Sir, - Myles Tierney (June 4th) must have led a very sheltered life if he was offended by the language used about the Government in the ICCL co-chairpersons' recent annual report. For the record, we referred to John O'Donoghue TD as "our macho-style Justice Minister" in the context of his zero tolerance policies on law and order. We also said that remarks by some Government ministers had contributed to the disturbing climate of hostility towards asylum-seekers and refugees.
Minister O'Donoghue is no shrinking violet when it comes to castigating his opponents and we suspect he is made of sterner stuff than to get upset at some vigorous criticism from us. Indeed, to be denounced by the ICCL is probably a badge of honour in some circles.
More generally, political debate in Ireland would be pretty anaemic if we could not use robust language from time to time. We try to speak for the underdog and the marginalised and when you do so you sometimes have to raise your voice a little. We did not, incidentally, attack the probity or character of Mr O'Donoghue or anyone else. Our criticism was entirely to do with Government policy.
However, since Mr Tierney has raised the question of ill-considered or unwise utterances, we must say that we are gravely concerned by remarks by the Justice Minister that the country could be "over-run" by illegal immigrants, or by the Social Welfare Minister about the "strain" that refugees have imposed on the welfare system.
Such remarks and the constant emphasis on restricting refugees can unwittingly fuel the racist attitudes that asylum-seekers - and black Irish people - are meeting daily in our streets. We also called in our report for the Taoiseach to give a lead on this issue and make a strong statement condemning racism and saying that people fleeing persecution in other countries are welcome here.
We will gladly apologise to John O'Donoghue or anyone else who might have been offended by our comments, if it will encourage the Government to take a more positive attitude to asylum-seekers and give a strong and effective lead in combatting the growing menace of racism in our midst. - Yours, etc., Aileen Donelly, Michael Farrell, Co-chairpersons, Irish Council for Civil Liberties,
Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.