Refugees - or fellow citizens?

THE Nice referendum is history now, but the result has thrown up one intriguing aspect – the status of east European refugees in Ireland.

Eastern Europe (ie, the applicant countries now guaranteed EU admittance) represents a substantial number of the refugee applications here, so what happens to them? They can hardly continue to hold refugee status. After all, there is no way we would countenance a refugee application from a French, German or English citizen.

Will they continue to qualify for housing assistance and medical cards? Are they entitled to free legal aid? The cost of processing asylum applications (including indirect expenses ) has soared beyond our defence budget, so it's not an insubstantial amount.