On one level, signing up to the EU migration pact is entirely in keeping with the DNA of Irish politics, and Irish politicians. Before one even considers what is in the documents that will soon become the governing law of the country, one could confidently predict passage: The most important consideration is not the contents of the document, but the fact that it is a document that has been negotiated at European level, which immediately and overwhelmingly predisposes establishment opinion in Ireland in its favour.
If Ireland has one over-riding foreign policy objective, it is this: To be a good and reliable EU partner. It is inconceivable then that an Irish Government would go to Brussels after an agreement had been made, and voluntarily seek changes to that agreement once negotiations had closed. That is simply not in the DNA of the Irish state. The only occasions on which Ireland has ever done that have been those occasions when the Government was forced to by its own people by the defeat of a referendum on an EU treaty. On those occasions, while the embarrassment at losing the referendum might be acute, our politicians can at least tell their EU colleagues that they have no other choice but to seek changes.
When it comes to the Migration Pact there is, and can be, no referendum. It is a simple matter of whether our Government will sign up, or declare that they object. The social pressure that they feel from their EU peers to sign up is often something that is deeply underappreciated by the commentariat and by voters. When you are in a club, nobody wants to be the problem member. Ireland is particularly averse to it.
That said, none of the above is an argument for forgiving the Irish Government for what it is about to do: The migration pact amounts to arguably the single greatest transfer of sovereignty from Dublin to Brussels in the history of this state. Consider that, moving forward, the number of migrants that Ireland accepts on an annual basis will no longer be set in Dublin, but set in Brussels instead. Deciding what that number is will, simply, no longer be the business of the Dáil, the very people we elect to decide such things.
This Government simply does not have a mandate from the public to disempower the electorate in this fashion. They did not run on a manifesto commitment of signing up to such a pact. They did not seek the authority to effectively limit the choices that their voters can make in the next election. And those choices are limited: Effectively, voters will be limited to choosing between accepting the number of migrants that the EU assigns us, or choosing to leave the EU altogether. Irish politicians are well aware that option two is off the table for 90% or more of Irish voters, meaning that option one is all that remains: Voters will be forced to accept a policy in perpetuity whether they agree with it or not.
It should also be noted that Ireland is abandoning any right to veto future changes to the migration pact: At present, we have an effective veto on whether it shall be applied to Ireland because we can simply refuse to sign up. However, once we have signed up, the specific terms of the pact can be altered in future. Ireland’s Government will have a say in that, but not a veto: Alterations will be decided by qualified majority voting, which means they can be outvoted by other countries.
The import of that in practical terms – and this is not to suggest that such a thing would definitely, or even probably happen – is that Ireland’s requirements in terms of the number of migrants it must accept could be dramatically revised upwards without the consent of the Irish Government or the Irish electorate. That is what happens when you cede control of your own migration policy to other EU countries, in perpetuity.
In that sense, Senator Michael McDowell and others are entirely correct when they rage – and rage is the appropriate word to describe their feelings – that the railroading of this pact through the Oireachtas is a democratic outrage. Not only in terms of the process being followed to ram it through, but in terms of the import of what is being rammed through. No Irish voter – not a single one – was asked at the last election or in any subsequent vote whether they wished to transfer away sovereignty to Brussels over immigration. It will happen – that much appears certain – without the voters ever having given a verdict on it.
In the United Kingdom, it is often the case that the party whip is applied only in two areas: Votes that affect Government spending and votes on issues that were in the party manifesto before the previous election. In other words, if the Conservative Party ran on a promise to ban horse racing, then all Conservative MPs would be whipped to vote for the bill because it was an explicit promise made to the voters. However, if some Conservative Minister in the last year of a parliament chose on his own initiative to bring forward that law, without it ever having been in the manifesto, MPs would consider themselves free to vote against it.
In Ireland, no such distinction is made. One of the many problems with that is how undemocratic it is: The Irish people are having a radical alteration to the state and its powers made without ever having been consulted. In the immortal words of Liz Truss, That. Is. A. Disgrace.
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Peaceful protest on the 6th of May at 2:30 starts at the garden of remembrance to say no to the eu migration pact.
go Paula 💚 try to be their from South TIPP 👍
Before then. Please everyone contact all your local elected representatives ASAP immediately like yesterday
Mr. McGuirk – I may not agree with absolutely everything you write, but pieces like this are why Gript is really the only Irish Media I read regularly anymore.
It is refreshing to see language used like “The migration pact amounts to arguably the single greatest transfer of sovereignty from Dublin to Brussels in the history of this state.”
Nowhere in the mainstream would this be highlighted. The narrative that the EU is good, transfer of soverignty there is good and anyone who says otherwise is a “Far Right Extremist” is what would be peddled.
The above truly is a disgrace and flies in the face of those in the government in Dublin who claim Ireland is a “Democracy”. Modern day Ireland is very much a globalist colony, it’s like all that fighting of the British over centuries to get Irish Independence has been put in the bin. 70% of your legislation and 100% of your foreign policy coming from a foreign capital is neither soverign or democratic.
As you rightly say, as an Irish citizen living here I can’t vote for those who will make this decision in Brussells, nor did I vote for Ursla Von Der Liar to make decisions that dramatically increased the price of energy here to cite another example.
tough luck. if you ever voted in an election – EVER – then this is all your fault! you are getting what you deserve. the tragedy is that those of us who never voted continue to be impacted by your irresponsible actions
It’s pretty irrelevant who you vote for – Just look at the election manifesto of all the major parties next election time, they’re all Pro-EU and Pro-Globalist agenda meaning pro transfer of soverignty to foreign capitals.
Aside from somebody like the Irish Freedom Party coming to power, there’ll be no change through the “Democratic” system we have here, and even if someone like them did come to power external forces would bring them in line very quickly. You need look no further than the recent EU threats against Hungary. Here’s a guardian article on this.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/29/secret-eu-plan-to-sabotage-hungarian-economy-revealed-as-anger-mounts-at-orban
And if an Irish government still held out, I suspect we would be targetted with economic sanctions or regime change efforts. Think about it – It would be very easy to bribe a bunch of TDs to bring down a government through a vote of no confidence accompanied by propaganda in the media. It also would be very easy for something like the US to have all its multinationals pull out leaving thousands upon thousands unemployed here.
System is rigged and the only way around it is to leave the EU. Join forces with other Europeans who want to be European but not EU citizens.
I am coming around to that thinking myself, but the Irish electorate will never do it. Our prosperity as tax haven for multi nationals is at stake.
Nevertheless Poland and Hungary and Denmark have stood up to this Pact, so maybe even more countries will do so.?
Pity they weren’t bribed to bring down this government. Are you aware we have a right of legal opt-out from signing into the EU migrant distribution pact, without penalty?
That will never be mentioned on RTE or in the Irish Times..😡👿
Shame for NOT voting.!! Stop gaslighting
See ref 8 March. Also note Harris and Donnelly elected on 15th count. Note Pippa Hackett and Regina Doherty were not elected
That’s nonsense.
There have been quite a few elections where I did not vote.
Didn’t do any good.
I have often spoiled my vote too.
A waste of time.
There are indications that next time my constituency will feature candidates I at least partially agree with.
So I’ll vote.
That’s true, the apathy at voting time is perhaps understandable, but wrong.
Even if the choice is, which of four 👿 devils from Hell itself to vote for…
And remember Ireland never colonized, any nation, not did we enrich our nation by plundering the natural assets of any part of the world from whence these migrants are now arriving.
We are being forced to pick up a bill for the end result of an international greed “party” that we never attended.
Very depressing article. Sad times for our nation. Sickened.
Ireland must leave the EU immediately. If it is any chance at all of surviving as a sovereign nation this is what has to be done. As I have commented ,on many occasions, in these pages theEU is a profoundly undemocratic entity. The elections coming up in June are an opportunity for people to make their voice heard. I,for one, will not be voting for any main stream party, including, Sinn Fascists.
The consequences of that migration pact will radically transform Ireland. While many people welcome a degree of controlled and regulated immigration of culturally compatible migrants regardless of skin colour or ethnicity we don’t want mass immigration much of it from cultures that oppose the values of liberal democracy and that is what Ireland will get.
As I have written for several pieces for the Conservative Woman in the UK, Islamic immigration is very different to immigration from non-Muslim countries in that a very large proportion of Muslims (not all some are decent people) openly hold views that put them at odds with living in a liberal democracy. The Muslim Brotherhood linked Clonskeagh mosque for example.
Importing Islamic fundamentalists in large numbers is like importing a large number of Neo Nazi head cases in that it’s going to destabilise your society and lead to fractures in social cohesion. Baffling how the liberal-left spectrum can not see this and even worse they will take to the streets marching in solidarity with pro-Palestine Islamic fundamentalists.
👍👍👍
why can’t there be legal challenge though?
Is the Crotty judgement not relevant here?
Ireland is no longer an independent country. The future is bleak when foreign powers dictate your future.
ireland was never an independent country. the brits always have and still rule these lands
‘Effectively, voters will be limited to choosing between accepting the number of migrants that the EU assigns us, or choosing to leave the EU altogether’ – this is just the issue that will force a majority of people to opt for the latter. Our current political leadership have two axioms – The EU is good, and immigration is good, and on this Migration Pact issue they combine perfectly. They appear to have no clue what the consequences of their actions are going to be, including making Irexit a real possibility.
Over 20% of our population only moved here within the last year. We need leaders who actually acknowledge this as a problem. If the only solution is withdrawal from the EU, ok. I firmly believe we’ll be better off in the long run.
In adopting the Amsterdam and Lisbon Treaties, Ireland negotiated an ‘opt-out’ from, inter alia, EU immigration and asylum rules. That was what we the people voted for and put in our constitution – the Treaties, subject to our ‘opt-out’. Unfortunately, regardless of the ‘opt-out’ negotiated to get the approval of the electorate which had rejected Lisbon without the ‘opt-out’, the final text inserted in the Constitution provided that we could ‘opt-in’ (or more exactly: ‘opt-out’ of our ‘opt-out’) by a simple resolution of both houses of the Oireachtas without having to refer back to the people. We seemingly don’t even require legislation. Just a resolution of both Houses. It is on these resolutions that we are now facing a Parliamentary debate – excluding the electorate, with government members whipped, and probably subject to a government guillotine. One question remains open in my opinion in spite of what John McGuirk assumes. I don’t think it is at all certain that without further domestic legislation enshrining the provisions in Irish Law, an ‘opt-in’ cannot be reversed by a subsequent ‘opt-out’, although I’m certain the latter would be met by huge political pressure from the EU.
So, what about the Pact itself? Senator McDowell, Sinn Fein, and others have highlighted both the soverignty issue, and the probability that we will be pressured to take even more asylum-seekers or face huge penalties in default. Given that the Danes and most of Eastern Europe have no intention of being “good Europeans” by taking a share of asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece, it is likely the burden, and pressure on Ireland and other ‘compliant’ countries to take even larger numbers to make up the shortfall, will be far greater than envisaged on a simple population-GDP calculation.
And another issue comes to mind. The Pact envisages fixed time-limits for determining asylum-applications. On past experience, Ireland will inevitably and hopefully fail to meet these time-limits. What then? More EU fines? Or even worse, bogus asylum-seekers getting leave to remain by default and making Ireland an even more attractive destination for bogus asylum-seekers?
The bottom-line is that there are no benefits for Ireland opting in to this pact. It contains no proposal for combatting asylum-abuse that is not already available to an Irish government under the existing law. In fact, the entire responsibility for failure to implement effective measures to curtail the notorious abuses of the asylum and international protection system that have made Ireland a magnet for bogus asylum-seekers from safe countries lies on the shoulders of the Irish Government.
Four years into the life of this government, and two years since the number of those choosing Ireland to make their asylum-claims became a torrent in the aftermath of Minister O’Gorman’s rash promise of own-door accommodation for asylum-seekers, the asylum-adjudication process remains unreformed and hopelessly under-resourced so that it is capable of delivering final decisions at a rate that is a small fraction of the rate new arrivals are coming into the system. Strategies used by bogus asylum seekers to obstruct and delay the asylum-adjudication process in the expectation that if they can hang in long enough they will ‘embed’ and get leave to remain are still rampant and unaddressed. Years after the most notorious of these strategies – document destruction/concealment became rampant, we are still waiting for McEntee to force carriers to adopt simple procedures to stop the practice. Likewise, there have been no efforts to reform the High Court judicial review procedure to stop it being abused by those using it to frustrate removal on the basis of concocted affidavits.
Finally, no attempt has been made to make simple administrative changes which would make it more difficult for failed asylum-seekers to remain here.
None of these reforms depend on the EU Immigration Pact or Ireland opting into it.
Please please copy and send to Mc Entee and O Gorman
And alo tge elected representatives in your area
What is so terrible if someone loses tge party whip?
The main parties have been discredited
inside job with pre knowledge of future politics,who bought up the spaces knowing the generated income ,who set up the company’s for this intake ,all payed by Irish tax money,this is the biggest fraud scandal not being investigated by orange order ex ruc M15 agent head Garda , do yet maths you will not get a better answer
I don’t think the kakistocracy who have been in power for a century are too bothered about democracy. In fact they are against it which is the reason why they are stifling decent with their black n tans and hate speech laws. Weirdly enough, throwing people off their own road and calling political opponents to intimidate them is not really democratic.
Its a violation of our sovereignty under our constitution and he is correct. https://www.bitchute.com/video/xvLMaZ5KB9fo/
https://youtu.be/WkTmJfKC1Kk?feature=shared
the numbers he is talking about is truly shocking this is a example what will happen here if we enter this pact one thing getting them in but its a whole other thing getting them out and the cost, all very well Helen dressing it up as a good thing as she is thinking short term and this is my issue with people like her they never think long term and the damage its done iv watched my own home for 30 yrs completely obliterated by migration and its sickening that now there supposed to feel embarrassed or ashamed because they want to keep there own culture the same thing will happen here if were not careful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DljHujU-eUul
To say that signing this pact is an anti democratic disgrace confers a belief that we live in a democracy. At this stage of the game anyone who believes that we have a democratic system is either a shill or a moron, and i do not believe that John is a moron.
God help us. Please.
*Bunreacht na hÉireann is the ONLY ‘law’ in this country.
Petition a call for a referendum to change Irelands current Immigration policy Change org
This is an End-of-Career move for all of them!
also this is what the EU has just proposed to the UK now today so keep an eye out for this corrupt gov approaching the Irish with the same jargon crap at some point or another if its not already in seeing as were under the EU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojBNyXrEtrg
Indeed it is a disgrace.
For me it’s option two – leave the eu..
The whip is unconstitutional.
It subordinates the Dail to the Government while the Constitution requires the Government to be responsible to the Dail.
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Too late to complain now. The extension of Covid “emergency” restrictions of rights was passed by whip and guillotine in June 21. Hitler came to power “democratically” by exploiting parliamentary procedures.
.
Irish parliamentary procedure renders the Republic defenceless against ruthless politicians who can dominate a spineless Dail.
It would appear that Poland, which has refused to take in one single Muslim ” refugee” will not now be sanctioned by the EU because of their wholehearted support for NATO and the continuation of the Ukraine/ Russian conflict.
Very dirty deals indeed may be dragging us all into a wider conflict.
https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-justice-minister-bodnar-to-introduce-plan-restore-rule-of-law-brussels-eu/
Can no one take a case against this. I’m sure that must be possible regardless what the government thinks?
I’m an MEP candidate for Dublin in the upcoming European Parliament elections and I would like to share my views.
Navigating the complexities of immigration with a compassionate yet pragmatic approach is crucial for Dublin’s development.
My own journey, which saw me move to Germany over a decade ago to take up work as a scientist, allowed me to contribute meaningfully across the country and in various industries, and even fostering community through the establishment of GAA clubs. Along this path, I have made life-long friends with people from all over the globe, and found love with a wonderful Turkish woman, now my wife!
However, one thing must be made clear to the Irish government, NGOs, and Europe: Unregulated mass immigration is not sustainable, especially on the scale of what is happening today where it occurs without community involvement. Some will attack me for these words. To those I say: how is it right that in the dark of night people are brought into communities, without them knowing, and with already severely strained resources and amenities? Why are the residents of these communities labelled “far right” for expressing their concerns and asking questions? Why are they all labelled as dangerous protesters due to the unacceptable actions of a few? We must advocate for a system that values skilled migration and ensures the overall wellbeing of our communities.
Furthermore, the practice of individuals arriving into Ireland and discarding their documentation prior to the passport check undermines the system’s integrity, unfairly disadvantaging legal migrants and straining resources. It’s neither sustainable nor fair! Governments past and present, Irish and European, have not been listening to the people – if elected as your MEP I pledge to change this. And this starts with reassessing this EU Migration Pact.
You can read more on my campaign website: http://www.Stephen4Europe.eu
With mainly military aged cultural enhancers, Ireland would need 100,000 Irish women, to volunteer themselves as ‘wife’, which would be an enormous blow to the Irish race, as there would be 100,000 Irish men, that would need to go abroad to find themselves foreign women. This would basically ruin the Irish demographic tree forever! Nobody has a problem with your Turkish wife, but that is not a justification to destroy the Irish nation.
I lived in Germany too. I lived in the Stadtteil Bornheim in Frankfurt in the 90s. Very respectable, but I once visited a pool-hall 400 meters from my apartment and it was full of Turkish. I was lucky to leave alive. At that time, in the Gallus-Viertel of Frankfurt, 1 km from the huge banks, there were Turkish families with 8-10 people living/sleeping in one room. At that time, the Germans had refused to give them German passports, so long as they had Turkish ones. So the grandchildren of Turks, who had once come to Germany, who were never outside of Germany, still had only a Turkish passport. Ask your wife. They have changed the passport law. I’m not sure what they did with the Gallus-Viertel. The Turks are very hard working people, but they have never been treated right in Germany.
When Germany takes part in such EU immigration pacts, they count all those Turkish-Germans as immigrants, and as a result, they get a statistical ‘opt-out’, as does France with all their multi-generational colonial Africans, that still have their families original passports. Germany and France got statistical opt-outs, when Poland, Romania and Lithuania entered the EU, when Irelands population jumped by 12%, remember that?? Luxemburg use all their 50% Portuguese immigrants get an opt-out. Denmark and Sweden will opt-out. Romania and Bulgaria are too poor and no one will want to go there, will get opt-outs. Italy and Greece are overrun, they will get opt-outs. Poland and Hungary will opt-out. Belgium and Holland will opt-out! So Spain and Portugal? I think they will opt-out! Slovenia, Slovakia are also opting out, as they are pass-through countries. Austria has closed their borders with a lot of police to stop immigrants. So… who’s left? The Czechs don’t like foreigners in their country and the Baltics?. Have the EU only made this EU-Pact just for Ireland, to help Harris? We have to opt-out! Pact is dead!
Send me an email and we can discuss further: yes@stephen4europe.eu
Irish people have always had the right to bring a foreign spouse to live in Ireland.
I know of no one who seeks to change that.
But we would object if she brought her siblings and her granny and her budgie and her brother-in-law and her cousins.
That’s what the Mass Immigrationists want.
Family reunification is guaranteed to kill off Irish nationality within a decade if not stopped.
GRIPT are an absolute DISGRACE the way they back up ANTI-IRISH (Anti-European) policy relentlessly. It is clear they are being financed by the KREMLIN.