JOHN KEATING,
Sir, - I wish to express my complete disgust and horror at the brutal fatal assault on Zhao Liu Tao. That a Chinese family should suffer such a horrific loss and that foreign nationals residing in this State must live in fear of such mindless acts is appalling.
Racism in all its forms, from those who pass snide remarks to the iron bar-wielding thugs is unacceptable, especially in a country which for so long depended on being able to export its young to richer nations in search of work.
I recently spent four-and-a-half months cycling across China from Hong Kong to the Pakistani border. I passed through teeming cities and remote villages, isolated mountain areas and vast desert stretches. Being a lone traveller on a bicycle I would have been a vulnerable target, but I was greeted with kindness and generosity.
Whether I needed help with directions or a place to stay, assistance was always forthcoming and never once was there even a hint of aggression or racism.
From the students who were keen to practise their English to the Tibetan farmers who offered me lodgings, I made many friends and had many memorable experiences. Thus my sadness is all the more acute that the land of the "Céad Míle Failte" no longer seems capable of living up to its name and that our most prosperous period is also our most intolerant.
Finally, I would like to extend my sincerest sympathies to Zhao Liu Tao's family and friends and express my deep regret that his stay in Ireland had such a tragic end. If there is one hope to come out of this let it be that all right-thinking people will do everything in their power to see that the evil of racism is not allowed to claim any more victims in our country. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN KEATING,
Ballydrehid,
Cahir,
Co Tipperary.
... ... * ... * ... * ... ...
Sir, - I refer to the response by Ms Áine Ní Chonaill to the murder of Mr Zhao Liu Tao in Dublin last week. That her Immigration Control Platform does not comment on individual cases comes as no surprise; it deals, rather, in vague and unfounded generalisations of "white flight" or "floods of immigrants".
Declining to offer condolences to the family of Mr Zhao is bad enough. But suggesting that the murder of a foreigner by Irish nationals is somehow evidence of the need to ensure strict immigration legislation is the same warped and evil logic as blaming rape on its victims. - Yours, etc.,
ÉANNA Ó FLOINN,
Hollybrook Park,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.