Migrants wait to travel to the Greek island of Lesbos, near the Aegean town of Ayvacik, Turkey, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016

GARDA Whistleblower John Wilson has said the Government is planning to grant asylum to 20,000 "alleged refugees and migrants" fleeing warzones in the Middle East without undertaking any proper background checks or risk assessment.

In his election manifesto, Mr Wilson, who is running in Cavan/Monaghan, also said Eastern European criminals are operating with “impunity” in the border region despite laws permitting Irish authorities to return them to their home countries.

The former garda also said there are thousands of non-EU nationals living in Ireland “totally under the radar” and many of these people “pose a serious risk to our people and to our Country”.

“But in spite of this reality our Government is determined to grant asylum to initially 20,000 alleged refugees and migrants (when you include additional family members) without undertaking any proper risk assessment, background checks or without putting any safeguards in place,” Mr Wilson said.

“I fully accept that we in Ireland must play our part in dealing with this humanitarian crisis that is unfolding, but not to the detriment of our people as (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel has dictated that we do,” he added.

In his manifesto, Mr Wilson also stated: “A country without her borders can never be truly independent.”

“Decent, honest and hardworking people are welcome but criminals and social welfare exploiters are not,” he added.

He said he intends to introduce legislation to impose harsher sentences for crimes against older people if elected to the Dáil.

The new law would see criminals who break into an older person’s home receive a mandatory four and half year sentence.

“This new law will also apply to all dwellings where an elderly person is present or might reasonably be expected to be therein. The crime of burglary very often causes psychological damage to the victims and this fear remains in many cases for the remainder of their lives,” he said.

He also proposes a lower rate of corporation tax for companies that set up in deprived areas of the country and tax credit for workers who have to travel more than 60km to their jobs.

Online Editors