Exaggerated claims of refugee crisis ignore real challenge, says barrister

The biggest and most obvious multicultural challenge facing Ireland is not the so-called refugee problem but the relationship between nationalist and unionist traditions, according to a Dublin barrister. Ms Iseult O'Malley said the debate on multiculturalism here has been dominated by exaggerated claims about the refugee "crisis".

"The number of people seeking refuge here is almost embarrassingly small compared to other European countries and we are more than capable of accepting them and the contribution they have to make," she said.

In contrast, Ireland faced a major challenge in overcoming "the ancient quarrel" and creating a society based on the recognition of the rights of all communities, North and South.

If we could cope with this challenge, she said, "other multicultural issues facing us will seem minor by comparison".

To put it another way, she said: "If we cannot give justice and respect to the small number of often vulnerable people who come to our shores seeking to rebuild their lives, it is difficult to see how we can deal with the challenge to our lives that peace in Northern Ireland presents," she added.

A former chairwoman of the Refugee Agency, Ms O'Malley criticised the absence of legislation to protect the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and immigrants here.

She said there appeared to be a difference between "the international Ireland, open to cultural and political difference, and the domestic Ireland, often narrowly focused, out of step with modern international realities and tending towards xenophobia. We have espoused strengthened human rights for `others' abroad while we do not cherish such rights for `others' here."

Delays in processing asylum applications meant "the simplest of decisions can seem to take forever". In this regard, there was a need for political leadership and vision. "It is not sufficient that our leaders are not themselves racist," she said.

"Responsibility must be taken for the setting of standards and the assertion of principle in what is becoming a multicultural Ireland. It is time to haul these issues out of the bureaucratic morass."

The US experience, she said, demonstrated the importance of leadership in guaranteeing civil rights. The determination of people such as President John F Kennedy and his brother, Robert, were crucial in overcoming the mobs and bigots who resisted change.

"Lack of leadership allows the voices of unreason and intolerance to become overwhelming. Race relations issues remain to be faced in America but moves such as the `One American' initiative led by a President who describes himself as a Scotch-Irish Baptist from Arkansas demonstrate that sense of the responsibility of leadership."

Ms O'Malley said the US experience also showed "that a society's response to the challenge of difference evolves over time. The Irish in America were part of that evolution, though not always in a way that gives us pride."

She noted that many Irish-Americans rejected Daniel O'Connell's appeals in the early 1840s to condemn slavery. Many criticised him for attempting to interfere in the internal affairs of the US.

Perhaps the most striking feature of American multiculturalism, she said, was how diversity could be a source of strength.

National debate in the US was always conducted with an awareness of multicultural issues and, therefore, the "rights, grievances and rich contributions of others".