Mayor has “let Limerick down and let his office down, and it is time for him to go.”
An Irish Member of European Parliament has called for the resignation of Limerick Mayor Kevin Kiely after comments the councillor made on the deportation of EU nationals this week.
Mayor Kevin Kiely came under fire on both a local and European level Wednesday after he made the following comments,
“I’m calling for anybody who is living in the state and who can’t afford to pay for themselves to be deported after three months. We are borrowing €400 million per week to maintain our own residents and we can’t afford it.”
“The Irish government are going to have to go back and review these laws – unless the EU are going to come up with some subvention and give us some money to pay these non-nationals”, Mr. Kiely added.
Since making the comments, the 813th Mayor of Limerick has come under sustained fire from all sides and has been forced to deny his comments were racist. The Labour Party’s Ireland South MEP Alan Kelly slammed the remarks Wednesday as “xenophobic” and “outrageous”.
“The country is in economic turmoil at the moment and we as policy makers have a responsibility to come up with solutions, but comments like this have no place in the discourse and I believe that Cllr Kiely should now resign as Mayor.
I wonder does Cllr Kiely’s local Fine Gael organisation and Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly concur with his views in this regard. If not the party should disown Cllr Kiely and disassociate themselves from his comments. If all of that fails party leader Enda Kenny should step in and take control of the situation.
As a member of the European Parliament I have seen how some of the most unsavoury far-right politicians operate, and these are the kind of comments that I might expect from that quarter.”
The MEP even went on to say Kiely’s views are “more in line with those of Nick Griffin of the BNP”, than with the people of Limerick.
A fellow city councillor, Sinn Fein’s Maurice Quinlivan described the mayor as being out of touch with reality while Limerick Socialist Party spokesperson David Vallely said his comments were “viscous, nasty and unfair.”
The Mayor has since tried to clarify his comments saying he was referring to individuals that were abusing the welfare system, “I’m not racist but it is very simple, we can’t continue to borrow €400 million a week and the Government has to pull a halt and say enough is enough unless the EU intervenes and pays some sort of a subvention”, he said.
He is a 100% correct in what he said
You cant just come here and sign on you must work first for 1 or 2 years. Then you are entitled to sign on. Thats the eu way. Lets just get on with it. That mayors coments are shameful and embarassing to limerick.
We’re part of Europe whether we like it or not. We need to take the good with the bad, we cant be selective. We are obliged to treat all EU citizens fairly..the same way that all Irish Citizens living throughout Europe are treated. Does the mayor think that there are no unemployed Limerick people living abroad? what happens if every country starting throwing out unemployed non locals? The Mayors comments are a disgrace. I agree with Alan Kelly, the Mayor should walk.
his only speaking what every one is thinking & havent the voice to say it & his right.Since when did they do away with freedom of speech his entitled to speak his mind & i thank him for saying what i wanted to say & the thosands of others that wanted to say it.Were Ireland shhh oh say nothing it will go away we always just take everthing thats f*cked at us & never do anything about it
Kiley and his party supported the Nice Treaty which allowed 100,000s to come here from eastern Europe. its a bit rich of him to complain now. His mates in business used these guys to drive down irish wages and it suited them all.
You also have to be here 2 years before you can claim benefit so he is wrong on that and you CAN’T deport EU nationals.
in canary islands if u are an imagrent & dont work all u get is some milk & a bit food for 2 survive on that why all the morocans have nearly left lanzarote thats the way 2 go what about all the irish homeless people in england that have been there since the 50s&60s they get f*uck all from the english goverment after they built the place after the war.now i know we the irish screwed england back in the eightys but we as a country never learned from the scamming that took place
The Mayor is 100% right, the Irish politicans in europe did have an oppertunity to veto the Polish and others from coming here but didn`t, thats not Kielys fault!!he is after all a city councillor who does not make party policy, what would an Irsh citizen get if he went to Poland NOTHING as a matter of fact some brickie friends of mine went to Poland and what was posted outside the sites were signs saying ” IRISH NEED NOT APPLY” sound familar. At least we seem to have one honest politican………
Some people are saying the mayor should walk but what has happened to free speech.
This is his opinion no matter if you agree with it or not.
Alan Kelly, you’re out of line.
I wish Irish people weren’t so weak and politically correct. We should be proud of our nation – defend its borders and protect our heritage for future generations.
A multicultural Ireland in the future isn’t a proper Ireland, it is a compromise. Irish people should not have to compromise with other peoples at the detriment of our own, in our own nation?
I think not.
We would be foolish to not deport everyone who leeches off of our social welfare system unfairly (often criminally!) it is a huge burden we cannot bear anymore.
Irish jobs for Irish workers in Ireland, anyone else we need we can bring them in especially. If there’s no Irish person to do the job of course before them.
Common sense is good economy and good for our culture and society so we can have an Irish Ireland for our children!!
Do people forget how the Irish have emmigrated to every corner of the planet. Of all the countries in the world, we’re probably the last ones who can complain about immigration. How can we deport people who have every right to be here, when at the same we are negotiating with the US about getting visas for all the illegal Irish over there.