Sir, - Many people in Ireland appear to have been caught unawares by the arrival of refugees to these shores. This in itself is strange, as the Government has signalled the arrival of change for a matter of years now. Ireland signed up to the Maastricht treaty which obliges us to accept collective responsibility in matters economic, military, and social. To facilitate this change, the EU pumped millions of pounds into Ireland.
The Government should make more effort to explain the profile of a refugee. Most people expect to see destitute, frightened, poverty-stricken people who in all probability will not possess an education. When confronted with a coloured person who not only is educated but is not shy of demanding his rights, Irish people are shocked. Ninety-nine per cent of hostility that is shown to refugees concerns coloured people. If the Government and its various Departments do not effectively combat this hostility, violence will grow from prejudice.
If refugees meet the criteria of same, they should be accepted into our country - not because the Americans or Europeans are looking at us and our actions, but because we as a sovereign nation accept refugees as having nowhere else to go, and we determine in our own right to do the decent thing. - Yours, etc., John Behan,
Lullymore, Rathangan, Co Kildare.