Madam, - To what depths are we going to allow the good name of the Irish people to descend?
Our international reputation nosedived when the Government reneged on the Taoiseach's solemn commitment to reach the UN foreign aid target of 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2007. Now we have the personalised expression of this Government's meanness in the deportation of a 19-year-old Nigerian student in his Irish school uniform last Tuesday just months before he was due to sit his Leaving Certificate examination.
Mr Dermot Ahern, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, displayed the human face of this Government during the tsunami tragedy. However, his rhetoric has not been matched by reality as there is little or no consistency in this Government's blinkered vision of world justice. How can the sly deportation of a highly motivated Nigerian student who has been trying to achieve some dignity through the Irish educational system serve any purpose but vindictiveness?
This Government is still suffering from that infamous "black baby" syndrome: help people abroad as long as they stay there. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Co-ordinator,
NGO Peace Alliance,
Phibsborough Road,
Dublin 7.
Madam, - On St Patrick's Day the Taoiseach spoke to President Bush about "undocumented" Irish residents in the US - in the same week in which Ireland deported an unaccompanied school student in his school uniform to Lagos (two months before he was due to sit the Leaving Certificate). What exactly did Mr Ahern say to the president? - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL KING,
Claremont Court,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 11.