Sir, I would like to speak out against the recent deportation of a "refugee" against his will after he had lived for over two years in my country, building a life and an identity for himself while living in the Tallaght district.
I lived in Australia for three years in the 1980s and I saw the open welcome to Irish people of all classes. I saw some of the Irish migrants taking jobs in the professions, others (like myself) taking jobs in the service sector and yet others taking labouring jobs. I also saw some taking welcome advantage of the generous social security system; all were economic migrants with not one refugee among them.
In the early 1990s I saw our Government wining and dining Brian Mulrooney and Paul Keating, the Canadian and Australian prime ministers, while begging them to allow more Irish people to migrate to those countries. We begged for and got Morrison visas to the US and open EC labour markets and still we were not happy. No! We want Ireland for the Irish only. No room nor welcome for 3,000 refugees!
I deplore the recent official announcement that 500 refugees will be repatriated because they are not political but economic refugees - and no voice being raised in their defence. What is wrong with them staying in Ireland? Their numbers are only a drop compared with the tens of thousands of Irish people who, for economic circumstances, have found a better way of life in many welcoming communities throughout the world.
We should be ashamed of ourselves! - Yours, etc.,
Croaghpatrick Road,
Dublin 7.