Madam, - This week began with International Day Against Racism on March 21st. We are currently in European Week Against Racism. Might it be too much to ask that, when the Minister for Justice takes the podium at the PD conference at the weekend, he might make the grand gesture to abandon his flawed citizenship referendum proposal.
We believe his flawed proposal to be an appeal to sectionalism, to prejudice and to bigotry. For racism and xenophobia to be primed by a Minister for Justice for electoral gain is crass and ignoble.
He should think again. - Yours, etc.,
RICHIE KEANE, Chairperson, NUI Maynooth Labour, Co Kildare.
Madam, - Mr Michael McDowell has furiously denied that his proposal for a referendum on citizenship for non-nationals - possibly to be held on the same day as the June elections - is racist. However, his provocative language is having a negative impact on the ground.
On a recent walk-about in my constituency, within days of Mr McDowell's speech, I was verbally abused and threatened for being a "nigger lover" and supporting "these people" from other countries. There were comments that "they are taking our houses".
All politicians have a duty to lead on the emigration issue. A Minister who talks about "citizenship tourism" and "massive inflows" of non-nationals is misleading people.
By all means have a debate but let us mind our language. In the Coombe Hospital last year the increase in non-national births was 2 per cent.
In the other maternity hospitals most of the foreign mothers were living and working legally in Ireland. The public was given the opposite impression by Mr McDowell.
I object to the idea that some people will no longer be able to become citizens simply by beingborn on Irish soil. This is not a progressive step. And linking a referendum to the electionswould fuel racism and assist conservative parties. - Yours, etc.,
FINIAN McGRATH, TD, (Independent, Dublin North Central), Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Simon Wrest (March 18th) fears that "Mr McDowell has found himself an election gimmick that attracts the part of the population who want a mythical Ireland that is 100 per cent Gaelic, Catholic and white". It would be interesting to test how big that part is in a referendum, bearing in mind that almost every civil conflict in the world (the North, Spain, Yugoslavia, Kashmir, Mexico, Rwanda, Nigeria, Indonesia, Kurdistan, to name but a few) revolves around differences in ethnicity and/or religion.
Voters might think it prudent to minimise the scope in Ireland for such conflicts and tensions in the future. - Yours, etc.,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.