It Starts Here

at





Yesterday.

Ballyfermot Community Civic centre, Dublin

The Launch of Aontú, the new political party headed by former Sinn Féin member and Meath West TD Peader Toibin at the Launch.

Mr Toibin said:

“In three months we have held 40 public meetings throughout the country. No other political party has engaged at such a community level with the people of Ireland for many years. Well over 5,000 people attend those meetings.”

Mr Toibin said his party would argue for ‘sustainable’ levels of immigration:

“Our view is very simple, there needs to be sustainable levels of immigration in this country, it needs to be managed. There needs to be some link between the capacity of the country and the numbers of people coming in, if there’s not there’s going to be hardship for indigenous and newcomers alike.”

Aontú to run 60 candidates in the May’s local and EU elections (RTÉ)

Debate over ‘sustainable’ immigration needed, says Tóibín (irish Times)

Sam Boal/RollingNews

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124 thoughts on “It Starts Here

      1. bisted

        …maybe if he’d bent over ‘preposterous’ would have recognised the feet sticking out…

  1. postmanpat

    But the scary thing is you can go far on a racist immigrant scapegoat platform. These bunch of clowns are not worth listening too, anyone who gives them the time of day is a moron. Every country has its problems , immigrants are not even close to a problem in this country.

    1. Scundered

      Why is it racist to be concerned about the amount of people coming to living on this small island? What do you think is the right amount of people to fit on this piece of land?

        1. Andrew

          It is densely populated when people are being exploited and sharing bunk beds in Dublin. Not so densely populated in rural Ireland where there are no jobs. Population density is nothing to do with this. It’s about sustainability and the standards of living.
          This doesn’t effect the middle classes who do very nicely out of low skilled immigration.

          1. Janet, I ate my avatar

            no it’s being subject to exploitation due to pandering to immoral scum, sorry landlords

        2. Scundered

          Live. So how many people is the right amount for the island? Are we to fill up our lovely countryside in the future and kiss goodbye to our tourism industry?

          1. postmanpat

            To answer your question” why is it racist…? ” Its a new political party whos primary “concern” is immigration. Immigration is not the main concern of this country, not by a long shot, yet here he is!! Gabaiste O Fuinneogue and his “new party” appealing to the low IQ common denominator for white power in and of itself.

          2. Nigel

            We’ve been filling up our lovely countryisde with ribbon development, one-off housing and commuter estates and wrecking tourism with illegal dumping, road-building, intesnive agriculture and industrial forest plantations for a while now, it isn’t the fault of any immigrants. The problem is to do with proper planning and priorities and nothing whatsoever to do with immigrants.

          3. scundered

            @Nigel But to address things like the housing crisis or the health crisis (which are very much the priorities) you also need to examine the amount of people coming in driving up that demand, get to the sources. That’s not the same as saying it’s solely the cause, the problem is multifaceted, but it is a part of it. So yes immigration does need discussion.

            @Postman Pat: Would you say if someone was to complain about the growing African gangs in Balbriggan and Blanchardstown, that they were a white power supporter, or how would you bring that conversation up?

          4. Nigel

            Yes population growth is part of proper planning this is proper and not controversial and should not need a new political party to be comprehended and if it does the party had better be the Proper Planning For Posterity Party not the We Have Concerns About Forteigners Coming Over Here Debate Meeee Party.

          5. Nigel

            Of course. So does emigration. So you take it into account with all the other factors. If you’re doing it right. The discussion should not be about immigration, the discussion needs to be how we keep screwing up planning in this country, and immigration can certainly form a relatively minor part of that general discussion. Singling out immigration like this is just pants.

      1. realPolithicks

        In 1841 the population of Ireland was 8.1 million so I think you can relax and allow a few more people in.

    2. Janet, I ate my avatar

      well said postman, all the problems were here, brought about by Irish lack of competence, lack of foresight and nimbyism

  2. SOQ

    Yup well like it or not, a party which stands on a controlled immigration policy is going to gain votes.

    I know of one town where it is estimated that between 40 and 45% of the population are Lithuanians. The locals feel like aliens in the place they have lived all their lives.

    Something has to give.

        1. Cian

          CSO says that in 2016 there are 36,552 Lithuanians in Ireland (out of a total population of 4,689,921) so 0.78%;

          Of towns, Monaghan town has 1,004* Lithuanians (out of 7,606) which is 13.2;
          Claremorris is next highest density with 9.3%

          That is a long way from 40-45%.

          *Ninja edit, I had the numbers wrong.

          Note, it is possible that there are an extra 4,000 Lithuanians live in Monaghan that either didn’t complete the census, or moved there since 2016.

        2. SOQ

          On a mobile here and was in a hurry so a slip on the specifics. Lithuanians are apparently the largest group.

          30% of Monaghan COUNTY is non national and it is estimated that the town itself is way higher. No official figures from what I can see but anyone I know from that area agrees.

          Now I am not blaming these people but I am certain that if a conversation is not had about this subject, particularly around the services provided, someone is guaranteed to come along and capitalise on local resentment and not just in that town either.

          As I said before, it is not a black and white issue.

          1. ReproBertie

            “around the services provided”
            So the issue is not the immigration but the lack of government response to demand for services from the increased local population. Sounds to me like that should be the topic for conversation in the lead up to the local elections.

            Bottom line, it’s the government’s fault, as usual, but the blame is being placed on immigrants, as usual.

          2. SOQ

            Can’t post links at the moment so Google ‘CSO non nationals’, first link and scroll to bottom of page.

            The highest % is in mayo followed by Longford although I stand corrected on the official Monaghan figure.

            And yes, percentages really do matter to local communities.

          3. Cian

            Ballyhaunis has 300+ asylum seekers included in their numbers – which will skew the numbers a bit.

          4. SOQ

            That’s true Cian but from a local perspective, it really doesn’t matter if they are asylum seekers or not if the local community changes beyond all recognition.

            One thing never mentioned by those who scream racist, even though they are mainly the same race, is that those eastern Europeans who have little or no English sometimes get treated horrendously. And the situation gets even worst with the Brazilians and the Ukrainians, especially if illegal.

            I know that SIPTU are active in this area and probably some of the other unions too but there are other reasons why Irish are not employed in certain sectors, especially that they won’t put up with the exploitation and abuse.

            And that is our shame, not theirs.

    1. Chris

      Rural towns in Ireland are dying on their arse with young people leaving- having lots of eastern Europeans to use services and boost the economy should be welcomed. They tend to live in towns were the jobs are, they aren’t like many Irish people who have lived here on the dole all their lives. Also 40-45% of the population being Lithuanian is the kind of scaremongering bigotry without any facts attached that I expect of right wing little Irelanders.

        1. SOQ

          Ha. A friend of mine also liked the idea of an injection of attractive genes until one day we were walking through Dublin and every good fella seemed to be from Brazil… and gay.

          He had to scrap that idea, for obvious reasons.

  3. phil

    They might have a point , I work in IT and I reckon if I could somehow stop IT professions immigrating to Ireland , Id have more job opportunities and a way better salary , I had spent a whole 20mins thinking about that and was satisfied until someone told me that it wasn’t as simple as that , that I could conceivably loose my job if IT employers cant find staff and move their businesses elsewhere …

    May this immigration stuff is more complicated that I realized, I had better stay out of it ….

    1. Andrew

      yes phil because all the Pakistanis and Brazilians working minimum wage jobs and renting bunk beds off parasitical landlords are what we really need. Never mind that they are here illegally.
      We need skilled immigrants in *certain* areas. What we do have is low skilled immigrants, that keeps wages down and rents high. It suits your globalist masters I suppose.
      The authorities actually have no idea how many Chinese now live in Ireland for example.
      Go on phil, tell us about the restaurants, the ‘vibrancy’ and the gene pool.

      1. Nigel

        Right wing parties LOVE ‘controlling’ immigration. Keep legal immigrants to a minimum, make life hell for asylum seekers, build up a sub-class of easily-disposable illegally resident cheap labour to keep wages depressed while extracting exorbitant rents for poorly-maintained properties and assorted other services on which they are dependant with little to no legal recourse. THAT’S gloablism.

      2. phil

        @Andrew, Not sure what we are arguing about , The guy who sits next to me is from Lahore, pretty sure he is paid more than me as he has more experience , and 6 desks away there is a Brazilian UX developer, Im pretty sure Im paid more than her as I have more experience and a different role , but I suspect she has a healthy salary.

        Restaurants , the only thing Ive noticed about them was when I lived in Greece as an immigrant myself , my favorite restaurant was an Indian, which had an Indian chef, I will say though it was very difficult to get a traditional Greek meal in Lefkada as most of the Trad taverna’s had polish chefs , but to be honest I wouldn’t know the difference …

        1. Andrew

          What about the Pakistani taxi driver or the lad working at your local spar phil? Or the deliveroo couriers? Because most of these boys and girls do not work in IT. but you know that already.

      3. ReproBertie

        “all the Pakistanis and Brazilians working minimum wage jobs … are here illegally.”
        Do you really stand over that ridiculous generalisation Andrew?

        1. deluded

          Weeellllll
          …there is a fine tradition here of language students working full time for rock bottom wages while the local guards keep signing the visa forms,
          I remember it explained to me one time about the flocks of Chinese kids working day and night in the pubs in Dublin.
          Regarding the chicken and mushroom businesses in the border counties I understand there are geansaí loads of Brazilians living 10-20 in a house and if any of them complain about pay or conditions their visas can be revoked or simply not renewed.

    2. SOQ

      Absolutely. I read yesterday that the daffodil industry in Cornwall, England- which produces 80% of all daffodils in the country and has a turnover of £4.5 million a year, lost 20% of its crop this year because they couldn’t get the same number of eastern European staff.

      It’s never a black and white issue.

  4. Nigel

    How to solve immigration problems:
    1. Fix the housing mess.
    2. Fix the health service.
    3. Reform planning so that sustainable integrated high-density community-lead developments throughout the country revitalise rural and urban areas.
    4. Invest heavily in small-to-medium-sized local businesses.
    5. Tax the ever-loving crap out of corporations and rich people.

    1. Andrew

      Your number 5 might need some work. They ONLY reason a lot of corporations are here is because of the low tax rate. I’m not saying it’s right but that’s the way it is. Jobs would be gone if you run with number 5.

      1. Nigel

        We’re a tax haven, and that determines the ethos of the political parties, prioritising corporations and big dumb infrastructure projects over everything else. So feck ’em.

      1. Nigel

        Maybe some savings could be acheived if we avoid massive pversepnding on big dumb infrastructural projects?

          1. Nigel

            Pulse, electronic voting, the Bertiebowl, irish Water and who could forget the children’s hospital. Note, at least two of those were and are badly needed – the execution was big and dumb. Also every penny spent on a road in this country is a penny wasted that could have been spent bulding up the public transport system which thanks to leng-term neglect and mismanagement will take a, yes, big dumb iunfrastructure project to re-establish as a viable alternative to the nightmare of car dependancy, so sue me.

          2. bisted

            …in my opinion, one of the most enduring legacies of the celtic tiger era has to be the new road network…however, big projects inevitably mean big anomalies…I use the M1 quite often and am always struck by the obscenity that is the tollbrige just a few kilometres from the exquisite engineering that is the Boyne Bridge…overall, I’m really glad it was built…

          3. Nigel

            The obsessive building of roads to the detriment of public transport is one of the ugliest and stupidest legacies of the Celtic Tiger era, and if huge highways choked with commuters for hours every morning doesn’t tell you that, nothing ever will.

          4. Yep

            Fair enough. I completely agree on the consistent overspends and certainly can’t disagree with the fiasco of the BertieBowl.

            Transport infrastructure I can’t claim to agree or disagree. What and when things were built have to be judged in their time.

        1. Andrew

          ‘maybe’ is a bit vague Nigel. You’re plan is not very well thought out. EU tax harmonisation may well make the tax thing moot anyway.
          Fixing the health service would require the public sector unions to play ball. They are unwilling to do that and have been for years.

          1. Nigel

            That’s not a plan, that’s a vision. Not even a particularly dazzling vision, it’s literally what needs to happen in this country and any politicians who aren’t presenting plans to do these things are just servile low-corporation-tax drones. We don’t need the public unions to play ball, they are looking after their member’s intersts, that is their job. We need public officials to take responsibility for looking after the interests of the general population by running the health service as a public service, not insulatiing themselves from that respibsibility with layers and layers of beureaucracy.

  5. class wario

    I had an inkling of respect for Toibin for, despite forming an explicitly anti-choice party, refusing to be pulled in an anti-immigration direction by the faceless trolls who had criticised him for not going full far-right upon establishing Aontu.

    Very disappointing to see that go up in smoke once they realise they can rabble rouse a bit more efficiently with some broad anti-migrant stuff thrown in too.

    1. Scundered

      I don’t believe race is their concern at all, as I see it the concern is with crime and the stripping away of irish culture, the slow build up of ghettos, it’s a conversation that needs to be addressed instead of just lazily labelling it as something too hot to handle. If both sides would try to understand each other it would help, am adamant both sides have good intentions.

      1. class wario

        “don’t believe race is their concern […] concern is with crime and the stripping away of irish culture, the slow build up of ghettos”

        Sure thing buddy!

      2. Rep

        ” the concern is with crime ”

        What has that got to do with immigration? Unless they think that the non-Irish are mainly criminals?

        I live in a small town in on the South coast so I am curious as to what you mean when you say that people from rural Ireland are concerned about the stripping away of irish culture and the slow build up of ghettos? There are no ghettos in these places, the main (only) form of entertainment is the gaa or the pub and the criminals are Irish.

      3. ReproBertie

        “the stripping away of irish culture”
        Please elaborate with examples of what Irish culture is and how it’s being stripped away.

        Take your time.

  6. Curated by Vanessa for Frilly Keane

    Last I heard they’ve 35 candidates already suited and booted for the locals

    My gut feeling is that they’ll do well at local level but only Peadar himself
    Unless a few high profiles can be tempted
    Can expect to be seen in the Dáil after the next general
    And even he himself knows that’s not a reliable seat

    And if they don’t have a national presence
    They’ll just fizzle out

    Btw
    For the Gender Tally’s
    11 of this 35 are women

    Yet still not the worst
    Renua if ye’re wondering
    7 from 24

        1. Daisy Chainsaw

          What’s the difference between Peadar’s Party and Renua? They’re both niche anti women and immigrants. Peadar might score a few more culchies than the urban Renua, but they’re both cheeks of the same poo poo botty.

          1. Curated by Vanessa for Frilly Keane

            It’s not a question of difference
            From my perch on the ditch anyway

            Renua was Lucinda’s gig
            And shur’
            It hasn’t really changed

            Whereas Peadar is imo far more disingenuous about his motives for launching Aontú

            His seat is very risky along with being on the wrong side of the Repeal Referendum in a very strong Tá Constituency return

            Add to that he was suspended from the Sinn Fein whip last November

            What he is really doing is chasing the O’Cuiv / Hanafin FFers
            And believe or not
            That’s a substantial constituency that has another 10 good years in them

            It’s also worth pointing out that Peadar himself carries more weight and political recognition than all of Renua put together

          2. Yep

            What Frilly said. Overall all I think he and the party will have more of a grassroots and countrywide appeal. Renua was essentially selling libertarian ideals even if it was created due to the Protection of Life issue Lucinda jumped for. Doubt they will be playing anything serious anytime soon but can’t see a collapse on the scale of Renua.

          3. Curated by Vanessa for Frilly Keane

            No
            They’ll not flop like Renua
            But then again Peadar hasn’t attracted the brass that Lucinda did back when
            Eddie Hobbs himself told me that he was deceived
            While Lucinda was bollocking around on choice and leaving it as a free vote situation
            The presence of Opus Dei and their influence was deliberately withheld from those personalities in the heady days of Renua
            Then of course none of their sitting TDs were returned
            So that was that
            A scattering of shabby County Councillors was and will be about the Renua height of it

            Aontú on the other hand have crept along nicely going from town to town collecting interest without too much Dublin media fanfare within and amongst the Buswells sets

            That’s where their strength is
            Peadar literally got the delegate details from the 2017 FF Ard Fheis and fished them out

            Having that meeting in Ballyier was a political masterstroke IMO
            Dublin
            But not Dublin
            With great access for any Tiocfidhs and Gaelgories and Holy Marys to get in an out of
            Peadar can say all the prayers for Old Ireland he likes
            He’s every bit the sneaky self serving cynical operator Bertie Ahern was and is

            He’s scouring for the vote O’Cuiv knew he could get out back in Áras ’11 had Meehall let him run

            No future in Sinn Fein for him and very possibly no future in the Dáil for him
            He had to do something

            Maybe that’s why Terry was there

            To get him to run for President

        2. George

          They seem extremely similar to me and from the media attention at the time it seems quite a few people thought they’d be a significant player in that election.

  7. shitferbrains

    wages and living conditions are solely the result of government – that’s government anywhere – policy and immigration has little or no impact on either.

  8. class wario

    I think a big problem for parties and politicians looking to make gains from a left-leaning platform is that it’s far too easy to make leftist policies look bad and far too longwinded to support them in a manner that entices people to vote for you en masse. The comparative effectiveness of explaining the benefits of these versus asking who’s going to pay for them or saying it’ll result in every multinational leaving the country is obvious.

    The same can be said here where it’s a lot easier in the short term for Aontu to (‘softly’) blame immigrants for issues in the country than to explain the advantages and benefits of immigration. The same could also explain why centre and right leaning parties struggle to do the same, or at least find themselves relying on extremely condescending “they’ll do the jobs you don’t want to do!” stuff.

    1. Andrew

      Low skilled immigration benefits the few at the expense of the many.
      High skilled immigration can be a benefit.
      There is a difference, or is that too nuanced/inconvenient for you?

  9. Dr.Fart MD

    there is no immigration problem here, other than immigrants not being allowed to work. That’s the only thing to fix regarding immigration. Direct provision is pretty bad, but it’s all we can afford. I mean, we could afford to improve the direct provision system, but that money should be used to upgrade our health system etc. first. Which won’t happen. In summation; we don’t have an immigration problem that effects Irish people negatively.

    1. Andrew

      low skilled immigration most definitely does effect Irish people and by extension Ireland negatively. It puts pressure on social services, accommodation etc. with little in return and most low skilled immigrants contribute relatively little if anything to the tax take.
      Landlords benefit as do the businesses that employ low skilled labour.
      In summation, YOU don’t have an immigration problem because it doesn’t negatively effect you or anyone you know.

      1. Nigel

        There’s no particular reason why the effect should be negative. Or rather, the reasons why it does have nothing to do with the immigrants themselves. Plenty of low-skilled jobs out there. Even if the tax-take is relatively small they are crucial to small to medium businesses and therefore to the economy as a whole. What’s lacking is protections for those employees, and our cities should have a plethora of decent, small, but cheap accomodation for them while they pursue social advancement through promotion or education or starting their own businesses.

      2. Junkface

        I’ll tell you what and who contributes little to the Tax take. Billionaire corporations! The wealthiest countries in the world contribute almost zero to Ireland’s tax system. Yet they use our infrastructure, our networks and transport. Ireland’s water system needs serious updating, Dublin needs an underground railway system, the health system is a mess, housing and the inability to build anything fast in enough is a disaster. If we taxed these giant companies even 10% tax it would contribute to the upkeep of the country.
        Tax from low skilled immigrants would be minuscule in comparison.

        1. rotide

          christ on a bike, what are you talking about?
          “they use our infrastructure, our networks and transport”
          They pay for this. Do you think google employees have a free travel card or something? Do you think Mr Google just came and stole 7 buildings in dublin? Do you think they don’t pay for the services they use?

          “If we taxed these giant companies even 10% tax it would contribute to the upkeep of the country.”

          We tax them more.
          You really should read more than just headlines.

          1. Dr.Fart MD

            ah! thundering idiot and regularly wrong person, Rotide to the fore. Our corporate tax rate is 12.5%, which they don’t get charged. it’s usually more in and around 1% or less. The apple tax 13.5 billion would’ve gone a long way, and that’s only one company. If we collected corporate tax, we’d have a lot more money to fix the many issues we face today.

          2. Junkface

            They pay for our infrastructure? Sorry, I should have explained more clearly. They do not pay for the upkeep of our roads, motorways, bridges, railways… etc, because they do not pay enough tax. Our Tax money is used to maintain our infrastructure. Their businesses increase the use of our infrastructure and put it under more pressure. Why do you think other countries tax these Global giants more? For fun? Its to maintain a healthy system for the country to function, and to make sure the burden if more equally shared.

            Also Apple’s tax rate in Ireland in 2014. Why do you think they call it Leprechaun economics?
            https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/30/how-apples-irish-subsidiaries-paid-a-0005-percent-tax-rate-in-2014.html

            You really should read more about how a country funds and maintains infrastructure.

          3. Cian

            @junkface, That was Apple doing an accounting trick to move money through Ireland.
            None of that Apple money used any of our infrastructure, water, electricity or precious bodily fluids – except possibly one accountant or lawyer driving to work one day and making a few calls.

          4. rotide

            The apple loophole was closed, and as Cian pointed out had NOTHING to do with using our resources. its going through the courts as to where that money will end up (and for full transparency, I don’t think we deserve much of it since the profits are not profits that were made in ireland)

            “They do not pay for the upkeep of our roads, motorways, bridges, railways… etc, because they do not pay enough tax”

            Do you think that ‘corporations’ are comprised of a single person? Google employ close to 8000 people here on good money. Where do you think their tax goes?

            Glad to see Dr Fart has the full receipts of Revenue at hand and not just the broadsheet headlines and can comfortbaly tell us that basically all corporations in Ireland pay 1% tax.

          5. Dr.Fart MD

            nah, rotide. it was the actual news that told me that. i suppose the next logical step for you would be to start bleating about ‘fake news’.

          6. Junkface

            I only used Apple as an example of one of the giant corporations. What about all of the other billionaire companies operating in Ireland? Is the tax collected from them enough to share the burden of maintaining our infrastructure, our water supply, our electrical grid, our broadband, our health care system, our educational system? No! Evidently not.

            These things are funded by taxes on big businesses in other countries as well as general taxation of the workforce. Ireland has more than one crisis going at the moment due to lack of investment on all of these matters. Do you not see the connection between correct taxation and a functioning system? Ireland is dysfunctional and operating on short term gains not long term planning, and its the people of Ireland and their children, grand children who suffer the effects of this.

          7. Dr.Fart MD

            classic rotide. “show me links!” .. no. go consider yerself. im not here to educate you, you silly billy. look it up yourself.

          8. rotide

            You conviently used the one example of a company that had a 9 billion tax settlement eh?

            Bit like using one particular German leader as an example of them all.

            “Ireland is dysfunctional and operating on short term gains not long term planning, ”
            Do you think that one day a couple of years ago, someone said ‘hey, i know lets knock a couple of points off the corporation tax’?
            Or do you think maybe that a bit of thought might have been put into it.

            As someone who remembers a time before it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on where the employment and inward investment would be coming from without the companies enjoying the corporate tax rate.

          9. Junkface

            Rotide, I don’t think you understand how Taxation and the running of a country works.

            Do you think Google, Facebook, Apple etc have had any negative effect on house pricing, rent and the housing crisis generally? All economists realise that keeping very low corporate tax rates has a negative effect on a countries ecosystem.

            Ireland is a country where a Vulture fund paid less tax on an annual profit of €75 million, than a standard citizen who earned over €40k in 2015. Do you think that is sustainable?? It has long term effects. It is backward economics. It puts more pressure on the people who cannot afford it in every aspect of life, be it housing, rent, healthcare, water services, infrastructure maintenance, education. It is all related, and everything has a knock on effect.

            Ireland still borrows millions to function.

    2. diddy

      wrong. the city is chocolate block with Brazilians..and other assorted latins..most living in substandard accommodation, most in precarious slave labour. we and they deserve better.

      1. postmanpat

        The term is “chock-a-block” not “chocolate block”. I’m guessing your somewhat immigrant yourself and not caught up on your idioms. What are you? Polish? Lithuanian? East Asian? Don’t like “Latin’s” huhh? You talk funny diddy , when are you from?

        1. Andrew

          you like pimping for your landlord mates pat? Pushing the globalist agenda while signalling your ‘virtue’. Stooge

  10. Barry the Hatchet

    For a country that has always sent its people across the globe in search of a better life, and continues to do so pretty regularly, it is terribly depressing to see how little empathy we have for people from other countries seeking to do the same.

    1. Junkface

      +1
      Every family in Ireland has somebody who emigrated to another country. Ireland does not have an immigration problem. The numbers are really, really low compared to most EU countries. Ireland has a planning problem, a land hoarding problem, a vulture fund problem, and a rigged Tax system in favour of the rich. Fix the real problems and you will see that we need more skilled international workers to keep the economy running.

      Ireland had a population of 12 million before the famine, it is currently close to 5 million.

        1. millie st murderlark

          Really rotide?

          Life was approximately 250 odd years ago so absolutely no comparison. Very poor effort on your part.

          TUT TUT

      1. Cian

        Ireland never had a population of 12 million.
        It peaked at about 8.2 million (for the island) in 1841;
        it is now (4.78m + 1.87m) 6.65 million

          1. Cian

            really? Have you seen the size of the Famine Memorial statues on the quays?
            Jeez, I was down there late one foggy night, after a few scoops, and they scared the absolute poop out of me looming out at me [shudder].

  11. Dr.Fart MD

    theres no immigration problem. if people are gathering to vent anger about this, it means their anger is about a different element of the situation. that being, immigrants are foreign.

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