Thursday, January 22, 2009

Watchdog calls for tighter immigration safeguards

The State's watchdog on human rights has today called for tighter safeguards to immigration law and practices.

The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) made its call following the publication of its second inquiry report that examined the treatment of a visitor from Pakistan who was refused entry to Ireland.

The report recommends the Government introduce tighter safeguards to immigration law and practice including a review of the Immigration, Protection and Residence Bill 2008.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0122/breaking34.htm

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Cost of deportations brought up in the Dail

Deportation Orders.

Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will furnish details of costs (details supplied); the breakdown of these costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern): The deportation of illegal immigrants and refused asylum seekers is costly, particularly to distant countries such as Nigeria, China, etc. In most cases removals are carried out using commercial flights which usually involves transit through other European airports as Ireland does not have direct flights to most of the countries of return. In addition, most flights have to be booked at short notice very near the date of departure which involves higher costs than if booked well in advance.

In considering the costs of deportations, the considerable expense arising from the continued presence in the State of persons who are the subject of deportation orders has to be taken into account. These costs include social welfare costs, direct provision costs, and detention costs in certain cases. While it is important to keep deportation costs to a minimum, not to remove persons refused permission to remain in the State would call into question the integrity of the entire immigration system. This would leave this country open to further illegal immigration and even more expense to taxpayers.

Contd

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20081218.XML&Node=H19-132#H19-132

Friday, January 9, 2009

Unemployment up 71% in 12 months

The Live Register saw an unadjusted increase of 120,987 or 71% in the year to December 2008 - the biggest 12-month increase since records began in 1967.

It compares to an unadjusted increase of 106,864 or 66.1% in the year to November.

Economists expect the unemployment figures to deteriorate significantly in 2009 with the state training agency FÁS predicting that the rate of unemployment will exceed 12% over the course of the year.

ISME described the situation as catastrophic and said that the Government has utterly failed to indicate how it is going to address the problems of small and medium businesses.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0109/employment.html

Dell invites existing 500 Polish staff to seek jobs in Lodz

DELL IS expanding its Polish operation in the wake of the Limerick job losses and has encouraged its 500 Polish employees in Ireland to apply for the new jobs.

"A lot of Polish people work for Dell in Ireland and they can apply for all open positions in Poland," said Rafal Branowski, Dell spokesman in Poland. "It's more about Polish people working in Ireland - for them it might be an interesting opportunity."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0109/1231406004614.html

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Demographic estimate shows Ireland leads the way for immigration

Ireland has the highest natural population growth of all the EU countries, +12.0 per 1,000. This contrasts with France at +4.5, Luxembourg at +4.3 and the UK at +3.6.

The report said the EU27 population grew by 4.4 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008, due to natural population growth of +1.1 and net immigration of +3.3. In total, the EU27 population is estimated to have increased by 2.2 million in 2008.

In 2008, three-quarters of the increase in the EU27 population is estimated to have come from immigration.

In relative terms, Ireland again leads the way for immigration at +14.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, Slovenia was next at 12.6, Luxembourg at +11.9 and Cyprus +11.7.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/baby-boom-puts-us-on-top-of-birth-rate-league-1595151.html



Monday, January 5, 2009

3% decline in asylum applications last year

There was a 3 per cent decline in the number of applications for asylum in the Republic last year, according to new figures released today.

New figures released by the Department for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, indicate that application numbers are at levels not seen since the mid-nineties.

Last year 3,866 people sought asylum, compared to 3,985 in 2007.

The largest share of applicants came from Nigeria (26 per cent), followed by Pakistan (6 per cent), Iraq (5 per cent), China (4.7 per cent), and Georgia (4.7 per cent).

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0105/breaking32.htm