• Unionist politicians have asked for investigations into the legal planning status of hotels in the region housing asylum seekers
The UK’s “broken” immigration system is spilling over into tensions in communities in Northern Ireland, a Stormont minister has said.
Education Minister Paul Givan made the comments as unionist politicians have asked for further investigations into the legal planning status of hotels in the region housing asylum seekers.
Earlier this week Antrim and Newtownabbey Council said an enforcement investigation has begun into the legal planning status of the Chimney Corner Hotel in Co Antrim being used to house asylum seekers.
It comes after Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court on Tuesday which blocks asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town.
Unionist politicians have further raised concerns about the status of hotels within the Causeway Coast and Glens and Ards and North Down Borough Council areas.
A spokesperson for Ards and North Down said the council is “in receipt of several queries regarding a hotel in Bangor and the planning service will review these in line with its enforcement policy”.
A spokesperson for Causeway Coast and Glens said: “Council has received several queries relating to associated planning matters, however any enforcement cases are a confidential matter.”
DUP MLA Mr Givan said the UK Government had “failed Northern Ireland” over immigration.
He said: “The immigration system in the United Kingdom is broken, it has been a complete failure of the UK Government to protect the integrity of our borders.
“That is creating tensions within our communities.
“I think when people are in the country it is important that the rule of law is followed, we allow statutory authorities to deal with any issues.
“But when it comes to the actual immigration process, the UK Government is failing Northern Ireland, it is failing the United Kingdom as a whole.
“That does create tension, it creates pressures on our public services, within our housing system.
“The way in which the UK Home Office have been arranging having people in hotels and often buying up properties in working class communities, that creates tension.”
Mr Givan added: “I have constituents who have grown up in these areas and they are not able to get houses.
“We have young people who can’t get on the property ladder because of a failed immigration process.
“The challenge is for the UK Government to get its house in order and stop allowing the system that currently is being exploited to take place.
“We have to then deal with the outworkings of that.
“We need to do that in a way that minimises tensions, but it would be foolish of people to think there isn’t an issue being created through the failure of the immigration system.”
The DUP MLA said anyone who was in the country illegally should be deported “as quickly as possible”.
He added: “But we don’t have a proper process for timely removal of people who are here illegally.
“If people are here and they are seeking asylum then that process needs to be followed through as quickly as possible.
“If that asylum is turned down, again they need to be removed from the United Kingdom as well.
“Our system is broken, that is creating tensions in our public services which is spilling out into the wider community.
“The UK Government have failed, my party will absolutely champion the people of Northern Ireland when it comes to what they need around housing and the pressures they are facing.”
SDLP leader Claire Hanna said some politicians had been “bandwagon jumping” since the Epping Forest court ruling.
She told the BBC: “Of course hotels aren’t suitable accommodation in anything more than short term, it’s not ideal for the person whether that’s an asylum seeker or somebody who has been living here for a long time who is in emergency accommodation, because they are used for that purpose as well.
“The solution to me would appear to efficiently and speedily process people’s applications, that they’re not languishing in the system for years and years, and also it feeds into our wider and chronic lack of available social housing.”
by Jeffreys_therapist
21 comments
Sounds like Givan isn’t sure whether NI is fully part of the UK (for now)
Cherry picking which bits of the union you do and don’t want isn’t how it works, Paul.
Also, it’s interesting how this has become such a massive problem in the past year, since Labour took office.
We didn’t hear much criticism of the repeated Tory failures over the 14 years, including during the May/Foster alliance period
No mention of him and his party supporting Austerity, no mention of the lack of investment in the NHS, housing or education, just the same old dog whistling about ” themuns ruining it for everyone” , first it was Catholics, then the poor, then the disabled, now it’s immigrants. Maybe and it’s not quite a reach, maybe we should blame the govt and those in Stormont for not running the country in a decent and sensible way. Same old Unionism, pander to nonsense and the dog whistlers of the right. As an old prod it’s the main reason I could never vote for one of the unionist parties , giving half a chance they’ll go full goose stepping
The DUP lobbied relentlessly for more immigration as it suited their mates in the food processing industry.
Like Brexit, they hadn’t thought this through.
https://preview.redd.it/htz15tv8oclf1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7741fe1ebbb3051e75b53db939892d796a0c98ab
The UK immigration system is broken by design. The whole point is to be hostile to people exercising their legal right to seek asylum.
The problem with this approach is that they are attempting to pander to people who will never be happy with how badly treated someone is.
The DUP lobbied against cutting immigration once we left the EU because their farmer voters rely heavily on cheap labour to support our agri-foods industry in places like Moy Park.
DUP been flaming racism and sectarianism for years and wonder why they drones of sub IQ bullroots are out throwing stones at people who look a little different from them.
They could show some leadership and try and educate their base, but no, can’t have them with independent thoughts in their heads
Hmm who knew being a part of a country where our immigration is controlled by a govt 400 miles away on another island would be an issue.
Maybe we should have a govt just down the road on the same island where we can actually have control over our legislation, just a thought.
Edit: the CSO actually released the stats of Ireland’s immigration today and it’s actually shocking how much better Ireland is faring.
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-pme/populationandmigrationestimatesapril2025
Stoking the minority hate fires to distract from the fact these cunts have never improved any part of this country in a positive meaningful manner, the only talent they have is fooling their electorate that nothing dismal in this country is anything to do with the government that runs it.
Struggling to pay bills? Go fuck yourself? Wages haven’t risen in 5 years? Go fuck yourself? The health service which is the only thing the UK has going for it is failing because we do nothing but strip funding out of it? Go fuck yourself. The basic infrastructure of the country that your tax money goes to maintain is falling apart? Go fuck yourself? Your water supply is turning into toxic sludge? Go fuck yourself. Pay rise for stormont? Yes please! Election time? Vote for me or (insert catholic/protestant) will get in. Oh all those problems you’re having? It’s those brown folks fault! There’s nothing I can do.
It’s always the most vulnerable minority group that has no voice to defend or protect itself is the one that bares the sins of these useless flaccid hate mongering tax thieving ghouls that are supposed to have the best interest of this country.
In Britain: Reform controlled councils will “do everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead”, the party’s leader Nigel Farage said.
Unionist voters: If Reform got into power in the UK I’d seriously consider a United Ireland.
Unionist Politicians: We want to do exactly the same thing as Reform. More if possible
The 2nd Troubles teaser looks good
It doesn’t help when politicians try to conflate every issue with immigration. How do immigrants in hotels have anything to do with the lack of housing? There has been a problem with housing for years, mainly down to view that houses or assets to be bought up and used as passive incomes through the likes of air bnb or renting. Which in turn prices people who want to buy a house to live in out of the market due to the increased demand these practices create.
Does anyone have any good resources to help someone become familiar with the whole immigration situation in general? From discussing it with people it is being treated as a completely black and white issue and I hear no nuance on the topic, nor do I hear any real info from either side.
My own personal feeling is that racists are massively overblowing it but that there probably are some problems there that need to be addressed. I am a filthy disgusting centrist on a lot of things because it’s pretty rare that any topic or situation really is off to an extreme one way or the other. I don’t mean to be contributing my own view here as I don’t really have one but hoping that someone can point me in the direction of how to educate myself properly on the topic.
Normally that would be as simple as googling something and looking for reasonable sources and reading lists but this topic seems so heated, contentious and utterly monetised that the typical way I would approach learning about something is not working at all. Thanks in advance!
Rampant uncontrolled immigration: major disaster.
Actual number of asylum seekers in hotels in NI: 243.
What was the problem again?
The DUP love chaos.
Monkey see Westminster, monkey do Stormont.
Dupers trying to raise tensions/violence in an attempt to stop their own failures (that they voted for with brexit) and lack of policies.
Also sounds like they’re trying to brown nose the reform party as well (not like unionists trusting british governments has backfired on them before again and again).
immigration is such a red herring.
Austerity broke the country and the state on every way. They stopped funding for the immigration system and cut back on caseworkers.
Theresa May, as Home Secretary, produced the Immigration Act 2012, commonly recognised as the most badly written piece of legislation in modern U.K. legal history. It not only contradicts itself with paragraphs, but even within sentences, needed 46 amended versions drafted between July and December of that year. The guidance explaining the laws to caseworkers took 7 years to complete.
This mess caused caseworkers to guess what they felt the law meant and it was luck of the draw who you got. This drove up waiting times and increased the number of appeals that had to be judged upon within 2 years. Test cases having to be challenged in the European Courts.
Overcrowded detention centres saw deaths in custody, a mental health crisis, suicides, and outbreaks of disease. The Tories turned to hotels, many of them having vested interests in those businesses, to take the overflow.
Until 2002, applicants had been allowed to work and pay taxes and National Insurance before Blair removed that right. Migrants now get just of £9 a week if in accommodation serving food, paid onto a charge card. If food is not included they get just over £40 a week on the card which requires an ATM to withdrawn from it.
They are not allowed council housing or benefits.
The U.K. has an international legal obligation under UN Refugee Law to care for and protect these people. Under the Tories, some 200 children were abducted without trace from facilities they had safeguarding obligations for.
Brexit has also made the shared processing of migrants much more difficult.
At every stage of this disastrous process, the DUP have voted with the Tories.
Fuck, and I cannot stress this last part enough, the DUP
Maybe they should ask if the communities minister can just publicise the locations of asylum seekers
Oh wait
There’s parties in R.O.I saying the same thing about immigration as the DUP. Shock! Outrage!
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