The Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan has published the Immigration, Residence & Protection Bill 2008. The bill is designed to combine all the current procedures into a single application to speed up and clarify immigration into Ireland.
Interviewed on News at One; (1st item) the Minister was enthusiastic about that part of the bill designed to quickly eject any illegal immigrants from the State. Here are some of his quotes.
“There are very strong procedures for the removal of those who are not lawfully resident.”
Quote from the bill –
“In future a person found unlawfully in the State will be liable to be removed without notice and they may be detained for the purpose of ensuring removal from the State.”
The Minister is confident that the legislation is watertight, leaving no loopholes for anybody tempted to break Irish immigration laws.
“There are very robust powers to remove those who are outside that path, and I think that this has to happen if you’re to generate public confidence in the migration system in Ireland.”
He was also keen on the need for quick action to get rid of these people. Legal and judicial procedures are too protracted.
“We have to stop that, we have to have a speedy determination of this issue.”
“The reality is that if a refugee stays here for a very long period of time it becomes very, very difficult to remove such a person from the State even though they may not have had a well founded refugee application in the first place.”
The Minister goes on to give yet another reason for effective and speedy procedures in getting rid of illegal immigrants.
“When it is protracted and delayed that becomes yet another pull factor encouraging large numbers of migrants to come here and claim that they are refugees.”
Meanwhile, Government Ministers, including the Taoiseach, continue to bring shame on the nation as they wear a path to America to moan and whine on behalf of the 50,000 or so Irish illegals in that country.
In recent times Minister for Foreign Affairs; Dermot Ahern made a fool of himself and by extension the country when he suggested to a gathering in America that somehow the Irish illegals weren’t actually illegal.
This kind of hypocritical denial of reality is common in Ireland, Bertie Ahern’s fantasy land being the latest example, but when uttered outside, in the real world, it simply confirms a certain view of the Irish as simpletons.
In October last year (sub req’d) Minister Ahern again made a fool of himself by insulting the intelligence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when he tried to convince her that the thousands of Irish citizens who were blatantly breaking the laws of her country should get special treatment because they were victims of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
I wonder what Lenihan and Ahern would have to say if, for example, the Nigerian Government sent political delegations to Ireland in an effort to gain special treatment for its citizens – They would probably be thrown in prison under the new legislation.