Sir, - It is the custom, I suppose, for Ministers addressing ard-fheiseanna to indulge in ringing, windy rhetoric. Nonetheless, Mr John O'Donoghue's statement regarding asylum-seekers that "we cannot and will not operate an open-door policy, as some of our opponents advocate", rather takes the breath away. I challenge the Minister to name a single responsible opponent of present Government policy who has has called for an open-door policy.
By attacking positions which no-one has espoused in the first place, the Minister conveniently side-steps all of the real issues. These include the regionalisation of asylum-seekers (the term "dispersal" says it all) without the regionalisation of services and support systems; the demeaning system of "direct provision" whereby adults are expected to spend their days hanging around places where there are no facilities and where they receive only pocket-money to sustain them; and the failure of the State to address all of the issues of an evolving multi-ethnic society. The voluntary and religious sector, as well as some politicians, have criticised Government policy not for ideological reasons but simply because it is inhumane, unjust and ineffective.
The way forward surely lies in an alliance between the official and voluntary sector, in consultation with asylum seekers themselves. The Minister has taken positive steps in the creation of a Directorate to co-ordinate asylum policy and the recent announcement of an anti-racism campaign, but much more needs to be done. There is no denying that accommodation, in particular, poses a considerable challenge, but I am convinced that if the Government adopts a more forward-looking and generous attitude they will find a groundswell of popular support and goodwill. - Yours, etc.,
Piaras Mac Einri, Director, Irish Centre for Migration Studies, NUI, Cork.