Sir - Andy Pollak's "Welcome to Dublin, unless you're black" (The Irish Times, April 24th) paints an unpleasant picture of virulent and increasingly prevalent racism at many levels in Irish society. He is to be congratulated on holding up for us a mirror to one of the grosser aspects of our Irish reality.
As he traces the multiple manifestations of racism towards ethnic minorities in their ghettoised living conditions, the mindless brutality of shopping centre security guards, the skin-deep Christianity of a Mass-goer, the indifference of passing witnesses and the Garda authorities, the unsympathetic attitudes of most Department of Justice officials, the self-serving fulminations of influential sections of the media and some unscrupulous politicians, it is difficult to avoid a sense of emerging institutionalised racism.
This sense is reinforced by the mean-spirited, hostile and draconian terms of the so-called Immigration Bill 1999 which, rather than challenging the behaviour and attitudes detailed by Mr Pollak, actually reveals a less than subtle, uncritically supportive and reactive endorsement of a shared fundamental message: "Let's make it as difficult as possible (but within the law!) for these unwanted immigrants to settle in Ireland."
Instead of enlightened, courageous and visionary leadership on this issue from the Minister for Justice, his colleagues in Government and their mandarins, we are treated to yet another example of "there goes the crowd, I must follow" type of leadership. Corrosive and dehumanising racism in this country will not be addressed by offering highly publicised training for the Garda in managing the coming multi-ethnic Irish society - if only because the current and growing anti-immigrant attitudes, behaviour and policy environment will seek to ensure an "Ireland of the Welcomes" reserved exclusively for wealthy, white European and American nationals.
I hope that Andy Pollak and The Irish Times will now do "a Margaret Ward" on Irish racism and with similar success. - Yours, etc., Tony Downs,
Huntstown Wood, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15.