Madam, - As director of an NGO working with immigrants I would like to express my dismay at recent comments by two Fianna Fáil politicians. Senator Donie Cassidy suggested that foreign drivers in Ireland be limited to a maximum speed of 80 km/h. This is not only completely impractical, but betrays an attitude that depicts immigrants as somehow less capable of controlling a motor vehicle than are Irish road-users. Senator Cassidy proceeded to advance the idea that Ireland should switch to driving on the right-hand side of the road.
In this case, would the senator then advocate curtailing Irish drivers' speeds while allowing immigrants to travel at the full speed limit?
I was further exercised by comments from the Louth County Council chairman, Cllr Jimmy Mulroy, who is advocating a reduced minimum wage for low-skilled foreign workers, arguing that the cost of living in their home countries is not as high as in Ireland. Not only would this contravene any number of employment and equality laws, but his sentiments appear to reflect a perception of migrants as mere "economic units", as opposed to human beings.
In the context of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill which is currently before the Dáil, the above comments are unfortunate and indicate a complete lack of understanding of immigrant issues among some people in positions of power in this country. - Yours, etc,
GERTRUDE COTTER, Director, Nasc, The Irish Immigrant Support Centre, Mary Street, Cork.