Madam, - I am taken aback by the hysterical over-reaction on the part of the Minister for Integration, Conor "Kebabs" Lenihan, to my question about the possibility of offering voluntary repatriation to welfare-dependent foreign nationals.
The Minister's reaction is particularly hypocritical when one considers that his own Government operates and funds voluntary repatriation schemes for some foreign nationals. Indeed, I have seen advertisements for these schemes displayed in our maternity hospitals. What sort of message does that send?
I am more amused at the feeble attack from Labour TD Sean Sherlock and his accusation that I am dragging Fine Gael to the "far right ( The Irish Times, September 6th). My question, or suggestion if you prefer, was prompted by a report that I saw on BBC news about the introduction of such a scheme in Spain. Spain has a socialist government and the governing PSOE party is affiliated to our own Labour Party through the Party of European Socialists.
I wonder if Mr Sherlock will call on Labour Party candidates in the forthcoming European elections to dissociate themselves from their "far-right" allies. I suspect Mr Sherlock will remain silent and allow them to leave their lofty principles at the airport.
Turning issues such as immigration, welfare and labour market reform into totems which cannot be challenged or even discussed will do nothing to promote integration in Ireland or to advance the causes of economic recovery and opportunity-based social justice. - Yours, etc,
LEO VARADKAR TD,
Main Street,
Ongar,
Dublin 15.
Madam, - Leo Varadkar's thought experiment about encouraging the repatriation of unemployed foreign nationals has sadly but justifiably put Fine Gael in a most unflattering spotlight.
If one of the most senior members of the Fine Gael front bench propounds this view, what is left of the great liberal and Christian Democrat legacy in the party of Garret FitzGerald and James Dillon? What has happened to the pro-European vision?
If Fine Gael wants to encourage the departure of British, European and other foreign nationals, we might have to go as far back as the benighted leadership of General Eoin O'Duffy in the 1930s to find a precedent in the party's history. Does Enda Kenny have a view? - Yours, etc,
HUGO BRADY BROWN,
Stratford on Slaney,
Co Wicklow.
Madam, - The suggestion by Leo Varadkar TD that foreign unemployed workers in Ireland be given a lump sum payment of up to six months' worth of unemployment benefit if they agree to return home is highly deplorable and lacks common sense.
His suggestion seems to substantiate the belief in some quarters that in times of economic downturn, our society should be divided into "us" and "them". This attitude will go a long way to bolstering the attitude of the few embittered anti-immigrant groups which are already harassing foreign nationals at social welfare offices and post offices across the country.
Would Mr Varadkar's Fine Gael party also include the children of immigrant parents in their wish list of those they choose to banish? In this case, our honourable TD, whose own father is from India, might indeed need to reconsider his own position.
Mr Varadkar's suggestion, together with the recent statement from the party's spokesperson on education on the segregation of immigrant children in schools, only highlights further the anti-immigrant stance that underpins Fine Gael's immigration policy. - Yours, etc,
ISSAH HUSEINI,
National Co-ordinator,
New Communities Partnership,
Cornmarket,
Dublin 8.
Madam, - If the State, on behalf of us hard-pressed taxpayers, were to offer Mr Varadkar a lump sum of six months' salary, would he agree to go away? - Yours, etc,
PAUL GAVAN,
Castleconnell,
Co Limerick.
