Foreign immigrants soaking up Irish social welfare.

Sceala Philosopher Location: Dublin

How a out of control immigration policy has hit the pockets of the native Irish in Ireland.
One of the main reasons why Irish pensioners and children are going without.
Ireland PLC has become a charity for foreign chancers.

Over 20% on the Dole are foreign immigrants.
Over 30% collecting rent welfare are foreign immigrants.
These figures are indisputable facts from the government offices involved.
When the foreign immigrants were working, the vast majority of them were on minimum wages, and they were not liable to pay a single cent in any tax.
Many of them sent more money home than they spent in Ireland. Billions have gone from our economy and are still going out of our economy, lost forever.
At the same time those of us who pay tax, have to pay for the children of immigrants to over crowd our schools, and limit the available resources to our own children. We have to pay millions to teach many of these immigrants basic English. We have to pay more millions providing translators in legal proceedings for foreign criminals. The Garda Siochana spent almost €3 million on interpreters last year, as the number of immigrants requiring translators continued to grow.
Irish tax payers are paying for the welfare of unprecedented number of foreign immigrants, we pay for them to come here and live off the state.
Our national tax take has billions in a shortfall.
We can no longer afford to pay for basic public services.
The Irish health system can not cope. We can not afford to look after ourselves properly.

Despite the February 2003 Supreme Court judgement denying parents the right to automatic citizenship, the numbers of pregnant women coming here actually increased. The document shows that the number of births to non-nationals in Dublin's three maternity hospitals rose from 4,440 in 2002 (before the Supreme Court judgement) to 5,471 in 2003.

This represented a rise of 19.9 per cent of all births in Dublin in 2002 to 23.9 per cent in 2003. At Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, the main maternity hospital used by immigrants outside Dublin, 20.3 per cent of births were to non-nationals last year. Last year asylum applications were received from 1,893 pregnant women.

The report referred back to the concerns raised with the Government by the masters of the three Dublin hospitals. The National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street had to contend with 163 foreign women who had not booked ahead and arrived either in or near labour. The Rotunda had more with 269.

In 2002 the Dublin maternity hospitals had 1,641 non-EU mothers and last year this rose to 2,670.

The arrival of women in such late stages of pregnancy and the increasing numbers infected with hepatitis, HIV and syphilis has been causing crises in the hospitals for the past three years.

The Government's reply to Mr O'Keeffe is accompanied by copies of letters received from the masters of the Dublin maternity hospitals raising concerns about the serious impact of late arrivals on the hospitals. It also includes minutes of a meeting between Michael McDowell and two of the masters, Dr Michael Geary of the Rotunda and Dr Sean Daly of the Coombe on October 18, 2002.

The minutes include the following passages: "Dr Geary said the high rate of infectious diseases among these groups has huge cost implications for the maternity hospitals. He went on to say that, having regard to all the circumstances, it was surprising that there had not been a major catastrophe within the maternity services as yet."

It adds: "Three categories of women attend the Dublin hospitals - nationals, non-nationals (mainly asylum seekers) and those who arrived from the UK, have their babies and return. This latter group generally is not involved in the asylum process. Non-nationals usually stay, on average, about two days longer in maternity facilities and the 'race card' is regularly played by many of them in seeking services. In a recent incident a midwife was knocked out by the male partner of one of the patients and the hospital and INO (Irish Nursing Organisation) are examining the matter."

And: "The hospital managers said that the strains being put on their financial, human and other resources by non-nationals (ie, due to late arrivals, high rates of HIV, hepatitis and syphilis )flow directly from immigration control issues which are solely matters for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and its agencies."

A letter dated January 20, 2003 to Health Minister Micheal Martin is also attached in which the three Dublin masters wrote: "We are writing to update you on what is currently happening in three Dublin maternity hospitals. Many women who have low-risk pregnancies are being allocated housing and given access to maternity care in areas other than Dublin.

"Unfortunately, the Department of Social Welfare and the welfare officers pay women their entitlements at 32 weeks of pregnancy. This allows them to relocate to Dublin and they arrive into any of the three Dublin maternity hospitals in labour, having received no antenatal care and we have no access to important medical information such as their HIV status. This severely compromises our ability to deliver care.

"We cannot emphasise strongly enough the importance of a unified approach by the various Government departments in dealing with this problem.

"If both the Department of Justice and Department of Health recognise the difficulties of retaining many thousands of women in Dublin then the Department of Social Welfare needs to ensure that welfare payments are not being made available until after the delivery of the baby and that they can only be claimed in the region where accommodation and medical services are being provided. We hope that you will be able to do something in terms of co-ordinating the Government's approach to this problem," the letter stated.
independent.ie/national-news/report-backs-up-maternity-crisis-479696.html

Strain on rent relief as 32,000 foreigners claim aid
By Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
THE number of people receiving State rent support has jumped by nearly a quarter in just six months -- with one-third of claimants foreign nationals.
New figures supplied to the Irish Independent show that the recession has caused a huge increase in the numbers unable to meet housing costs on their own.

At the end of last year, just over 74,000 people were in receipt of rent supplement from the State. Now the figure has jumped by 23pc and stands at a record 91,000, the Department of Social Welfare confirmed yesterday.
Recent figures, compiled when there were 89,000 claimants, show that 32,000 -- more than one third -- are non-nationals.
They show 7,638 Poles, 2,886 Nigerians, 2,108 Lithuanians, 1,512 Romanians and 1,318 Latvians among the highest categories of non-nationals being paid the benefit. People from 163 countries and territories, excluding Ireland, get the rent supplement.

A Dail committee will today discuss the problems of poverty-stricken households living in private rented accommodation -- with the Government having slashed the maximum rent support payable since the beginning of June.
Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has told tenants who had to take an 8pc reduction in their support to negotiate lower rent with their landlord. She pointed out that rents have fallen by 11pc in the last year, and by more in cities.
State spending on the scheme was over €440m during 2008. The department yesterday said that an estimated €490m will be spent on rent supplement this year, or an average of €500 per claimant.
The department said : "Rent supplement is now restricted to individuals who have held an existing tenancy for six months or who are in homeless accommodation, or who have a local authority assessment which indicates that they are eligible.

Needs
"All other claimants must have been placed on a housing list following a full needs assessment by the local authority before they are eligible."
The department accepted that tenants may be contractually obliged to pay the rent agreed to in their lease, even though their support payments have been cut by 8pc.
But it added: "It is expected that landlords will decrease the rent in recognition of the fact that rents have fallen generally and that there are now a large number of vacant rental properties nationally."
Recent data from the CSO shows that rents in the private sector have fallen by almost 20pc in the past year. A leading property website reported recently that rents had fallen by almost 16pc in the 12 months to March 2009, with falls of 10pc in Galway, 15pc in Cork and 12pc - 18pc in Dublin.
- Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
independent.ie/national-news/strain-on-rent-relief-as-32000-foreigners-claim-aid-1843632.html

Every city, every town in Ireland is infected with this problem.
Our own children can not get part time or full time jobs. Doctors surgeries over crowded. Every playschool and school, every college is now burdened by the social and economic costs of economic immigrants.
We simply can not afford all these foreign immigrants scrounging off the state. No nation can.
The math do not add up, and can never add up to EU open door.
We never begged for a single one of them to come here, so why should we give any welfare to any of them. If they want to live here and come without the necessary basic funds required, then let their own native country pay for them.
If they do not like that, they can always return home to their better system.

We are told massive public spending cuts have to be made.
Why are Irish Politicians ignoring this obvious area for cuts?
There are substantial savings to be made by restricting and stopping social welfare to foreign immigrants.
Such cutbacks will have the support of most native Irish people

We do not want the cuts aimed at our own native Irish school children and Irish pensioners. Or against our health system, which is already under funded.
Make the cutbacks first and most against those foreign immigrants who choose to come here of their own free will.

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Foreign immigrants soaking up Irish social welfare.