Madam, - I am surprised that Oliver Donohoe (February 5th) should have taken a single comment I made in the course of the debate on the Immigration Bill and used it out of context to distort the position of the Labour Party on an important piece of legislation that has received little public debate.
If he had been interested enough to read the full committee stage debate that went on over four days in the Seanad (the full transcript of which is available on the Houses of the Oireachtas website www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas), he would have seen that the whole thrust of the Labour Party contributions was to protect the right to asylum and to promote the rights of workers from abroad who seek employment in this country. I am glad to say we succeeded in having a number of amendments that will protect asylum seekers accepted.
During the debate I was strongly critical of the current work permit system, pointing out that it left immigrant workers effectively "indentured" to one employer.
I urged the introduction of a proper system for economic immigration into this country, based on a "green card" system, and suggested that asylum-seekers should be allowed to work after a reasonable period.
I accepted the need for penalties on employers who hired non-nationals without permits, but argued that the penalty for conviction on indictment of a fine not exceeding €250,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both, was heavy handed, especially in the absence of a proper system to cater for economic immigration.
Mr Donohoe is quite entitled to disagree, but he is not entitled to distort the position of the Labour Party. - Yours, etc.,
Senator JOANNA TUFFY,
Labour Party,
Seanad Éireann,
Dublin 2.