40,000 emigrants last year

A research institute has warned that 200,000 people, out of a population of 4.5 million, may emigrate by 2015 if employment prospects do not improve.

Some of those leaving are thought to be immigrants who arrived in large numbers from mainland Europe over the last decade and who, now jobless, are returning home.

But a large proportion are young Irish males who, with unemployment running at more than 13pc, see little prospect of obtaining work. In particular, large numbers in the building industry are on the dole with construction almost shuddered to a halt.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/more-migrants-quitting-ireland-than-any-eu-state-2276949.html

Ten Albanians held in major burglary investigation

n men have been arrested as part of a four-month operation into 50 burglaries across the south and southeast.

Ten people, all Albanian men aged between 30 and 44, were arrested this morning in 22 raids stretching from Co Kerry to Co Wexford.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0727/corncrake.html

‘Returning Irish emigrants refused social welfare payments’

RETURNING Irish emigrants are being refused vital social welfare payments because of an "increasingly strict interpretation" of the residency requirements, FG social protection spokesman Michael Ring claimed.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/returning-irish-emigrants-refused-social-welfare-payments-126074.html#ixzz0ucvE8Mhr

Parents forced to seek asylum for Irish-born children

IRISH-BORN children only a few months old are being individually placed in the asylum process despite never having left Ireland.

The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) is to raise the issue, which is leading to significant delays in the asylum process, with the Department of Justice.

The individual designation of young children born in their resident state as asylum seekers deviates from best practice in other EU states, where children are treated as family dependents.

http://irishexaminer.com/ireland/parents-forced-to-seek-asylum-for-irish-born-children-125617.html#ixzz0uFoGg01H

Fears for young asylum seekers

SEPARATED children who came to this country, often by being trafficked, are being moved into adult direct provision accommodation once they turn 18.

The use of direct provision – centres where asylum seekers are housed – has been widely condemned, and now concerns are being raised as young people are moved the moment they turn 18.

It is understood there are about 70 such young people in the system at the moment who live in Dublin, but who will be moved to centres around the country.

http://irishexaminer.com/ireland/fears-for-young-asylum-seekers-125618.html#ixzz0uFnMztu4

Bill lets public use lethal force on intruders

THE new home defence bill has shifted the balance of rights back to the house owner "where it should always have been", say gardaí.

The Association of Garda Sergeants (AGSI) and Inspectors also said it was ridiculous to suggest the bill provided a "have-a-go charter" to homeowners and said the current situation, which legally demands a house owner retreat from an intruder, was "intolerable".

http://irishexaminer.com/ireland/bill-lets-public-use-lethal-force-on-intruders-125602.html#ixzz0uFkvFN7j

Migrants not "going home"

The level of calls to the Immigrant Council of Ireland’s (ICI) Information and Referral Service in the first half of 2010 has remained consistent with previous years and does not support the rhetoric that migrants are ‘going home’ and instead highlights that many migrants have made Ireland their home.

While some migrants have returned to their countries of origin, they are mainly migrants from the EU12 accession states.

http://www.immigrantcouncil.ie/press_detail.php?id=145

Albanian Jailed for Burglary

An Albanian man who broke into a chip shop and stole a tray of cod along with cash from the till has been given a three year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Kastriot Boza (aged 37) was also sentenced for another burglary at a home in Irishtown during which he took about €1,000 in cash and a credit card which he used to withdraw a further €700.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2010/0715/ireland/cod-napper-has-had-his-chips-465631.html#ixzz0twxh1EqJ

Migrant masturbates in public

A FRUIT picker caught masturbating in public had gone out and got drunk after an argument with his girlfriend.

Michal Wesolowaski (28) committed the offence in a bizarre drunken reaction to the row the couple had had earlier in the day.

He avoided a conviction for indecency after he made a donation to charity and a court heard there was nobody else involved.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/courts/fruit-picker-caught-abusing-himself-after-row-2256497.html

Deported homosexual asylum seeker seeks judicial review

A NIGERIAN national deported in 2009 after he unsuccessfully applied for asylum on the basis he faced persecution in his home country because he is homosexual will this week seek a judicial review in the High Court.

The case is being brought on the basis that Minister for Justice and Law Reform Dermot Ahern failed to take into account the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) guidelines on sexual orientation and gender identity in his refusal to revoke a deportation order in relation to Mobolaji Adams, who was refused asylum on the basis that if he practised “discretion” in Nigeria he would not be persecuted.

The case will be heard a week after five supreme court judges in the UK ruled gay and lesbian asylum seekers should not be expected to “exercise discretion” to avoid persecution.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0712/1224274518502.html

Gardaí deny racial abuse

GARDAÍ HAVE denied claims they racially abused and assaulted a Nigerian-born Irish citizen who alleged he was singled out at a checkpoint because he was black.

Sunny Akpabot (42), formerly of St Ronan’s Green, Clondalkin, Dublin, now living in Coventry, UK, has brought a High Court action for damages against the Minister for Justice.

He claims he was assaulted, falsely arrested and unlawfully detained on January 9th, 2002 at Belgard Square North, Tallaght, Dublin. He also claims he was subject to racist and intimidating taunts at the checkpoint and in a squad car on his way to Tallaght Garda station after the incident.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0710/1224274418840.html

Supreme Court dismisses Izevbekhai appeal

Pamela Izevbekhai was seeking to appeal the decision by the Minister for Justice to deport her and her two daughters to Nigeria.

Her lawyers argued that a new EU directive allowed the minister to review her case, which centres on the risk she claims her daughters face from female genital mutilation if returned to Nigeria.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0709/izevbekhaip.html

Support service for people subjected to racism

REPORTS of violent racist acts and verbal abuse towards immigrants has led the Immigrant Council of Ireland to set up a pilot service for people who have experienced or witnessed racist incidents.

The Racist Incidents Support and Referral Service will provide information and support, including referrals to counselling services where appropriate, as well as recording data and reporting on trends and advocate for legislative and policy change where necessary.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/support-service-for-people-subjected-to-racism-124219.html#ixzz0tgA32ZMN

Asylum seekers threathen hunger strike

Asylum seekers are set to protest after it was confirmed today that more than 150 of them are to be moved from the Mosney accommodation centre in Co Meath.

Some of the foreign nationals are now threatening to go on a hunger strike and to hold other demonstrations ahead of the move next week.

Many of the 800 residents at the facility at the former holiday camp at Laytown have lived there for years.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/govt-denies-asylum-seekers-move-contravenes-human-rights-464064.html#ixzz0seWK0bcQ

Afghan loses refugee appeal

He came to Ireland after being advised by a relative in the security forces to leave Afghanistan because a warrant had been issued for his arrest. His bid for refugee status was later refused.

Mr Justice Éamon de Valera yesterday dismissed his challenge after finding there was “a clear basis” for findings and inferences drawn him by the tribunal.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0703/1224273903846.html

Nigerian grandmother loses deportation challenge

A 74-YEAR-OLD grandmother living in Ireland with her daughter and six grandchildren since 2006 has lost a High Court challenge to an order for her deportation. The decision means she cannot validly visit Ireland in the future.

Ms Justice Maureen Clark said, while she had sympathy for the grandmother, Mrs O, from Nigeria, she had chosen to pursue the route of asylum seeker rather than visiting her family here legally on a visitor’s visa.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0703/1224273903873.html

New immigration Bill published

The Government has today published a new immigration Bill which will allow for the fast-tracking of deportations.

The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 replaces earlier legislation which was to be redrafted this year.

Among the provisions included in the new Bill, which is expected to be introduced before autumn, is the fast-tracking of asylum procedures and appeals.

The new Bill has a provision enabling the Minister for Justice to disregard so-called "marriage of conveniences," where individuals have been found to have married so that one or both of them can stay in the country.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0702/breaking60.html

Migrant young people bullied in schools

NEW research has warned of the "potential for conflict" between immigrant and native Irish children as young foreign people in Ireland battle with language barriers.

Migrant children are experiencing racism and bullying and even more aggressive attitudes and actions, according to research by the Trinity Immigration Initiative. Multiple studies from the college also looked at how migrants were coping with work, integration as well as the courts.

Read more: http://irishexaminer.com/ireland/study-migrant-young-people-bullied-in-schools-123882.html#ixzz0sT6mEgLC

Immigrants stay put despite recession

A MASSIVE 'exodus' of immigrants who made Ireland their home has not materialised due to the recession, new research has found.

However, unemployment has been rising faster amongst new EU member state migrants than amongst Irish workers, the study from the Trinity Immigration Research Programme revealed.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/immigrants-stay-put-despite-recession-2241327.html