Illegals posing as children at our airports

PLANES landing at Dublin Airport are being routinely searched to root out illegal immigrants intending to pass themselves off as children in the hope that they will be taken into care, rather than deported.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) has stepped up its monitoring of incoming flights in response to what it says is a growing phenomenon in which young adults, many from China, are trying to slip through Ireland's immigration laws by posing as children.

Under Irish law, children under the age of 18 who arrive in Ireland unaccompanied gain automatic entry by being placed in the care of the Health Service Executive.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/illegals-posing-as-children-at-our-airports-2083476.html

Migrant workers 'get less favourable treatment'

FOREIGNERS are only half as likely as Irish nationals to have favourable working conditions here, new figures reveal.

And those working in the hotel and restaurant sector are faring badly, with the worst rate of access to favourable working conditions in every category.

Almost twice as many non-Irish nationals did not expect to be in their current job in six months, as compared to Irish workers. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday published its national household survey on working conditions for the first quarter of 2008.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/migrant-workers-get-less-favourable-treatment-2080650.html

Migrants shunned for points on licence

Immigrants convicted of minor road offences are being barred from becoming citizens, it was claimed today.

Social justice campaigners said the citizenship process appeared designed to turn away migrants rather than welcome them.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), which will hold a think-in tomorrow on migration and identity at University College Dublin, called for an overhaul of the system to make it fairer and more efficient.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/migrants-shunned-for-points-on-licence-2075379.html

Nationalist group opposed to immigration may set up party

A new grouping, billing itself as the Irish National Party (INP), is dedicated to the "immediate deportation of all illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who have had their applications rejected."

It also believes Irish culture and identity is being eroded, with "record levels of immigration and an influx of so-called 'asylum seekers'... leading to the development of minority communities in our cities and increasing levels of social isolation in our towns and villages."

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/feb/21/nationalist-group-opposed-to-immigration-may-set-u/

United Ireland "must be placed on political agenda"

A united Ireland is "not impossible" and must be put on the British and international political agenda, a Sinn Féin representative said today.

Delivering the opening address at a conference hosted by the party in London to discuss Irish unity, MP Pat Doherty hailed the agreement at Hillsborough reached earlier this month as "part of a process of change".

He said: "Our goal is simply stated: an end to the partition of Ireland; an end to the union with Britain and the construction of a new national democracy; a new republic on the island of Ireland and reconciliation between orange and green."

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/united-ireland-must-be-placed-on-political-agenda-447041.html#ixzz0g6KfX1JT

750 Saudi students enrol

Around 750 Saudi Arabian students will enrol at a new college in Dublin when it opens in the grounds of a landmark hotel complex, it was announced yesterday.

The Citywest Institute of Education in south Dublin will welcome its firstpupils in April after securing a lucrative €250 million contact with the Ministry of HigherEducation in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/750-saudi-students-enrol-112697.html#ixzz0g6IUP05c

Call for asylum system shake-up

The current system for accommodating asylum seekers puts their basic human rights at risk and should be scrapped, campaigners have said.

But the Free Legal Advice Centre (Flac) said the system had failed to provide many of those seeking refuge with adequate funds, food and living standards.

At its One Size Doesn't Fit All report launch in Dublin, the group called for the abolition or radical reform of the policy and a major hike in the weekly allowance for applicants.

There are currently around 6,640 people living in direct provision.

http://www.herald.ie/breaking-news/national-news/call-for-asylum-system-shakeup-2070144.html

Nigerian 'king' lost Tesco job because of regal duty

A Nigerian king-in-waiting who was fired after he overstayed a Tesco time-off deal for regal duties in his home village has been awarded €10,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.

Mr Agbaje, who said he is now a taxi driver taking home €31 a week after expenses, had started work with Tesco in May 2006. Speaking at his home in Co Offaly yesterday, Mr Agbaje expressed disappointment at the level of the tribunal settlement.

As he comes from royal lineage, Mr Agbaje had been required to carry out ceremonies in his native village in preparation for his ascendancy to the throne.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/nigerian-king-lost-tesco-job-because-of-regal-duty-2066348.html

Immigrants unable to renew permits over admin blunder

THOUSANDS of immigrants are terrified they could yet lose their eligibility for citizenship after they found themselves unable to renew their residency permits over the past six weeks.

Parents of Irish-born children, who have to renew these permits every three years. were being turned away by gardaí this year even though INIS had taken advertisements in newspapers last December saying that GNIB and local immigration offices were now taking charge of processing the permits. Up to 17,000 immigrants have this IBC/05 status due to their children’s Irish birth.

Such immigrants cannot legally work in this country without an up-to-date permit and the Immigrant Council of Ireland say several have contacted them to say they have lost their jobs over a lack of up-to-date documentation.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/immigrants-unable-to-renew-permits-over-admin-blunder-112181.html#ixzz0fd3tigQ9

Libyan teen sentenced for threat

A Libyan teenager who threatened to follow an employee of the Refugee Reception and Integration Office home and burn down her house after his request for accommodation was refused has been given a partly suspended sentence.

Hisham Ali Saad (aged 19) became frustrated and overwhelmed at the asylum system following his arrival in Ireland alone in 2008 after his brother was shot dead during an anti-Gadaffi protest in Libya.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/libyan-teen-sentenced-for-threat-445321.html#ixzz0eyRuVnxF

Official IRA decommissions

A second republican paramilitary group in the North announced today that it had decommissioned its weapons.

The so-called Official IRA, a relatively small organisation most active in the 1970s, confirmed it had destroyed its guns.

The declaration was made at a Belfast press conference which came only two hours after a separate republican splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), confirmed it had disarmed.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/official-ira-also-decommissions-445317.html#ixzz0eyQQXAjz

INLA decommissioning confirmed

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) confirmed announced today that it has decommissioned its weapons.

The republican paramilitary group, believed to have been responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people during the Troubles, confirmed it has disposed of its illegal arsenal in recent weeks through the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD).

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/inla-decommissioning-confirmed-445278.html#ixzz0eyPyuybW

Pole gets five life sentences for rape

A 45-year-old man, who raped a woman after tying her boyfriend up with rope and duct-tape, has been given five life sentences at the Central Criminal Court.

Edward Piotrowski, who is from Poland, but has an address at Clonmullen Hall, Edenderry, Co Offaly, told his victim during the two-and-a-half-hour ordeal that he would kill her and her partner.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0129/piotrowskie.html

Immigrant involvement in prostitution

The millions flowing out of the country through foreign prostitution rackets have been revealed in a garda investigation into a Chinese prostitute who transferred more than a million euro to China over the past two years.

Almost the entire sex industry in Ireland relies on mobile phone contact and internet advertising and involves foreign nationals, most of whom are transferring their money out of the country.

The busiest internet site, Escorts Ireland, advertises hundreds of phone contacts, at least 230 of which are in Dublin. And the majority of prostitution rings in Ireland involve foreign nationals.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/madam-of-brothel-sent-83641m-abroad-in-two-years-2052063.html

Cost of deportations

THE deportation of a single asylum-seeker cost more than €35,000, the Department of Justice has confirmed.

The man was one of 193 asylum-seekers removed from the state in the first nine months of last year at a total cost of €520,925.

The average cost of deporting failed asylum-seekers is now in the region of €2,700 although that does not include the cost of garda overtime and subsistence.

According to the Department of Justice, a total of €927,091 was spent on deportations in 2008, primarily to Africa and eastern Europe.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/feb/07/deporting-one-asylum-seeker-cost-35000/

'Nigerian mother Izevbekhai's document is another forgery'

THE state will claim in the Supreme Court this week that the latest documentation supplied to the court by a Nigerian woman claiming her daughter died from female genital mutilation (FGM) is another forgery, the Sunday Tribune can reveal.

Mother-of-two Pamela Izevbekhai has enlisted a new lawyer to represent her in the Supreme Court on Thursday in a bid to prevent the deportation of her family.

The tab the taxpayer has picked up for Izevbekhai's case has surpassed €1m

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/feb/07/nigerian-mother-izevbekhais-document-is-another-fo/

Only a quarter of deportation orders carried out

ONLY a quarter of deportation orders issued last year were actually carried out, figures from the department of Justice have revealed.

In 2009, Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern signed 939 deportation orders, but only 236 were carried out.

Looking at the figures over five years shows that between 2003 and 2008, only 2,431 of 8,960 deportation orders issued were implemented.

The Department of Justice admitted it did not know how many of these people were still here.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/only-a-quarter-of-deportation-orders-carried-out-111493.html#ixzz0emeHhpSG

Muslim group urges acceptance of niqab

THE IRISH Council of Imams, a group which represents Muslims living in Ireland, has spoken out against attempts to ban the niqab elsewhere in Europe and called on members of the religion to contribute positively to the societies in which they are living.

The council said that a ban on the niqab – a veil worn by Muslim women that covers everything except the eyes – violates personal freedoms guaranteed by democratic systems.

It added that such bans also constitute an obstacle to multiculturalism, integration and human rights.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0206/1224263887684.html

Immigrants on the dole

One in three people signing on last month was an immigrant worker.

An extra 3,876 foreigners joined the live register in January compared with 9,465 Irish people, the new Central Statistics Office figures show.

Some 18.6pc of the 437,000 on the live register are now non-Irish nationals, a total of 81,395, though they comprise just 14.7pc of the workforce.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/downturn-hits-foreign-workers-hardest-2051114.html

Three illegal workers arrested in NI

Three suspected illegal workers have been arrested in Northern Ireland.

Two Indians and one Bangladeshi man were detained following a house search in Newry, Co Down.

The two Indians had overstayed their visit visas and were arrested as they tried to escape through the back garden of the house. The Bangladeshi man had a fraudulently obtained UK passport.

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/three-illegal-workers-arrested-2049125.html

Ill Nigerian girl spared deportation

A seriously-ill Nigerian girl has been spared deportation tonight when officials agreed to review her family's case.

The Department of Justice confirmed that Ayodola Adekunle (5) and her family were granted a last-minute reprieve after her legal team intervened.

She suffers from sickle-cell anaemia and had her spleen removed more than a year ago, leaving her susceptible to infections and malaria.

The family - who have exhausted all legal channels of the asylum process - were due to be deported tonight.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0203/breaking77.htm

Trafficking of children 'is a reality'

A LEADING children's charity has called on health service bosses to recognise the "reality" of child trafficking in Ireland.

Concerns were raised after figures showed more than 500 unaccompanied children seeking asylum vanished while in the care of the State over the past 10 years.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/trafficking-of-children-is-a-reality-2043516.html