Sir, - Your publication normally presents a very balanced debate on most issues of importance that face our nation in the years ahead. Alas, I cannot but help notice a certain lack of objectivity in your treatment of the asylum and immigration issue.
Is it not an entirely legitimate concern of long-standing Irish citizens that a limit be placed on the numbers granted residency status in Ireland? Such a stance need in no way be connected to the race or creed of those who seek a more prosperous way of life here.
Given that empirical and anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that a small minority of asylum claimants have reasonable grounds for application, it must be obvious that Ireland now faces a very serious choice about immigration. Would it not be beneficial to have socio-economic statisticians clearly delineate the true costs and effects of increased demand on public services and housing incumbent upon admitting a quarter-of-a-million immigrants and their families over the next decade?
The dearth of factual analysis of its full implications for the State is inexcusable. Is it not a little perturbing to discover that maternity hospitals are having to cope with an unexpected 25 per cent increase in demand, since immigrants can avail of residency by this route as the law stands.
Irish people need to shed a well-intentioned but flawed collective guilt complex in our handling of immigration policy. Can The Irish Times seek to provide the facts on the motivation and consequences of vastly increased immigration and play a responsible role in shaping a modern Ireland? - Yours, etc.,
Dermot Byrne, Castle Grove, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.