Irish leader says comprehensive immigration reform likely dead

Automan, good one, I'll take one side you take the other. Will have to get my eyesight tested before I leave cos I was at the airport arrivals twice last month and did not see any settlers, did see a plane load of Americans though on a visit to our beautiful country, céad míle fáilte.

ON arriving back in Ireland after living in Chicago for the last year, I took a taxi home. The driver sympathised with those going abroad for work, describing how his own son was working in Australia and would soon have to leave on expiry of his visa. Citing his sons’ visa restrictions, he then said that "we should have turned the tap off on immigrants into Ireland" during the boom, the implication being that they were somehow to blame for our current economic collapse and/or were pushing "real Irish people" to emigrate now. What he, and it seems many Irish people still have to grasp, is that if other countries harboured similar attitudes towards immigrants, jobless Irish people would now have nowhere to go to escape our failed state. It also struck me that the myopic and self-centred reasoning behind his comments was the same type of reasoning that led to our housing mania and economic collapse. If ever there was a time for Irish people to take a hard look at themselves, disown racism and stop the search for scapegoats, it is now. The country’s future depends on it. Rory Kelleher Chicago Illinois USA This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, March 11, 2011

Once the "new wine is poured into an old wine skin"(Matthew 9:17) with the intent of not assimilation into the existing society ... that Nation state is doomed to be spoiled and will collapse over time. Laws set restrictions ON behavior, not adhering to Laws CREATES the needed chaos to "overwhelm the system" !!! Wake Up to subtle EVIL, and it's desire to control the sovereign Individual choices.

I shudder at the thought of Ireland following Canada's examplej(specifically Toronto, Ontario) by allowing one and all into the country. On my visit to Ireland last year I voiced my concerns to locals about preserving their culture and heritage and demanding that their government HALT immigration immediately. There is absolutely no need for it in Ireland, especially at this juncture with such a poor economy. I spoke to many locals who couldn't find jobs - they were taken by the African, Lithuanian, Romanian and Polish immigrants. SHAME ON THE GOVERNMENT! Leave Ireland as is! - A beautiful little slice of heaven with no more room for immigrants.

Interesting, but I think John5319 has it most right. While some incoming immigation is good, if you want your nation and your culture to become overwhelmed and disappear, let everyone in with open borders...the second part of that is that the more different the native cultures are of the incoming, the less of your culture will survive...the REALITY of our world is Muslim immigration into Europe with NO INTENT to aculturate, but rather an INTENT to overwhelm and change the host's culture...OK start screaming racist...it isn't racism it is purely a cultural AND in the long term a FREEDOM issue. An Islamic Theocracy in Ireland would make the Catholic church look like Unitarianism.

The First official casualty on 9/11 was an Irish Citizen. It was Father Mychal Judge O.F.M., His parents were from the sweet County Leitrim which made him an Irish Citizen automatically. He got the "Father Mychal" from a time when he was in a community of Friars and there were "5 Michaels" He adopted the spelling to sort out his mail etc., He died as he was administering the last rites to a wounded Firefighter as loads of Brick and rubble came down on them. I don't have the name of the firefighter. Anyone out there know? However, what a Beautiful way to go and meet their maker.

John5319: Why should Irish have permanent residence of the USA? Just because Ireland has an Open Door Immigration policy doesn't mean that other countries should follow that dumb example.

The "immigration challenge" is that a Nation is defined by it's borders, it's language, it's economy, it's heart of nationalism. So the idea that "reform" is needed is just flowery sounding propaganda that will remove the nations sovereignty, and put it all into the hands of a Global Socialist collective of the "political class" of elite. We have seen that already with the IMF's controlling monetary policies in Ireland, and the EU. So THE QUESTION IS ... what safeguards are there ... to find those who overstay their "visas" ?? How do you find them, who will pay for finding them? Who will pay for the court costs to deport them? ... AND ... who benefits by all this so-called "reform"? Is it the nation, the courts, or the localities that have to pay for these UNFUNDED mandates of so-called "reform"? This simply puts on those localities, the costs of the burden to evict them from the country !! That is the yoke that the State of Arizona has hanging around it's neck, the costs some $12 Million dollars, for which the U.S. Federal government will not reimburse them! Borders are the responsibility of the Federal government, but if they refuse to honor that commitment to the citizens, then the State MUST step up to protect and defend that State, AND the union of security which forms that Nation. This is not about "immigration reform" it's about removing YOUR Liberty as union of States, and of a Nation. A border-less Nation will not make you a safer. For even in Arizona the U.S. government has erected huge signs warning the CITIZENS of the dangers OF THE illegals walking across into the U.S. from Mexico. Would signs make you safe from harm? No, it advertises to illegals nobody cares about the sovereignty of a state, or Nation.

Reactionary bigots are out in force this morning I see. Never mind them. I'm glad that Enda Kenny understands he has a mandate to repressent the Irish undocumented here, but an E3 visa isn't a solution, it's a stopgap, and a pointless one if it never leads to permanent residence.

I don't think it's "effectively dead". The ILIR initiated the organized requests and meetings in Washington DC. I was there and as we broke into groups of 4-5 we went to every Senator's office to speak personally with them and seek support. I was the spokesman from our group and we were warmly greeted in each office. No one turned us away and everyone agreed something had to be worked out. Unfortunately, when Senators Kennedy and McCain proposed their first draft, they did not anticipate the millions of Mexican and Latin Americans that would jump on the wagons with ILIR.

sorry to hear that young Irish are leaving Ireland, whilst non-Irish are pouring in

John Healy in Death of an Irish Village, wished the Church and the government had done more to stop Irish emigration. When will we learn that individual initiative is far, far superior to institutional action. If life as an illegal in the States is better than life in your own country, then off you go. Until the US starts returning illegals in large numbers, it will continue to be the case. Wasn't John Healy from Charlestown? Named for Charles Stricland, it became a thriving farming hub because of his individual initiative.

Surely Mr. Kenny has more to offer his country's young people than an easier route out. Ireland is not Mexico! I say this respecfully: he should build up his own country so the young folks won't have to leave to find opportunity.

I would fly the American flag from my rooftop if I learned Irish families were after moving into homes either side of georgyboy.

This guy wants us to take in Irish migrants at the same time as his own government is continuing the ethnosuicide initiated by Fianna Fail. Every day of the week scores of foreign settlers are streaming into Ireland, even while young Irish are heading towards the airport Departures lounge. It's reminiscent of the Klondyke Gold Rush, or the Oklahoma Land Grab of the 1880s. I say: Go home Irish, while you still have a homeland to call your own.