Politicians Silent on Cost of Asylum

At a time when the country is €20 billion in the red, with the IMF expected to parachute in at any minute, one could be forgiven for thinking that our noble government would be trying to ensure Irish money was being spent on Irish people - but no - not according to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.

Ahern revealed, no, had dragged out of him, the information that "Ireland" has spent €44.2m in the first six months of the year on accommodating 6,879 asylum seekers. However, the total spend by the Government on asylum seeker accommodation between 2005 and 2008 was €337.6m, he confirmed.

So, the taxpayer is getting close to supplying €400m just to provide accommodation for a relatively small group of people who, by virtue of their claim of asylum, are admitting that they had no right to be in this country in the first place; arrived here by unauthorised, or unknown means, and, in the case of Nigerians, are automatically in contravention of the terms of the Dublin Treaty (negotiated and signed at great trouble and expense to this country) which determined that an illegal immigrant must claim asylum in the first European country they arrive in. As our esteemed Ceann Comhairle and former Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue has said, "the only way a Nigerian could arrive directly in Ireland is if he came here by balloon." And as we all know, Deputy O'Donoghue is a great man for saving the taxpayer's money whenever he can.

Surely it doesn't matter whether you are a great believer in asylum or disagree with the entire concept: the central issue has to be the unspoken, but clearly long-standing agreement between all the parties in the Dáil not to discuss asylum in public and to avoid any questioning of the staggering sums of money being spent on people who have succeeded in illegal immigration.

If we are to have a successful representative democracy in Ireland, then there can be no issue that is considered too sensitive to be out of bounds for discussion in parliament. That is the reason we have 'parliamentary privilege', where a TD can raise and discuss any issue without fear of libel actions or arrest. The danger of this vow of silence from our spineless politicians is that we now have the situation that was the touchpaper for the American Revolution - "taxation without representation".

If the government is going to tamely hand over €400m that has been compulsorily taken from us - on pain of imprisonment - to people who, on the evidence so far, are mostly making bogus claims to asylum, then I sure as hell want to see vigorous debates in the Oireachtas on this issue. Don't you?