Sir, - Mr Charlie McCreevy was recently reported in your paper as refusing Irish support for EU investment in Kosovo. Ms Schreyer, the EU Budget Commissioner, seemed shaken herself by Mr McCreevy's heartless refusal. She explained, in your report, that the reconstruction plan for Kosovo could be paid for out of the existing budget, given very large savings on the agricultural budget. "It is simply not possible for him to refuse, given the commitments from heads of state to fund this," Ms Schreyer explained.
Since then, large demonstrations have taken place within Mr McCreevy's own constituency against settling more refugees in Kildare town. Does Mr McCreevy not realise that, unless EU governments fully promote investment in creating decent living standards in those parts of the world racked by war and poverty, hundreds of thousands of refugees will continually be forced to leave their home countries to try to eke out a living in Western Europe?
It is to be hoped that the terrible scandal of enforced and brutal resettlement to countries that have no ability to offer minimal, decent living conditions - as was carried out, for example, by the German Government recently with the deportation of thousands of Kosovars against the clear recommendations of the United Nations - will not serve as a model for Irish repatriation of asylum-seekers whose claims have been rejected. - Yours, etc.,
Moira McGeady, Clontarf, Dublin 3.