Madam, – The treatment of my cousin Fiona at the Dublin Airport immigration checkpoint on June 7th at around 8pm has left me more angry and upset than I have been for many years.
Fiona is an Indian national living in Mumbai. When she told me of her plans to visit Europe I persuaded her to come over to Dublin for a few days so that she could attend a performance of Antony and Cleopatra, the play I am currently directing in St Stephen’s Green. Accordingly she secured a visa for Ireland (in the past trying to get an Irish visitors’ visa in India was akin to climbing Mount Everest, but the process has improved in recent times). On arrival in the UK Fiona was treated in a very courteous manner and was allowed through with a minimum of hassle.
However, in Dublin, the official told her very firmly that her visa (a valid visitors’ visa with photograph issued by the Irish Embassy in India) only allowed her entry as far as the immigration desk and that he would decide whether to allow her any further. She, of course, thought that there was something wrong with the visa and asked him if this was so. His reply was the same as before. He then proceeded to interrogate her in a manner which suggested that he suspected her of some falsehood or wrongdoing.
She answered all his questions fully and politely but this still did not satisfy him and he asked her to produce all her airline tickets which, fortuitously, she had print-outs of.
He then phoned me at home and cross-examined me in a similar manner which I found rather offensive and intrusive (fortunately I had just returned from rehearsal and was able to take the call). Eventually he let her through.
I have lived very happily in this country for the past 36 years: being an Irish citizen means a great deal to me and I feel it my duty to ensure that the authorities of the country I have pledged my love, allegiance and loyalty to do not endorse practices that might be construed as racist. The least I would expect is an apology to my cousin Fiona and myself for the shameful way we have been treated. In the long term, a complete review of the behaviour of the immigration officials is urgently required. Fiona has travelled extensively all over the world but this is the first time (her first time in Ireland) she has encountered such discomfort from an immigration official. – Yours, etc,