Sir, - I am confused by your Editorial comment of August 4th. Like all haulage operators, I certainly do not want to see the arrival of a coffin ship on our shores. Your Editorial, however, suggests that jailing truck drivers found with illegal stowaways is an effective means of dissuading this type of activity. However, further on you then say it is regrettable that proposed legislation would impose fines on employers who employ these refugees.
Are you saying that if people manage to smuggle themselves into the country on board a truck, its OK to put the truck driver in jail but unfair to fine companies for employing them once they are in the country? I simply cannot find the logic in this.
Truck-drivers and haulage companies are in effect being made the goalkeepers for the system yet again. This is a European-wide social problem that must be addressed by the Government and their agents on a pan-European basis.
It is a matter of extreme urgency that this problem is dealt with soon. We are ready to help in any way we can but not to carry the can for the current crisis. The Minister's legislation will address only a part of the problem. Mr O'Donoghue, you were elected to shoulder responsibility, not shirk it! - Yours, etc., Sean Murtagh,
Deputy Vice President, Irish Road Haulage Association, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2.