The agreement by the main political parties to sign up to an anti-racist programme is to be welcomed. The importance of such a pledge became evident during the recent British general election when a number of Conservative candidates were identified as running anti-immigrant and racist campaigns - in spite of a formal anti-racist commitment by the party. In the same way in this State, the threat of internal disciplinary action against candidates who might stoop to this sort of tactic could become an important inhibiting factor. The protocol was devised by the Government-funded National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism and has been signed by all the Dail parties. It requires them to condemn any materials or statements that express prejudice or hatred on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic origins, religious belief or the Travelling community.
The rejection of racism at official level is hugely important, given the growing evidence of intolerance to asylum seekers and to migrant workers within our society. A nasty side of Irish life is becoming daily more apparent as the number of foreigners grows. Not enough has been done to emphasise the positive benefits they bring to this country. Details of a three-year, £4.5m public-awareness programme, promised 18 months ago will only become available in the autumn.
Last Wednesday, at Government Buildings, the Minister for Justice, Mr John O'Donoghue, addressed the issue of immigration policy. This affects those foreigners who are granted traditional work permits and new-style work visas and who come here for specific employment. The Minister differentiated sharply between the policies needed to attract skilled and unskilled people to help the economy grow and what he described as "a firm approach in tackling illegal immigration and the evil trade in human beings". He promised wide-ranging consultation before drafting new immigration legislation.
Apart from addressing labour-market needs, the Minister said the consultation process would involve an examination of the capacity of our society to absorb new arrivals; the appropriate basis for their selection; their entitlements and the impact of immigration on employment, infrastructure, housing, spatial development, health and education policy. Clearly, it will not be a simple or quick process.
Existing provisions for asylum seekers and migrant workers have been widely criticised by the churches and the trade union movement. The Minister has resisted calls to allow refugees/asylum seekers take up employment at an early stage, rather than become dependent on the State. And the two-tier, work permit/work visa system, with its different qualification levels and benefits has also been criticised. Some 18,000 work permits were granted to largely unskilled, non-EU citizens, last year. The permits can be renewed after a year by the employer, at which time the family of the worker may be brought here. The visa system applies to a much smaller number of highly-skilled workers, such as information technology experts, nurses and others. Job applications are fast-tracked for this category and families may join the worker after three months.
In all of this, there are overtones of the "guest worker", persons who are welcomed for a period while they contribute to our increasing wealth and then are expected to return home. But life isn't like that, as is clear from the tens of millions of people of Irish extraction scattered across the globe. When people work hard in a country, they expect to stay and reap the benefits. With our history of emigration, we should be more generous and welcoming to others now that the shoe is on the other foot.