Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's speech to the Merriman Summer School offered a timely reminder of the urgency of proceeding with comprehensive immigration legislation.
This was promised by the Minister for Justice after the passage of the citizenship referendum, and must be addressed once the holiday period ends.
The immigration issue is also exercising the new European Commission, with the incoming Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Mr Rocco Buttiglione, warning of an immigration "time bomb" if there is not rapid progress on a Mediterranean Convention that would regulate immigration into the EU. He appears to be backing Italian and German proposals for the establishment of transit camps in the countries of Northern Africa from which most would-be African immigrants embark for Europe.
This is a controversial proposal, and there are fears that such transit locations will become concentration camps for those seeking to escape war and poverty in Africa. The discussion in the EU needs to balance the needs of the enlarged Union with respect for the human rights of those fleeing intolerable circumstances. In its foreign policy, the EU must seek to address the conditions in the states from which people are emigrating.
In Ireland, despite disturbing evidence of a rise in racism, our thriving economy has been able to absorb those who have come here to work, either from the new EU accession states or from further afield. We have the opportunity, for the moment, of having a rational debate and formulating a policy that will allow for managed immigration and will promote the full integration of those who come here and those who are already here.
Priorities include updating the naturalisation process and rendering it transparent and subject to review. Mr McDowell must also regularise the situation of the 11,000 families of children born in Ireland to non-Irish parents, left in a legal limbo since the L and O judgment, as he has promised to do. Most have been here now for many years, and the children know nothing else.
The much-criticised work permit system, described by many migrant workers as a form of indentured labour, needs radical reform, and to be integrated with the separate residency permit system. Migrant workers must be allowed change employer, and remain for a period to seek alternative employment if they lose their job through no fault of their own. This must be combined with a humane and transparent family unification scheme. Above all, the message must go out from the Government that immigrants are truly welcome, and that racism and discrimination will not be tolerated.