Sir - It is now almost eleven years since I left Ireland to pursue my studies and subsequent career in North America. In the intervening period the changes in my homeland (which I visit frequently) have been inestimable. Not least, Ireland is now moving from being a land of emigration to one of immigration. This has generated heated debate in these pages between the likes of Aine Ni Chonnaill of the Immigration Control Platform and the various groups advocating a more open immigration policy for Ireland, usually on humanitarian grounds. As an immigrant living in a land of immigrants, I feel qualified to speak to this matter from both sides.
On more than one occasion, I have been put through the grinder by frequently rude and unhelpful immigration officials from both the US and Canada. For my wife, a Canadian living with a permanent resident of the US, immigration horrors still lie ahead. So I can empathise fully with those who decry nasty and racist behaviour on the part of immigration authorities. Such behaviour cannot be tolerated. However, it is also a matter of established fact that countries with well-intentioned and excessively open immigration policies, particularly for asylum-seekers, have seen their humanitarian motivations trampled underfoot by undeserving fraudsters of all races and colours. Surely, Irish society is now in the enviable position of being able to study and learn from other, more experienced countries how best to formulate an equitable immigration policy? Surely we can move beyond knee-jerk accusations of racism every time a considered objection to open immigration policies is raised? This is not to say that racism does not exist in Ireland - recent, harrowing reports in these pages confirm that it does - but mudslinging and epithet-hurling is not the best environment for shaping national policy. - Yours, etc., Garrett G. Fagan,
State College, Pennsylvania, USA