Sir, - On the subject of racism, David Andrews states (The Irish Times, November 18th) that Justice Minister John O'Donoghue "is doing his best to cure what is perceived to be a negative national mind-set on the issue."
In one sentence Mr Andrews, wittingly or unwittingly, completely exonerates the Minister of any responsibility for the increased levels of racism in Irish society. Instead, Minister O'Donoghue is presented as a champion of anti-racism in Ireland. However, the unfortunate reality is that Mr O'Donoghue, as the Minister responsible for asylum and immigration policy, is anything but the champion of anti-racism, and must bear a large part of the blame for the accelerated rise of racist attitudes in the 26 Counties.
Frequent and injudicious statements by the Minister regarding the bogus nature of most applications for asylum and the costs they incur for the Irish Exchequer are the very features which have created "a negative national mind-set". Most anti-racism work on the ground in recent years has been spent trying to offset the damage done by these remarks. If the inherent tension between promoting diversity and pursuing anti-immigrant policies is not resolved, the £4.5 million budget for overcoming racism in Ireland will amount only to expensive window-dressing.
It is ironic that Mr Andrews's comments should appear in the same week in which the Minister announced measures to prevent asylum-seekers identifying themselves in the media. In effect, the very people who are bearing the brunt of the recent upsurge in racism are denied the right to speak out against it. This is totally at odds with the "partnership approach" between NGOs and Government agencies which Mr Andrews mentions and which is supposedly the Justice Department's preferred method for combating racism. To date, the partnership approach has involved representatives of aslyum-seeker associations engaging with the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. There is an immediate need for the Minister to clarify whether the new measures mark a change in his commitment to partnership and to explain how silencing the recipients of racism will promote anti-racism in Ireland. - Yours, etc.,
Pat Guerin, Anti-Racism Campaign, Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2.