians,   
   who were given a separate status, also sought refuge in Ireland during   
   that time.   
      
   Tens of thousands of international protection applicants - some already   
   with asylum status in Ireland, others waiting to be processed - have been   
   sent to communities around the country, accommodated in hotels, former   
   schools, apartments, even large tented camps.   
      
   Ireland’s housing shortage means that even those granted asylum are   
   struggling to leave the temporary system as others arrive. Nearly 1,000   
   people are now living in tented accommodation.   
      
   This makeshift response has generated resentment. In the village of   
   Dundrum, County Tipperary - population 221 - a group of locals attempted   
   to block the arrival of asylum seekers at the gates of a former hotel in   
   August. The proposal to house up to 277 people at Dundrum House, which   
   hasn’t operated as a hotel since 2015, would double the local population.   
   Locals worry that it will be a permanent fixture.   
      
   “How can our government not engage properly with us?” asks Andrea Crowe, a   
   local teacher and protester who has frequently spoken in public. She cites   
   concerns over housing, health and education provision for the community.   
      
   Since July, there has been a 24-hour protest outside the hotel. Ms Crowe,   
   whose family once owned the Dundrum House hotel, accuses the government of   
   failing to consult with the community - a common complaint around the   
   country.   
      
   “How can we not be concerned?” she says.   
      
   The IPAS community currently living at Dundrum House is made up of about   
   80 women and children. There is also a separate group of Ukrainian   
   families, welcomed after the Russian invasion in February 2022.   
      
   Several locals told us they feared that single men - who make up 35% of   
   asylum seekers arriving in Ireland so far this year - would eventually   
   replace the women and children, although there so far is no evidence to   
   suggest this is planned in Dundrum.   
      
   Local builder, Martin Barry, cites the housing crisis as a key reason for   
   his protest, particularly the plight of his eldest son. “My own young   
   fella, he can't afford a place to rent,” he says.   
      
   But Martin Barry also speaks to deeper fears of change in some rural   
   communities. The dance hall where he met his wife has closed. The local   
   pub is for sale. There were hopes Dundrum House would be reopened and used   
   by the local community.   
      
   “It’s just the worry of what's coming down the line,” he says.   
      
   We meet two South African women given refuge at Dundrum House. Both were   
   sent from their accommodation in Dublin - 180km (110 miles) away - to make   
   way for newer arrivals into the capital, some of whom were sleeping in   
   tents on the streets.   
      
   The women ask to remain anonymous. “Lerato” had been in Dublin for a year.   
   “I had integrated with society, and made friends. My child was attending   
   school and I was comfortable.” Her friend “Kayla” speaks of being isolated   
   in Dundrum, a farming community with limited transport amenities.   
      
   Far-right parties show scant support in opinion polls. Immigration worries   
   are likely to be expressed in support for independent candidates. But   
   online, far-right agitators stoke fear. There have been violent riots and   
   arson attacks on sites meant to house, or rumoured to house, asylum   
   seekers, and refugees have been attacked in their tents on Dublin’s   
   streets.   
      
   A common conspiracy theory is that migrants are being “planted” in Ireland   
   as part of a plot to dominate Irish people and destroy their culture.   
      
   We saw two posters referring to a “plantation” at the Dundrum House   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)