Sir, – It appears that immigration is a pressing concern for voters. Given that the Taoiseach has inserted himself as the lead player in a complex area, it might behove him to assign more staff to the appeals and repatriation areas of international protection to cope with the 60 per cent likely to fail the interview stage but who will be going nowhere until their claim is processed to finality (probably after 12 months in most cases).
I should add that reliable statistics, at least those so far published, do not inspire confidence that any real headway is being made in tackling a worsening backlog.
There also seems to be an attempt by Government to demonstrate that illegal immigration from the UK mainland via Northern Ireland is being tackled with a reported 50 people returned recently.
However, there is no mention of the number sent to the International Protection Office office in Mount Street once they say they want to claim international protection and have no record of being legally in the UK.
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At a time of shoddy treatment of Ukrainian women and children, it seems the Government hope is that tents in Thornton Hall will solve an immediate problem but are silent on what happens when it fills up. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL FLYNN,
Dublin 13.