Madam, - The proposal of the incoming EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, to set up "immigration gateways" or holding camps along the African coastline is neither new nor imaginative (The Irish Times, August 24th).
In doing so he would be reinventing the dark side of European history. The old slave castles along the African coastline are a stark reminder of a shameful era of European history that cannot be undone and should not be repeated.
Of course, immigration is an issue in Europe. It is also an issue for those countries that lose the energy band of their population. Who are the losers? Who are the beneficiaries?
Since the early 1980s there have been many calls for an enlightened common immigration policy that would benefit European society and the nations from which people are emigrating.
However, to achieve this the European Union needs to break the links in the chain of colonial mercantilism that has prevailed for the past 500 years.
A new immigration policy will have to replace the old dominating empires with a new vision that highlights human dignity rather than diminishing it. - Yours, etc.,
BOBBY GILMORE, SSC,
Chairperson,
Migrant Rights
Centre Ireland,
Beresford Place,
Dublin 1.