Nigerian trafficker fails in appeal

The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a Nigerian lawyer against his conviction for trafficking illegal immigrants into Ireland.

Olaitan Ilori, a father of four, Oak Drive, Blessington, Co Wicklow was convicted in July 2007 on 12 counts of organising or knowingly facilitating the entry into the State on October 27, 2004 of 12 adult Mauritian nationals whom he knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, were illegal immigrants.

The 12-day trial was the first case of trafficking of illegal immigrants to come before the Circuit Criminal Court and Ilori was jailed for four years by Judge Martin Nolan.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhideycwgbey/

Romanian given three years for kidnapping

A Romanian man who imprisoned a woman who thought he was a taxi driver and drove her 35 miles from her destination in Dublin city centre to Wicklow where she managed to escape has been given a three-year sentence.

Cezer Croitoru (aged 35) arrived in Ireland in 2004 after being released from a prison sentence in his native country for an almost identical offence involving a firearm claimed that the woman had given him incorrect directions.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhideycweyql/

Polish immigrant given suspended sentence for sexual assault

A MAN WHO sexually assaulted a woman as she went to open her front door was given a suspended sentence yesterday.

Construction worker Josef Bykowski (39), a Polish national, had been working in Ireland at the time but is now unemployed, Trim Circuit Court heard.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1029/1225197273311.html

Pole gets five years for sexual assault

A 26-year-old man whose attempted rape of a woman left her so badly beaten her friends could not recognise her has been jailed for five years at the Central Criminal Court

Emil Klinczyk with an address at Main Street, Bunclody, was found guilty by a jury in July of attempted rape, sexual assault and assault causing harm to the woman in Wexford on 10 July 2006.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1028/klinczyke.html

Lithuanian jailed for attempted rape

A Lithuanian national who attempted to rape a Longford student on the shore of a Leitrim lake last year has been jailed for three years by the Central Criminal Court.

Tomas Urbonas, a 26-year-old father of one, with an address at Landmark Court, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim was convicted by a jury in July of the attempted rape and sexually assault of the 23-year-old woman on April 8, 2007.

Urbonas is the subject of an European arrest warrant for an alleged robbery in his home country. He will be extradited in relation to that at the end of his sentence here. He arrived in Ireland in 2005 and has four previous conviction in this country for public order offences, drunk driving and possession of a weapon.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhidmhqlsncw/

"Racist" poster feeds on fears of our OAPs

Anti-racism campaigners have joined forces with Labour politician Eric Byrne in denouncing racist posters that have have appeared on Dublin streets.

Dublin Councillor Eric Byrne said that he had recently removed several of the racist posters from outside post offices in the city.

"These posters, which depict an elderly white lady under the slogan "I'm over-70 and will have to pay for my health care" juxtaposed with a photo of a man of African or Asian extraction under the slogan "I'm over here and get it free" are clearly designed to stir up racial hatred, said Cllr Byrne.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/racist-poster-feeds-on-fears-of-our-oaps-1510985.html

More Chinese students to come here.

THE IRISH and Chinese governments are to set up a joint working group to promote greater co-operation in the higher education sector.
The move is expected to strengthen student exchange programmes and enhance collaboration in research and development.

"Minister Xinsheng said he wants to send some 5,000 Chinese PhD students abroad over the coming years and I want to ensure that Ireland's third-level institutions are optimally positioned to attract as many of those students as possible. When you consider that an international student studying in a third-level institution in Ireland spends about €10,000 annually on accommodation and other services and pays on average that amount again on tuition fees, there is strong economic value in attracting Chinese students to our shores," the Minister said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1025/1224838827968.html

Nigerian sex trafficking ring investigated

The Gardaí and the PSNI are investigating an international sex trafficking ring, which brings women and young girls into Ireland to work as prostitutes.

The victims, who are promised education and employment, first undergo a voodoo ceremony in Nigeria before travelling through London and Belfast to be placed in brothels and apartments here.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1020/sextraffick.html

Dáil asylum queries cost €350,000

NEARLY €350,000 has been spent this year fielding questions by TDs on behalf of non- nationals unsure about their residency status in Ireland.

It has emerged that 1,711 parliamentary questions relating solely to immigration have been asked since January, each costing around €200 to deal with.

The department of justice said the queries were a major drain on resources even though a streamlined process had been put in place to deal with them.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2008/oct/19/dail-asylum-queries-cost-350000/

Irish cleaners at EU charity 'sacked and replaced' by immigrants

Officials from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions have been called in to mediate a dispute between a company contracted to clean its Dublin offices and six Irish cleaning ladies who claim they have been sacked and replaced by a group of Lithuanian workers.

The women had been cleaning the offices of the European Foundation, based in Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, for between nine and 18 years under various sub-contractors.

The six claim that on Friday 17 September a senior AFM staff member informed them they no longer worked for the company. Four Lithuanian nationals took up their positions the following week.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2008/oct/19/cleaners-at-dublin-eu-charity-sacked-and-replaced/

Court jails Lithuanian for life over murder

A Lithuanian national who fatally stabbed a Latvian man in Swords last year has been jailed for life by the Central Criminal Court after a jury found him guilty of murder.

Mantas Pauliukonis had denied murdering Alesandrs Filusins by stabbing him in the thigh, severing his femoral artery, following a row at a "Russian" disco.

The jury of six men and six women spent five hours and 19 minutes over two days considering its majority verdict of ten to two. It also convicted Pauliukonis (aged 25), with an address at Park West Crescent, Clondalkin, of assaulting another man, Sergej Cuksejev, outside the disco at Taylor's Public House.

The jury heard that Pauliukonis bragged about the killing to a security man at the disco at Taylor's Public House in Swords shortly after the incident. He had said "at least we got him... we stabbed him up".

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhidcwaueyau/

More than 50 cases of trafficking into Ireland

AT LEAST 50 foreign nationals have been trafficked into the Republic for forced labour in the past six years, according to new research.

Preliminary findings of a study being carried out by the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin also show that victims included Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Egyptians and Filipinos, and that catering, manufacturing and domestic work were among the sectors where the practice arose.

The figures were compiled from case files held by support groups, trade unions and other bodies. Presenting their research at a seminar on the topic in Dublin yesterday, Dr Gillian Wylie and Deirdre Coghlan said their data - showing at least 50 cases were recorded since 2002 - gave a conservative estimate of the problem.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1015/1223988037567.html

Asylum seekers held in prison for months before deportation

ASYLUM seekers have been kept in prison for up to eight months while awaiting deportation, despite having committed no crime.

The Department of Justice said the average time spent in jail by deportees works out at 33 days per person. None have committed any offence and all could instead have been asked to present at the headquarters of the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

A total of 130 asylum seekers have spent between one day and eight months behind bars since the beginning of last year, the department said.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2008/oct/12/asylum-seekers-held-in-prison-for-months-before-de/

Court told of rise in fake ID cases among foreign nationals

THERE HAVE been six reported cases so far this year in Galway of foreign nationals producing fake documents, such as passports and birth certificates, at the social welfare office in a bid to obtain PPS numbers so that they can work illegally, it emerged at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

Judge Raymond Groarke commented that people were using professional fraudsters and forgers to obtain fraudulent documents. This crime was being committed far too regularly in a schematic and professional manner, the judge said.

“People are making vast sums of money on the backs of people looking for such documents and it has to be marked with the imposition of a prison sentence,” he said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1009/1223445618118.html

Warning on dangers of migrant segregation

THE CLUSTERING of migrants in some areas may develop into segregation unless social integration is made a key aim of housing policy, according to a Government-funded report to be published tomorrow.

Although it has found there is currently little evidence of segregation, the study warns this could change where low incomes narrowed newcomers' choice of neighbourhood and Irish residents chose to move out because they felt their area had become too diverse.

The emergence of segregated schools could compound the problem.

Published by the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, this is the first major report on the relationship between housing policy and integration.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1008/1223335466229.html

Increase in number of migrants repatriated

THE GOVERNMENT repatriated more than 500 eastern European migrants to their home countries so far this year under a scheme aimed at assisting destitute immigrants.

In the eight months leading up to August a total of 511 migrants were repatriated. The number for the full year is set to well exceed last year's total of 538 repatriations.

The figures come at a time when unemployment among foreign nationals is rising sharply, with an increase of almost 80 per cent in the number of non-Irish signing onto the live register over the past year.

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/13946087?view=Eircomnet

Gardai seek Arabic recruits

The Gardai have launched a campaign to attract its first Arab recruits.

Posters advertising a new round of recruitment were today on the force’s website, with appeals in Arabic to join up.

The gardai already have several Chinese officers and now want to extend its cultural mix by recruiting Arabic speakers.

The campaign does not expressly state it but some of those who sign up may join the gardai’s fight against extremism.

However, it is thought that the vast majority of recruits would be assigned to the frontline in day to day uniform police work.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/gardai-seek-arabic-recruits-1490989.html

Bilderberg group not happy with Irelands rejection of Lisbon Treaty

IRELAND will be in Europe's "dog house" if we reject the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum, according to the chairman of the secretive global businesss organisation, the Bilderberg Group.

Viscount Etienne Davignon issued the stark caution in a rare interview ahead of addressing an international conference on Lisbon in University College Cork (UCC) on Wednesday.

"Ireland will be in the dog house if it says no for a second time", Davignon told the Sunday Tribune." The other states who ratified the Treaty have now become hostages of the Irish position and the Irish should have had some respect for the opinions of the other states.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2008/oct/05/ireland-set-for-lisbon-dog-house/

Ireland ‘must act’ to avoid race crisis

IRELAND must seize the window of opportunity it has to ensure it doesn’t end up with the same racial problems as Paris, Amsterdam and London, a community activist said yesterday.

Fergus McCabe, who has worked in Dublin’s north inner city for 30 years, said there have been incidents in the area of groups of Irish children and foreign nationals “squaring up” to each other on the street.

“We either try to get things right now, while we have a window of opportunity, or we will be facing the sort of problems we see in other countries,” he said.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=73818-qqqx=1.asp

Unlimited detention plan for immigrants ‘draconian’

MEASURES which mean immigration officers may be able to hold foreign nationals for an unlimited time and deport people without notice have been labelled draconian by the Irish Refugee Council.

Currently being debated in the Dáil, refugee and immigration groups are concerned The Immigration Residence and Protection Bill 2008 needlessly extends the power of immigration officers, many of whom are not gardaí and who cannot be held accountable for their decisions.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=73819-qqqx=1.asp

Non-Irish seeking unemployment benefit up 80%

The number of foreign nationals applying for unemployment benefit has increased by almost 80 per cent over the past year, new figures show.

The increase has been felt most sharply by members of former EU accession states where numbers have jumped by some 144 per cent since September of last year.

When the foreign national figures are broken down, they show that most who have signed on the live register are members of former EU accession states (8 per cent), followed by UK nationals (4 per cent), those outside the EU (3.4 per cent) and the "EU 15" (1 per cent).

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1003/breaking57.htm

Lithuanian immigrants jailed for gang rape.

A Lithuanian woman was gang-raped, drugged and told she would be sold into prostitution during an ordeal, a court heard today.

The victim was abducted from a pub in the North and attacked by at least five men during her 24-hour imprisonment.

Three fellow Lithuanian nationals were sentenced to between eight and 14 years behind bars.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhidaucwojau/