Sir, - The announcement by the Tanaiste, Mary Harney, that the Government will produce proposals for targeted immigration is to be welcomed. However, before the Minister turns her attention to attracting more immigrants, she needs to address urgently the difficulties being experienced by employers in retaining the immigrants we already have. The Department of Justice is increasingly refusing to grant residential or even holiday visas to dependants of legal immigrants who already have work permits.
It is not realistic to assume that the highly skilled workers we require will work here while their families are not allowed in. No other western country practises this approach, especially as it is recognised that immigrants with families are more likely to put down roots and contribute to an economy than single people, who can leave just as easily and quickly as they came.
The type of workers the Minister is hoping to attract are highly skilled and in demand in all other western economies. If the Government is not going to ensure that the Department of Enterprise and Employment and the Department of Justice are singing from the same hymn sheet, it should spare itself the bother of devising an immigration policy.
What is the point of employers putting themselves to the considerable expense of recruiting from overseas, if the employees thus recruited have to leave shortly afterwards to be reunited with their families? - Yours etc.,
Ann Murray, Walkinstown, Dublin 12.