The problem with the Roma gypsies living on the M50 roundabout outside Dublin airport is beginning to puzzle me but not for the reasons you might think. Sure it's dangerous to them and to traffic to have them living on a busy roundabout and yes it's unsanitary to be have over 50 people living in a temporary camp. Now I do believe that the government should deport them, they are taking the piss and challenging the authorities by setting up camp on the first piece of empty land they came to outside the airport. As a representative of the Romanian community in Ireland said on the radio today this is like a test-case, let 50 people set up a camp on the M50 and prove the government cannot stop them then next month more will arrive, and more after that.
However what puzzles me is the attitude of the Roma gypsies in their attempts to stay. They are appealing the governments attempts to remove them based on their rights as EU citizens as to freedom of movement and making them sign on each day at a Garda station is an "unnecessary and disproportionate interference" with their rights to reside in the State.
Are our rights as EU citizens the same as out rights as national citizens? Do those EU right supersede our own national rights? For example if an Irish citizen accused of a crime was required to sign on at a Garda Station could they appeal that as "unnecessary and disproportionate interference" with their rights to reside in the State? What would happen if I set up a camp on the M50 would I be moved on quicker than someone from outside the state?
Personally I think it's all rubbish. They came here to test the limits of what they could get away with. They aren't trying to integrate or settle down, they are living in a makeshift camp on a roundabout on a motorway. When are we going to stop granting rights but not enforcing responsibilities? We should send them home on the next plane to Romania and if they come back send them home again and keep sending them home until they get the message. In the meantime we can let in others, just take these 50 and never let them back in again. Then maybe the next 50 will be a little more willing to settle and integrate. If the EU objects than I suppose we can just put the 50 of them on the next plane to Brussels with a list of nice roundabouts outside the EU parliament and see how long they stay there.
Then if the EU still insists that we should let people come and go as they please and do what they want because they are EU citizens then maybe we should give up and just move to Romania, I hear it's a beautiful country and the weather has to be better.
However what puzzles me is the attitude of the Roma gypsies in their attempts to stay. They are appealing the governments attempts to remove them based on their rights as EU citizens as to freedom of movement and making them sign on each day at a Garda station is an "unnecessary and disproportionate interference" with their rights to reside in the State.
Are our rights as EU citizens the same as out rights as national citizens? Do those EU right supersede our own national rights? For example if an Irish citizen accused of a crime was required to sign on at a Garda Station could they appeal that as "unnecessary and disproportionate interference" with their rights to reside in the State? What would happen if I set up a camp on the M50 would I be moved on quicker than someone from outside the state?
Personally I think it's all rubbish. They came here to test the limits of what they could get away with. They aren't trying to integrate or settle down, they are living in a makeshift camp on a roundabout on a motorway. When are we going to stop granting rights but not enforcing responsibilities? We should send them home on the next plane to Romania and if they come back send them home again and keep sending them home until they get the message. In the meantime we can let in others, just take these 50 and never let them back in again. Then maybe the next 50 will be a little more willing to settle and integrate. If the EU objects than I suppose we can just put the 50 of them on the next plane to Brussels with a list of nice roundabouts outside the EU parliament and see how long they stay there.
Then if the EU still insists that we should let people come and go as they please and do what they want because they are EU citizens then maybe we should give up and just move to Romania, I hear it's a beautiful country and the weather has to be better.
1 comment:
Hi Dec,
The part with Rroma integration into society is a bit of wishful thinking. They are not exactly willing to integrate into Romanian society (and they live there for hundreds of years) so why would they integrate in Irish society? Not all of the are like that; but you will not notice the ones integrated.
I think the Irish government should use any legal means to send them back.
As a side note: RTE comments are not exactly helpful either: they are suggesting that Romanian embassy was lying about the fact some have houses in Romania. They should have investigated a bit more. During the '90s, they did the same thing in Germany until they were expelled and no NGO was believing them any more. They moved to France and the same thing happened. Now they are trying their luck in Ireland.
(If you want, I have same pictures of rich Rroma homes. It gives a different perspective)
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