Madam, - Enda Kenny's call for a national debate on immigration is to be welcomed. I hope such a debate might critically reflect upon some of the terms used in his recent speech, for example "integration" and "community."
Immigrants, according to Mr Kenny, "have the responsibility to integrate into our own community, comply with our laws and respect our cultural traditions" (The Irish Times, January 25th). What community? Whose cultural traditions? Are "we" a "Celtic and Christian people," as Mr Kenny so confidently claims? Are we not rather uncertain at present of who just exactly "we" are, and challenged as much from within as without by threats to our stability and harmony and identity?
Mr Kenny's use of the c-word, "community", perpetuates this myth of a harmonious "we" into which a discordant "they" must integrate. But perhaps the subterranean aggression in his language is related to the problematic etymology of the word "community" itself, which has an affinity with "munitions" and also suggests armed fortification. More concretely, think of the way the word has pointed as much to war as to peace on "our" island, with its opposing nationalist and loyalist communities, etc.
"Community" is a velvet glove word with an iron fist within. Perhaps this is the meaning of Enda Kenny's speech? In any case, a national debate on immigration should tell us as much about the hosts as about the guests. - Yours, etc,
HUGH CUMMINS, River Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Did anyone who expressed an opinion on the speech made by Enda Kenny about immigration actually read it? One sentence, in a speech which contained well over 100 sentences, stated: "As a Celtic and Christian people, we understand better than most the special challenges of immigration and integrating new communities."
Nowhere else in the speech are the words Celtic or Christian used and they refer to a statement of fact. We are a Celtic nation and the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, to which the vast majority of us claim to adhere, are Christian. What was so shocking about stating such a fact? Was he meant to say we are Latin and Jewish?
Yet Enda Kenny is now accused of being the sort of nationalist bigot one usually finds in Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin/IRA. If those who now seek to make a cheap political point (such as Maurice Dockrell, January 26th), had taken the time to read the speech properly they would have noticed that Mr Kenny, as a future taoiseach, called for a proper debate on immigration. This was to allow those who are affected, either by being immigrants or by having to share resources with immigrants, to understand each other's aspirations and to develop a proper and fair policy to enable each person to achieve their goals without this being at the expense of another people.
It is depressing to think that Ireland is going to repeat the mistakes of other countries by failing to address the issue of immigration in a mature manner. The tone of the debate so far does not instil any confidence that policy-formers in Ireland are capable of moving public opinion beyond the parochial and racist attitudes that most immigrants to Ireland have to deal with every day. - Yours, etc,
DESMOND FITZGERALD, Canary Wharf, London E14.
Madam, - Enda Kenny's address to his parliamentary party earlier this week has more disturbing aspects than good points. Rightly he calls for the proper enforcement of labour laws and for more language support services for immigrants.
However his bold assertion that "as a Celtic and Christian people we understand better than most the special challenge of immigration and integrating new communities" is an astounding and mythical view of the nature of Irish society.
It is true that some in our society, presumably in Fine Gael and including its leader, still cling to the view that the defining limits of Irish identity are Celtic and Christian, but to further assert that being Celtic and Christian has given us a superior understanding of the "special challenges of immigration and integrating new communities" lies in the realm of imaginative Celtic mythology. This blind acceptance of the Irish nation as being "Celtic and Christian" was certainly a major contributory factor in the Northern conflict. Indeed Mr Kenny has only to walk the streets of our sacred land to hear and see racist abuse, sometimes leading to violence and even death for immigrants.
What is the most telling and most disturbing part of his speech is when he declares that "immigration must be managed in a way that keeps Ireland safe" . The potential leader of a future Irish government seems to be saying that he will keep us safe from immigrants who, alas, have not benefited as we have from the advantages of being Celtic and Christian. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, The Moorings, Malahide, Co Dublin.