Sir, - As a US citizen I am becoming increasingly frustrated at the treatment of refugees in Ireland. What really irks me is the way certain Irish people defend illegal emigration to my country by lauding the work ethic the Irish bring to the US. Let me assure you that the Irish, while admirable in their past achievements in this country, are increasingly causing problems such as drunkeness and living off the state in the same way that certain Irish anti-refugee advocates accuse the current refugees in Ireland of behaving.
Recently, while vacationing on the Costa del Sol with an Asian friend of mine, I happened upon an Irish couple. I asked them to comment on Ireland's refugees and in particular why there was such a backlash of overt racism. His reply: "Well, we are only against having blacks in Ireland."
Having become more and more disgusted with these kind of remarks (not to mention the treatment of non-white refugees in Ireland) I am considering gathering signatures to forward to the US State Department urging them to pressure Ireland on this issue. It would be worth remembering that there are many hundreds of thousands of Irish illegal aliens in the US, and people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. - Yours, etc.,
James Suarez, Humboldt Road, Brisbane, California, USA.