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Irish Post
22-07-2025
- General
- Irish Post
New report shows people in disadvantaged areas have a more negative view of migrants
A NEW report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows that public opinion on immigration is more negative in disadvantaged areas. The study is based on a survey of over 1,200 people in 2023 along with data from the 2022 Census. Researchers suggest that fears about pressure on national services and crime are driving sentiment on the issue. Despite public concerns, the ESRI found no direct link between local shortages in healthcare, housing, or education and negative views toward immigration. Using indicators like the number of general practitioners per household and housing affordability, the study concluded that attitudes are influenced more by perception than by local experience. Geography also plays a role. People living in rural areas tend to have more negative attitudes toward immigration than those in urban centres. However, rural communities with higher proportions of migrants expressed similar attitudes to urban areas, pointing to the impact of everyday social contact in shaping views. Places where migrants live evenly among the broader population show more positive attitudes compared to regions where migrants are concentrated in clusters. This reinforces the idea that regular, informal interaction between neighbours, school parents, or community members can foster understanding and social cohesion. Dr. Frances McGinnity, lead author of the report, noted that local communities can be both a barrier and a bridge to integration. 'Communities are spaces where migrants and non-migrants not only encounter each other but can also form lasting social ties,' she said. Her co-author, Keire Murphy, added that socio-economic disadvantage is one of the strongest predictors of negative sentiment, echoing similar findings in other countries. 'The broader social and economic context is important for attitudes towards immigration,' she said. Meanwhile, Irish authorities are dealing with more immediate concerns related to immigration enforcement. Under 'Operation Sonnet,' the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) has returned more than 440 migrants to Northern Ireland and Britain since the beginning of 2024. These include individuals who crossed into Britain via the English Channel and then travelled on to Ireland to make secondary asylum applications or claim additional benefits. In one case, an Afghan national who had already applied for asylum in Britain attempted to register again in Ireland. Another case involved a man claiming to be Afghan, who was later found to have a Pakistani passport on his phone. Officers say they are increasingly aware of attempts to exploit the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain, with strong cooperation between Irish and British authorities to address these issues. The ESRI study states that fostering social integration in disadvantaged areas should be a key focus for future policy. Encouraging social contact and addressing underlying socio-economic inequality could be more effective in improving public attitudes than focusing solely on enforcement or deterrence, it says. See More: Asylum Seekers, Dr Frances McGinnity, ESRI, GNIB, Immigation
Irish Daily Mirror
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
Illegal immigration crackdown sees 'most people ever' detained at Dublin Airport
Immigration officials are now targeting foreign criminals trying to come and live in Ireland. They are taking a hard-line stance with asylum seekers who arrive here with no passports from Georgia and Albania - two countries now listed as safe states. They are also being given details on various criminals kicked out of the UK by the British authorities, who then try to get back into Ireland from Romania. A Government insider said: "We are now detaining more people than ever before at Dublin Airport. "Most who arrive here illegally are being returned on the next plane within 24 hours. "There was an unofficial ban on detaining women because it looked bad politically but not anymore." The Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan this week confirmed that 179 individuals had been detained in Irish jails for immigration-related reasons so far this year compared to 204 for the whole of 2024. Defending the figures he said: "It can be necessary to detain people in advance of a deportation order to prevent absconding. Alternatives to detention are widely used where they are deemed appropriate. "When a person does not apply with a deportation order they can be arrested and detained for up to 56 days for the purpose of ensuring their deportation from the state. "In the case of a person refused leave to land to enter the State, arrangements are made by the Garda National Immigration Bureau to return the person to their point of embarkation at the earliest opportunity which may take a number of days. Detention in such circumstances is only carried out as a last resort."
Irish Examiner
23-06-2025
- Irish Examiner
Woman avoids jail for 'extremely serious' passport fraud
A woman whose passport fraud was extremely serious and called into question 'the integrity of both the Irish birth certificate registration system and the Irish passport system' has avoided a prison sentence. Judge Dermot Sheehan imposed a fully suspended three-year sentence on the 44-year-old woman who cannot be named as it would identify her first born child. The judge said she manipulated a vulnerable Cork man to put his name forward as the biological father of her child when in fact they effectively had no relationship of any kind, and this gave her advantages in ultimately obtaining citizenship. This man previously got a suspended jail term. Judge Sheehan said at Monday's sentencing hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court: These matters are extremely serious. We have a system of permitting people to reside in this country based on procedures which people must obey. If they try to deceive the system it is very difficult to be fair to everybody. 'If someone like the accused does this there may be people — equally worthy — who fail to obtain residency because of what the accused has done. Assessment by the authorities has to be based on her being honest. The consequences are very serious. They enabled a person to call themselves a citizen of this country on foot of the deceit.' Mitigating factors However, following submissions from defence senior counsel Jane Hyland, Judge Sheehan said there were noteworthy mitigating factors including the plea of guilty, albeit entered on the day the trial was due to commence, and her long-term mental health issues. It was also urged on the judge by Ms Hyland to take into account her remorse and the fact that she is primary carer for a number of children and that other than the matters before the court she had made a significant, positive contribution to her local community. Intricate details of the frauds Detective Sergeant Keith Cleary of Garda National Immigration Bureau outlined the intricate details of how frauds were carried out by the foreign national who got a Cork man to pretend that he was the biological father of one of her children. On the basis of this pretence she secured advantages for herself and her family in terms of rights of work, of residence and the eventual securing of Irish citizenship. The 44-year-old non-national woman pleaded guilty to four fraud charges in November 2024. She cannot be identified as it would lead inevitably to the identification of her child which is prohibited in this case under the Children's Act. She admitted falsely claiming that an Irish man was the biological father of her child, and three counts of false information in passport applications in 2009, 2012 and 2017. This man previously pleaded guilty to his part in this deception. The first charge stated that she provided information which was false or misleading contrary to Section 69 Subsection 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, namely that on July 29 2009 at the Civil Registration Office, Adelaide Street, Cork, did provide to the registrar, particulars of information which she knew to be false or misleading, knowingly providing false information naming (co-defendant) as the biological father of her child. The other three charges under the Passports Act 2008 relate to applications for passport renewal for the child. Arrived in Ireland on a student visa Det Sgt Cleary began the account of the woman's criminality stating that the defendant came to Ireland on St Patrick's Day 2008 on a student visa for the purpose of studying. Tracking back to her entry, the next person to be processed was her husband — the biological father of her four children. She lived with him from the time of her arrival in Ireland. She gave birth to a child in Cork in December 2008 — her fourth child. The name of the father that appeared on the birth certificate for this baby was a Cork man, who was never in a relationship with the accused. He has since been prosecuted and given a suspended sentence for his part in the deception. He later told the immigration bureau that his partner became friendly with the defendant and through that contact she — the defendant — asked him to commit the act of forgery in relation the birth cert. This man said he knew the day would come when he would be approached by gardaí and realised as time went by that he was way out of his depth with the act of criminality, to which he had literally put his name. He said he had felt under pressure to please everybody. Passport application Once the passport for the newborn child was obtained with the false identification of the father, the defendant and this man went to a garda station and proceeded with an application for a passport for the child. A member of An Garda Síochána signed the application for the passport and this passport was later issued. 'This was a fraudulently-obtained Irish passport,' the detective said. The first benefit of this for the mother was that her visa which allowed her to work no more that 20 hours a week, now became a 'stamp 4 visa' whereby her right to work was unlimited. She ultimately applied for and was granted citizenship in 2015, and her husband was also naturalised in 2017. Her husband identified himself as the biological father of the fourth child and supporting DNA verified this. The name of the man who pretended to be the father was explained as a mistake, and that the actual intention was that he would be named as a guardian. Ultimately, she pleaded guilty to the charges at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Irish Times
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Families deported to Nigeria could have left voluntarily, says Minister
Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan has defended the State's handling of the deportation of 35 people to Nigeria on Wednesday, saying those removed had previously been asked to leave voluntarily. Speaking on Sunday on RTÉ Radio 1's This Week programme, the Minister said: 'Each person who was on the aeroplane that went back to Nigeria had their own individual narratives of persecution assessed by the International Protection Office , and on appeal, and subsequently they got a deportation order that wasn't responded to. 'They were requested to leave voluntarily and that didn't happen.' The Garda National Immigration Bureau carried out the operation, which involved 21 men, nine women and five children, who were deported on a chartered flight from Dublin Airport to Lagos, Nigeria on Wednesday night. The children involved were deported as part of family groups. READ MORE Friends of the families deported, who were living with them at an International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) centre in west Dublin, described the scenes last week as upsetting and 'traumatising'. Farhiya Ali, a mother living with her four children in the centre, said: 'The kids were coming down for breakfast when these five men wearing cargo pants, big jackets arrived. 'They came into the third floor, stood in front of the bedroom door, took the three kids back in and told them to pack up. We heard them say: 'You are going to be deported.' As soon as the other children heard then they were all crying. It was such a horrific scene.' Three siblings from one family were among those deported. They had lived at their accommodation since January 2022 with their mother and father. [ Families facing deportation are 'at serious risk of destitution', warns refugee council Opens in new window ] Asked about the criticism from families at the Ipas centre about the manner of the deportation of children, Mr O'Callaghan said: 'This is not a pleasant part of my job. I don't relish doing this, but it has to be done. If we have an immigration system or an asylum system that doesn't have a consequence for people who are ruled not to be entitled to stay here then the system becomes meaningless.' Asked whether he would put Nigeria on Ireland's safe list of countries, Mr O'Callaghan said: 'There's a difference here between putting a country on the safe list for the purposes of international protection under the [International Protection] Act, and determining whether or not to send somebody back to a country from whence they came.' [ Ministers accused of giving 'half the picture' on refugees as more than 40% get positive decisions Opens in new window ] Applicants from designated safe countries of origin receive their interview date on the day they apply for international protection, reducing their waiting time for an interview. 'There's faster time frames for Nigeria at present anyway because of the heightened number of people from Nigeria claiming asylum in Ireland,' said the Minister. 'It doesn't mean if you're not on the safe list of countries from international protection, we can't send you back to the country where you came from.'
The Journal
05-06-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Justice Minister says €325,000 deportation flight to Nigeria is ‘value for money'
JUSTICE MINISTER JIM O'Callaghan has said last night's chartered flight for deportations which cost close to €325,000 is 'value for money'. Last night, 35 people were deported on a chartered flight to Lagos, Nigeria. This included 21 men, nine women and five children – the children removed are all part of family groups. It's the third chartered flight so far this year and was carried out by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, following two previous chartered flights to Georgia. O'Callaghan said the flight 'landed safely this morning', though it did have to make an unscheduled stop due to a medical incident on board. When a person does not comply with a deportation order they can be arrested and detained to ensure their deportation. The Department of Justice said carries out enforced removals as a 'last resort' when a person does not remove themselves from the State. Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, O'Callaghan said the exact cost of last night's flight was €324,714. The first chartered flight to Georgia in February cost just over €102,000 , and O'Callaghan told the Dáil that the second flight in April would cost around €200,000 . O'Callaghan said the cost of last night's flight includes the cost of employing gardaí for this purpose. He described the fee of close to €325,000 as the 'standard price'. Advertisement 'You have to look at the alternative to it,' said O'Callaghan. 'My department is spending €1.2 billion this year just in terms of accommodation for people who are seeking asylum. 'We do it because we're obliged to do so, but there has to be a consequence.' He added that the flight costs provides 'value for money'. 'Not just in terms of the cost of a charter flight,' said O'Callaghan, 'but also it is sending out a very clear message that deportation orders mean something. 'If you have a deportation order, you're required to leave the country. If you don't do so voluntarily, it will be enforced.' He added: 'It's in the interest of people who are granted asylum, that persons who are rejected for asylum are forced to leave. 'Otherwise the asylum system becomes meaningless.' Meanwhile, O'Callaghan remarked that such enforced deportations 'is not a very pleasant part of the job'. 'But in terms of ensuring that we have a rules based system, it is absolutely essential that we have a response and a consequence to people who have been served with a deportation order yet do not comply with it,' he added. O'Callaghan also said that such chartered flights will be a 'fairly frequent and regular response to the issue'. 'People have to know that if they're served with a deportation order, it has meaning. 'If it is the case that you're not permitted to stay, there must be a consequence otherwise the whole system becomes meaningless.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
