Sir, - It appears from reports by Paul Cullen, your Development Correspondent (The Irish Times, May 6th and 7th), that Germany cannot be trusted to consider the claims to refugee status of asylum-seekers (so they should be allowed to remain here). In earlier reports Mr Cullen questioned the bona fides of the UK and France to fulfil their obligations in this respect.
This seems farcical to me and causes me to wonder if there is a concealed agenda in operation. The main campaign seemed to be directed towards securing fair procedures for asylum-seekers, but even in cases where the procedures are apparently accepted as fair, there is resistance to the outcome. Where is that leading us? Is it towards accepting all who succeed in getting here, by fair means or foul, and irrespective of whether we may thereby be overlooking and excluding people far more deserving of our compassion and assistance? That is not a policy. It is, at best, inertia or, at worse, an evasion of the hard choices which the adoption of a policy on immigration would entail. - Yours, etc., John O'Callaghan
Lakelands Avenue, Kilmacud, Co Dublin.