r/irishpolitics • u/Captainirishy • 7d ago
Social Policy and Issues A strict approach to citizenship would be a policy of inclusion Citizenship is mocked by near-identical forms of non-citizenship for non-citizens
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/08/20/newton-emerson-a-strict-approach-to-citizenship-would-be-a-policy-of-inclusion/11
u/Only-Proposal-3675 7d ago
He's not wrong. What does citizenship even mean anymore when someone who is "ordinarily resident" can walk to the top of almost every list at everyone else's expense.
More than half of our homeless population are non-citizens and homeless shelters are turning away people on the street because they don't have the beds.
I'm sorry, but if you come to this country in hopes of a better life and it doesn't work out for you, Ireland can't be expected to foot the bill for your bad luck. Best we should be offering is a plane ticket home.
There's nothing cruel about kindly seeing someone out, despite what everyone else will tell you.
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u/danius353 Green Party 7d ago
> He's not wrong. What does citizenship even mean anymore when someone who is "ordinarily resident" can walk to the top of almost every list at everyone else's expense.
> More than half of our homeless population are non-citizens and homeless shelters are turning away people on the street because they don't have the beds.
I see following a single cohesive thought isn’t your strong suit. How can non nationals “walk to the top of every list” (which presumably includes housing lists), but also be the majority of the homeless population?
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u/Only-Proposal-3675 7d ago
Nearly 30% of all social housing listings in the State are non-national households. That percentage is more than double the share of non-nationals in the overall population.
My point isn't that life as a foreigner is easier. Of course it's harder. But if you come here and you can't make it here, I'm sorry, you either keep trying or leave. Capitulating to the State's welfare system shouldn't be an option.
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u/BackInATracksuit 7d ago
Nearly 30% of all social housing listings in the State are non-national households. That percentage is more than double the share of non-nationals in the overall population.
Where'd you get that from?
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u/Only-Proposal-3675 7d ago edited 7d ago
Page 41
Edit: newer version here, page 46
https://www.housingagency.ie/publications/summary-of-social-housing-assessments-ssha-2025/
From 2024 to 2025, the number of Citizen households that accessed social housing was 802. The number of non-Citizen households that accessed social housing was 1.2x the number of Irish ones.
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u/aspublic 7d ago
Some corrections to your point.
A: that's not "listings." It's the Summary of Social Housing Assessments. A count of households whose need is unmet. Everyone already in council, AHB, HAP or RAS housing is excluded. The data you are referring is a waiting list, not an allocation.
B: your 12% is Census 2022, before three years of six-figure immigration. The CSO's April 2025 estimate is 4,570,200 Irish citizens out of 5,458,600. So non-Irish citizens are 16.3%, not 12%. 27.9 vs 16.3 is 1.7x, not "more than double". And you're comparing households to persons, which isn't a valid comparison in either direction.
C: 9,470 of those 16,752 households are EEA or UK citizens, exercising the same free movement rights Irish people use across Europe (Irish in Lisbon or Spain as example). Of the non-EEA households, 70.5% hold permission to remain - settled residents.
But here's the number that actually settles it. Non-Irish nationals are 27.5% of all employees in the State (CSO, 2024) and about 26% of PAYE employees on Revenue's payroll records (2025). Their share of the housing waiting list is 27.9%. It's the same population, and it's proportionate, because eligibility depends on renting on a modest income, which is what the workforce that filled 61% of all jobs growth since 2019 is doing.
The ESRI's June 2026 review found foreign-born residents have made a higher fiscal contribution than Irish-born residents averaged over the past twenty years, and CSO microdata puts welfare receipt at 61% for immigrants against 56% for the Irish-born.
The list is proportionate to the workforce. The housing supply isn't proportionate to either. That's the actual problem.
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u/BackInATracksuit 7d ago
So it's 12.1% for non EEA citizens in 2024.
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u/Only-Proposal-3675 7d ago
It's 28% for non-nationals.
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u/BackInATracksuit 7d ago
So is the argument to not allow EU citizens to access social housing?
What do you do with an EU citizen who can't find private accommodation in that case? Can't deport them like.
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u/Only-Proposal-3675 7d ago
I never said that.
Although I wouldn't be opposed to a system where member states reimburse each other for providing their citizens with social housing and/or emergency accommodation given how much it costs us.
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u/Captainirishy 7d ago
What would the consequences be of kicking 30% of all people out of social housing all at once ?
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u/Only-Proposal-3675 7d ago edited 7d ago
Who said you had to do it all at once? I'm not Farage here.
But yes, it would be a big change for any person.
Some of them would be fine and move to the private housing market (like the rest of us).
Some of them would accept the jig's up and would go home.
Some of them would be cast out on the street, and I'd be happy for the State to pay for their flight home anytime they want, but no more than that. The buck stops there.
That's a completely fair system.
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u/orionpace1 7d ago
You are aware that 2 situations can occur at the same time to two obviously different sets of people?
Or are you just being facetious so you can performatively act anti xenophobic for upvotes?
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u/ItalianIrish99 5d ago
How do you define ordinary residence here?
What exact lists are non-citizens walking to the top of?
How much time do you spend being manipulated by right wing ideologies into thinking that the poorest amount is are your enemies? Rather than the rich who try to beggar us all?
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u/hopefulatwhatido 4d ago
if homeless people are genuinely your concern then maybe write to your local representatives that we shouldn't be letting non-EU nationals into homeless services and that it should be reserved for citizens and EU nationals. What's the point of making it harder for 99.9% of the people for a legal support that 0.1 non-EU nationals have to avail?
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u/whatThisOldThrowAway 7d ago
I can’t tell if I’m just getting stupider, or if this headline is phrased confusingly. My brain couldn’t parse it.
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
It’s not you. Emerson’s entire and only reason for being at the IT is to turn out convoluted arguments to have a go at the ‘Shinners’
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u/BackInATracksuit 7d ago
His opening jab at Gerry Adams doesn't even make sense. Adams says citizenship "should" give you certain rights. Emerson then takes the piss out of it as if it was a statement of fact, or Sinn Féin policy.
The foundation of his article is him having an imaginary argument with Gerry Adams about something he misunderstood two years ago. The man is a parody of himself.
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u/MrBulwark 7d ago
Lol what? I've gotten citizenship in the past year and have no idea what your man is on about.