Madam, - It is a rare pleasure to be able to agree with Áine Ní Chonaill on the subject of immigration. Her article of August 10th, well documented and well argued, is entirely correct. Immigration can indeed do little to address the problem of Europe's ageing societies because, as she correctly observes, immigrants themselves age too and ultimately will become part of the older generation.
There is only one flaw with Ms Ní Chonaill's argument. No one, at least in Ireland, has argued against her case. Indeed, as acknowledged in the Immigrant Council of Ireland's 2003 publication Labour Migration into Ireland (I declare an interest here as one of its authors), immigration cannot address the problem of ageing in our society. The rate of reproduction in Ireland has fallen below the level required to keep our population stable. This is not a problem which can be solved by immigration and says more about the status of women in Irish society, and the lack of services and support for families with children, than it does about immigration.
The argument about immigration and ageing is a classic example of setting up a straw man and attacking it, rather than attending to the real arguments being put forward by those who oppose the venomous ideas of Ms Ní Chonaill's movement.
Put simply, immigration is neither needed, nor going to happen on a massive scale, nor will it destroy Irish society as we know it. But we do need some foreign workers and they are human beings with needs and rights, including the right of family reunification. Moreover, we should continue to welcome refugees.
None of these phenomena is earth-shattering and we are not about to undergo an invasion of outsiders. What we need to do is get used to a somewhat more complex future, and a more open definition of Irishness, than we might have expected a generation ago. We have everything to gain from our new fellow-residents and future citizens.
Ms Ní Chonaill's xenophobic and backward-looking movement has little or nothing to contribute to this debate. - Yours, etc.,
PIARAS MAC EINRI, Santander, Spain .