u/DeiseAbu1331

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I wanted to share the exact financial breakdown regarding the state’s current expenditure on international protection, as a lot of figures get thrown around in debates without proper sourcing.

According to official Oireachtas figures and recent government reports published earlier this year, the total state spend on IPAS accommodation and support services reached €1.2 billion for 2025.

I want to point out a massive contradiction in how public money is handled here, speaking from brutal personal experience.

I have 3rd level degrees and years work experience but severe mental health struggles have completely derailed my life and I’ve been homeless multiple times. Domestic state "support" usually means the local council handing you a canvas tent and a sleeping bag on a freezing night. If you manage to get a hostel bed in SVDP for example, you are packed onto a floor with other men, or put in filthy single rooms covered in bloodstains and everything else you can imagine. If you try to get long-term disability for a mental health condition in Ireland, the barriers are so high it’s practically impossible. On a medical card, you wait 5 months just to see a psychiatrist's assistant. You don't even get to speak to the psychiatrist anymore. Just a periodical review of medication and that's it.

Yet, look at the parallel system the Irish government and NGOs have built for International Protection Applicants coming to Ireland.

Did anyone see the recent news that private asylum housing providers are actually suing the State over reduced demand for their services? It is a flat-out lucrative business. Recent PAC figures reveal the state spent €1.6 billion purely on private accommodation contracts last year. When you add automatic medical cards, legal aid, and weekly cash, the total multi-departmental cost is between €2 - €2.5 billion.

I’ve seen exactly where this goes firsthand here in my city using a local hotel pool and jacuzzi which is heavily occupied by state-funded residents receiving catered meals and daily cleaning. If other IPAS centres have tough conditions, compared to being handed a canvas tent on a street corner, a 4 star hotel setup is golden.

But it goes way beyond the hotels. On top of billions in tax money, there is a huge network of state-funded NGOs providing further supports. Arrivals have access to ring fenced charity schemes including entertainment vouchers, smartphones, laptops. They also have access to fast tracked university scholarships.

By contrast, the entire national budget allocated to domestic homelessness for Irish and EU citizens is just €563 million.

The state and its NGO apparatus spend FOUR times more funding private hotel contracts and secondary systems for arrivals than it allocates to its entire homeless/sick population. Private companies are literally taking the State to court to protect their massive profits, while the Irish government allows its own vulnerable citizens broken by homelessness, addiction and mental health issues to rot on the street.

This isn't anti-immigration, it’s anti-disproportionality. The funding priorities in Ireland are completely skewed.

EDIT: I CANNOT RESPOND TO EVERYONE. IT IS NOT DIFFICULT AT ALL TO VERIFY THESE FIGURES YOURSELF WITH GOOGLE OR CHATGPT SO PLEASE DO IT YOURSELF OR DON'T BOTHER AND STOP DEBATING.

Does anyone have any information about this? I was told they were sinn fein supporters. Well known accounts though, few years old and not bots 🤔🤔 thanks in advance....

Fine Gael -

Every year at Béal na Blath, Fine Gael celebrates Michael Collins, a man who pioneered the very guerrilla tactics that the IRA used during the Troubles. FG members don't call him a 'terrorist' because he’s their founder. But even if we want to leave 1921 in the past, how do they explain the 1970s Garda 'Heavy Gang'? That wasn't a 'revolution', it was state sanctioned torture of innocent civilians, funded by the taxpayer and protected by Fine Gael and Labour ministers. FG don't even have to 'celebrate' Jack Lynch's government as heroes because they kept them on the state payroll and continue to receive ex government pensions.

The Labour Party -

The Labour Party frequently poses as the 'clean' alternative, yet they conveniently ignore that their modern leadership was built on a merger with the Democratic Left, which split from the Workers’ Party, the political front for the Official IRA. Prominent Labour TDs rose through the ranks which was actively involved in bank robberies, racketeering, and international counterfeiting. Furthermore, Labour was the junior partner in the FG coalition government that oversaw the Garda 'Heavy Gang' in the 1970s, making them directly complicit in the state-sanctioned torture of civilians while they publicly preached about social justice.

Fianna Fáil -

Fianna Fáil can't lecture anyone on modern criminal groups when their own senior ministers, like Haughey and Blaney, were caught in the 1970 Arms Crisis trying to illegally import submachine guns and ammunition for paramilitaries. That wasn't 1916, it was the modern era. Many members today still cherish Haughey & Bertie. These guys weren't rogue actors, they were the leaders the parties voted for and shielded in the Dáil for decades while they told the public to "tighten their belts".

Whether it’s a 2023 rape conviction of a high-ranking FF associate or the 2025 imprisonment of a FG figure for stealing €172k from a mental health charity, the record shows neither Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil nor Labour have a moral high ground. They simply have always had a monopoly on unaccountability especially when in government.

These guys certainly aren't cleaner than Sinn Féin, they just had the power of the state to hide their scandals.

I always hear criticism about Sinn Féin for their historical links with terrorism but I never hear people mention Fianna Fáil, Labour or the Worker's Party for example Ex Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore or Pat Rabbitte (served as the political front for the Official IRA’s campaign of bank robberies, racketeering, and international counterfeiting) or even Ex Taoiseach Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney (gun-running for the IRA).

Nor does anyone ever talk about Fine Gaels historical use of state terrorism and brutality (under Ex Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave Fine Gael enacted the Emergency Powers Act and facilitated the period of the notorious Garda "Heavy Gang", systematic physical brutality and torture against innocent civilians.

Let's take a brief look at just some members of Ireland's "Establishment of Shame" 👇 (Zero rumour or opinions)

Bill Kenneally (notorious Fianna Fáil tallyman and party figure sentenced to 19 years for the serial sexual abuse of 15 boys in Waterford while protected by a decades-long political and clerical "wall of silence").

Brendan Kenneally (former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator who admitted he was told about his cousin’s serial child abuse in 2002 but failed to report it to the Gardaí for over a decade).

Donie Ormonde (former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator alleged by a Commission of Inquiry to have pressured witnesses and reporters to keep the Kenneally abuse case away from the public eye).

Michael McLoone (former Fianna Fáil County Manager and high-ranking party associate convicted in 2023 of the historical rape and sexual assault of a child).

Seán McKiernan (former Fine Gael Cathaoirleach and party rising star imprisoned in 2025 for stealing over €172,000 from a mental health housing charity to fund a lifestyle of drugs and South American male escorts).

Philip Gillick (Fine Gael Councillor of 40 years who was charged with the indecent assault of three boys and, despite the charges, inexplicably worked as an assistant to the very High Court judge investigating his own party colleagues).

Bobby Molloy (Progressive Democrats founder and Minister forced to resign in disgrace after he was caught interfering with a judge on behalf of a friend facing rape charges).

Charles Haughey (former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach found by the Moriarty Tribunal to have illicitly pocketed £8.5 million—equivalent to €45 million today—from wealthy businessmen while telling the public to "tighten their belts").

Bertie Ahern (former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach found by the Mahon Tribunal to have given "untrue" evidence regarding over €165,000 in unaccounted-for cash lodgements and mysterious "dig-outs" while serving as Finance Minister).

Michael Lowry (former Fine Gael Minister found by the Moriarty Tribunal to have a "corrupt" relationship with billionaire Denis O'Brien regarding a mobile phone license and later convicted of criminal tax offences).

Eamon Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte (former Labour Party leaders who rose to power through the Workers’ Party while it served as the political front for the Official IRA’s campaign of bank robberies, racketeering, and international counterfeiting).

Ray Burke (former Fianna Fáil Minister imprisoned for 6 months for falsifying tax returns related to what a Tribunal called "corrupt payments").

Fred Forsey (former Fine Gael Councillor imprisoned for 6 years for receiving €80,000 in bribes to rezone land in Waterford).

Francis O'Brien (former Fianna Fáil Senator imprisoned for 3 years for the "mafia-style" extortion of a farmer).

Ivor Callely (former Fianna Fáil Minister imprisoned for 5 months for forging invoices to steal state expenses).

Liam Lawlor (former Fianna Fáil TD imprisoned three times for contempt of court after refusing to cooperate with planning corruption probes).

Michael Fahy (former Fianna Fáil Councillor imprisoned for 7 months for defrauding a local council).

Kevin Comiskey (Fine Gael candidate with 15 criminal convictions including tax evasion, drink driving, and the use of illegal fuel).

THE ABOVE IS ALL FACT.

OVER THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS INFORMATION WILL BE COMING OUT ABOUT IRISH POLITICIANS AND CRONIES IN WATERFORD AND IRELAND.

Nobody's voting SF based on their personalities. I have listened to their finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty speak since he was a senator and I actually think his economic policies are fairly sound. I definitely agree with creating a national sovereign wealth fund which the current coalition government has proposed but instead would also encourage using tax windfalls like the Google tax and corporation tax windfalls towards fixing the health and housing crisis.

I mean, SF really aren't as left as people think. They love the corporation tax at 12.5%. Want to absolish USC up to 45k, there's no radical nationalisation plans other than wanting to eventually have free healthcare and to gradually build up towards it 🤷 It's very reasonable and the economics make sense.

We are terrified of all progressive politics. Please don't vote Sinn Fein whatever you do. God forbid we vote for an advancement..

Whatever does get built after the devastating fire, I do think they need to attract more people from the Dunmore road area to bring in more money, investment and 3rd level educated people. Less barbers and vape shops, more artisan businesses to be proud of like ardkeen stores or GrowHQ.

Is it just me or was the tycor industrial estate a horrible eye sore and stain on the area? Now it can be rebuilt to a modern standard and asbestos completely removed. Onwards and upwards to all impacted. God bless

Dr. Philip Christie of 'Christie Dental' formerly 'Smiles Dentist', does anyone have any experience dealing with him? Thanks in advance.

You often hear rumours growing up around Waterford county about certain areas or carparks where "dogging" is common. Has anyone any reliable stories, experiences or information about places where it happens or could?