Sir, - The sentiments expressed by Aine Ni Chonaill (July 24th) are not new. She explains that asylum seekers come to Ireland primarily to take jobs from Irish people. For that reason, she concludes that we should not let them work. This will, she implies, make Ireland less attractive to asylum seekers.
Underlying this is the suggestion that the Irish race needs a physical space in which employment can be the preserve of "our own". In 1904 the German writer Friedrich Ratzel said much the same thing when he argued that races needed to maintain a physical space of their own, without which they would dwindle in numbers and die out. Without space, there would not be jobs or economic development. Ratzel called this theory Lebensraum (or "living space").
Even in 1904 Ratzel was already outdated. According to Paul Kennedy's (1989) The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, what the German people needed at that time was technology and education, not physical space. Yet, as Aine Ni Chonaill (who I believe is a teacher) knows, Lebensraum became a core part of the racist ideology of the Nazi state. It contributed to genocide.
The competition for jobs and space have often been used as reasons for racist policies. This competition is the starting point racists use to spread their backward, outdated and inhumane message. These policies, in turn, are part of a continuum. They legitimate the racism that leads to violence. Personally, I think that Ireland has had enough sectarian attacks (which are genocidal in nature, according to the UN definition). We can do without ideological and political justification for even more. - Yours, etc. Roland Tormey,
Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick.