Sir, - I worked with the United Nations peacekeeping department for three years in Rwanda during which time Mary Robinson visited twice. In her addresses to the Rwandan people she claimed that Ireland had a similar history and, on our behalf, she claimed we understood and sympathised with their plight.
I believe she meant what she said, but when it comes to Government policy, it is quite a another matter.
After witnessing the terrible trauma of genocide in Rwanda and the effects on families, I asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to help a widow and her three children. Her whole family, close and distant, had been killed and her house destroyed.
Department officials said there was no Government policy on Rwandan refugees; if they wanted to request refugee status, they would have to be in the country. In other words, they would have had to enter illegally. It seems, after all, that the Irish President did not reflect the views of the Irish people as represented by Government. I am very disappointed and ashamed to be an Irish citizen and I hope this hypocrisy will end.
Yvonne, Yves, Sylvia and Christian are now living in Belgium. - Yours etc., Adrian O'Sullivan,
South Lodge,
Douglas, Cork.