Policy On Immigration

Sir, - Liz O'Donnell, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, told us (RTE, May 26th) that the Government had…

Sir, - Liz O'Donnell, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, told us (RTE, May 26th) that the Government had allocated £900,000 in April for the relief of famine in Sudan. This is to be applauded and the only question is whether we should give more.These are the people most in need of and most deserving of our help; certainly far more in need of help than asylum-seekers who can afford to pay their fares (to legal carriers or to illegal traffickers) from their countries of origin to various EU countries and then onward to Ireland.Wouldn't it be a sensible, and humane, prioritisation of our limited resources to make a substantial reduction in the £55 million a year being spent to support asylum-seekers (90 per cent of whom are estimated to be economic migrants rather than refugees) and direct the money to famine relief in Sudan? We really must put ourselves in a position whereby we, and not others, control the allocation of the resources we are willing to provide for the relief of distress of non-citizens. - Yours, etc., John O'Callaghan,Blackrock,Co. Dublin.