Revenue accused of 'treason' in tender row

THE Revenue Commissioners have been accused of "economic treason" for spending €225,000 on having tax forms printed in Spain.

The printing contract was previously held by an Irish company, which is now expected to have to lay off four of its 50 staff as a result.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/revenue-accused-of-treason-in-tender-row-2135276.html

Romanian charged with running a brothel

An alleged brothel keeper threatened to starve one of the prostitutes working for him unless she brought in more business, it has been alleged at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Mihai Selaru (aged 37) of Gateway Crescent, Ballymun, is accused of bringing two women over from Romania to work as prostitutes, after telling one he was going to get her work as a cleaner.

The Romanian national has pleaded not guilty to organising prostitution, keeping a brothel and living off the proceeds of prostitution between September 3 to 11, 2009 at an apartment on Liberty Square, James Joyce Street.

http://breakingnews.ie/ireland/alleged-brothel-keeper-threatened-to-starve-prostitute-could-told-453761.html#ixzz0l00ISkRq

Tallaght hospital outsources typing to Far East

THE hospital at the centre of the scandal over X-ray rechecks and unread GP letters is outsourcing basic typing work to the Far East, it emerged yesterday.

Letters sent by some consultants at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, to GPs may be typed in the Far East rather than by an internal secretary.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hospital-in-xray-mess-outsources-typing-to-far-east-2134300.html

Integration statistics not being collected

THERE is no formal agency collecting information, research or statistics in relation to racism and integration.

Since the disbanding of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), which carried out extensive research and acted as a bridge between communities and policy makers, there has been no coherent direction on integration policy from the government.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/integration-statistics-not-being-collected-116910.html#ixzz0kiokoABJ

Secondary schools to get guidelines on gay rights

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland has compiled a code of practice on equal gay rights and will issue it to schools next week.

The code will deal with the homophobic harassment and victimisation of staff.

http://breakingnews.ie/archives/2010/0408/ireland/secondary-schools-to-get-guidelines-on-gay-rights-453146.html#ixzz0kdji7C6K

Minister to review laws dealing with racism

The Green Party minister yesterday called for calm as mourners attended the funeral of 15-year-old Nigerian Toyosi Shitta-bey.

Speaking outside the funeral home in Lucan yesterday, Ms White said: "It is important that people who come to live here and come from different ethnic backgrounds can be treated with respect and full integration that all the Irish Government can offer.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/minister-to-review-laws-dealing-with-racism-116789.html#ixzz0kdhmR50Z

Chinese girls brought in to grow drugs

Chinese women are being trafficked into Ireland to work on cannabis farms. They are alongside other illegal Chinese and Vietnamese who have arrived here through Europe.

Six Chinese were caught at Dublin Airport, without documentation, apparently having flown in from Spain last week.

The Chinese-run cannabis factories spread from England, through Scotland and into Northern Ireland before being established in the Republic.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/chinese-girls-brought-in-as-slave-workers-to-grow-drugs-2129887.html

Polish national charged with rape

A MAN has been charged with raping a young woman in a public toilet.

The 35-year-old Polish national appeared before a special sitting of Kanturk District Court in Co Cork at 11.15pm on Thursday evening after being arrested by gardai for a second time earlier in the day.

He was formally charged with raping the woman at the Church Street public toilets in Kanturk on March 9.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/suspect-charged-with-rape-of-woman-in-toilet-2123824.html

Asylum seekers living 'in fear'

Women and children seeking asylum are living in overcrowded and outdated centres where they fear for their safety and face intimidation and racism, it was claimed today.

An African women’s group maintained residents are sexually harassed and are in fear of private management firms who control the country’s 52 reception centres.

AkiDwA said almost 3,000 women and young girls live in reception centres while their application for asylum is being processed - some for up to six years.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0325/breaking54.html

Mongolian woman gets suspended sentence for smuggling cigarettes

A Mongolian mature student has escaped deportation and has received a two-year suspended sentence for smuggling €12,400 of cigarettes into Ireland.

Batchullun Pureevjal (aged 33) with an address at College Gate, Townsend Street, Dublin 2, pleaded guilty to possessing 39,000 cigarettes in her luggage, with intent to defraud the State, at Dublin Airport on December 27, 2006.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mongolian-mother-gets-suspended-sentence-for-smuggling-cigarettes-451221.html#ixzz0j8KkedEC

Egyptian fraudster removed from nurses' register

The High Court has ordered the removal of a nurse’s name from her professional body’s register over her conviction of a €730,000 insurance fraud arising from a false breast cancer claim.

Nurse Gehan Massoud (47) and her surgeon husband, Emad Massoud (54), were found guilty by a jury in March 2008 of defrauding two insurance companies through lodging false claims on the basis of a tissue sample from Mrs Massoud’s mother, who had just been diagnosed in Egypt as having breast cancer. They claimed the sample came from Gehan Massoud herself.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0322/breaking63.html

Marriages of 200 non-EU men under investigation

GARDAI suspect bogus companies are being set up to provide fake employment credentials for eastern European women who are brought to Ireland to take part in arranged marriages. A number of companies are under investigation after gardai came across them during an operation aimed at clamping down on arranged marriages.

The emergence of the racket provides further evidence that organised gangs are "selling" brides who are citizens of the European Union to non-European men, so they can secure residency in Ireland through marriage.

The women are typically recruited in poorer eastern bloc countries and are offered money to come to Ireland to marry failed asylum seekers or former students from Asia whose visas have run out, according to garda sources.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/marriages-of-200-noneu-men-under-investigation-2106276.html

South African gets 7 years for possessing cannabis

A MAN has received a seven-year prison sentence after a jury earlier this week found him guilty of having more than €134,000 worth of cannabis in October 2006.

The drugs were in a box from Pretoria, South Africa, marked books and printed matter which was intercepted by Customs.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0320/1224266709532.html

An Post takes action over racist e-mail

AN POST has confirmed that it has begun disciplinary proceedings against a number of employees after a racist e-mail was circulated within the company.

The e-mail stated: “If you cross the North Korean border illegally, you get 12 years hard labour. If you cross the Iranian border illegally, you are detained indefinitely. If you cross the Afghan border, you’re shot. Saudi Arabian border you’ll get jailed. All sorts of terrible things will happen to you if you cross almost every other border except the Irish border.”

“If you cross the Irish border illegally you get a job, a driver’s licence, social insurance card, money from the social security, food stamps, credit cards, subsidised rent or a loan to buy a house, free education and free healthcare.”

Comparing the asylum system to a game show, it noted: “We’ve already given away hundreds of millions of euros . . . courtesy of the sponsor, the Irish taxpayer.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0313/1224266197979.html

17 failed asylum seekers deported

The deportation flight is the second to leave Dublin in a week bound for Lagos, Nigeria.

On March 3rd, 21 people were returned to Nigeria as part of an operation organised through EU agency Frontex, based in Warsaw.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0312/1224266107706.html

Thousands of marriages 'illegal'

Thousands of foreign couples who married at their country’s embassies in the Republic over the past three years are being told their marriages are invalid and illegal.

The problem has sparked a diplomatic row between the Government and several EU states, which have asked Spain – current holder of the EU presidency – to mediate on their behalf. The decision by the Government also affects the citizens of non-EU states, whose embassies conduct marriage ceremonies.

Last week the General Register Office wrote to all foreign embassies informing them that marriages performed by diplomatic missions were not recognised as marriages unless they conformed to Irish law. The note said marriages would not be legal unless they were performed by an authorised registrar and took place in a registered building which was open to the public.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0310/breaking32.html

Seven held over plot to kill cartoonist

Gardaí have arrested seven suspects in Waterford and Cork as part of an international investigation into an alleged plot to murder a cartoonist who drew images of the Prophet Muhammad.

The four men and three women - all of whom are foreign nationals – were arrested in a major search operation by Garda specialist units this morning.

The Irish Times understands most of those arrested are from Algeria, Croatia, Libya, the United States and Palestinian, and that they are legally resident in Ireland.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0309/breaking40.html

Asylum services cost state €206m in 2008

THE cost to the state of delivering asylum services is expected to reach €206m for 2008 and less again for last year.

The Department of Justice has revealed that the out-turn for accommodation costs for the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) for 2008 is €91.47m.

It is expected that this will fall when the final 2009 figure is calculated to closer to €86.5m.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/asylum-services-cost-state-euro206m-in-2008-ndash-but-bill-falling-113920.html#ixzz0hdC6S9mD

Congolese man jailed for importing cannabis

A Congolese national with Belgian citizenship has received a five-year sentence with three suspended for importing €17,800 of cannabis herb to Ireland.

Bonza Chigeragere (aged 28) with an address at Nicholas Avenue, Dublin 7 pleaded guilty to importation and possessing the drugs in his luggage at Dublin Airport on May 9, 2009.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/congolese-man-gets-five-years-for-importing-cannabis-448524.html#ixzz0h8Ypl4JD

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