Sir, – The recent treatment of two Romany families by the Irish State has been outrageous, unjust, unfair and unworthy of a nation aspiring to be tolerant and pluralist. The questioning of the parenthood of their children, whom they loved, was done without evidence and is insulting, and a manifestation of both ethnic and racial prejudice. Even worse: the taking of children from their parents can have serious post-traumatic effects on both parents and child. The Irish Government has many serious questions to answer. A commission of inquiry is necessary.
These events are not surprising, because I note a degree of anti-Romany prejudice in Ireland and throughout Europe. In my recent research, I saw indirect evidence pointing to such prejudice. We should not forget that innocent Romany people shared Hitler’s gas chambers with Jews and others. The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act (1989) need to be enforced and applied more rigorously and even strengthened where necessary. The Romany minority in Ireland must be one of the most vulnerable and in need of real support and proper living conditions.
Irish media, both print and electronic, bear serious responsibilities in relation to vulnerable minorities. All breaches of the 1989 Act should be dealt with by the gardaí and by our courts. If not, the position of Romanies and other vulnerable minorities will deteriorate to a point where behaviour such as that displayed in Tallaght and Athlone will be accepted as normal. Racism and ethnic prejudices expressed in the media should be unconscionable in a tolerant and pluralist society.
As an Irish citizen, I feel ashamed. – Yours, etc.
MICHEÁL Mac GRÉIL, SJ
(Author of Pluralism and
Diversity in Ireland),
Saint Xavier’s,
Gardiner Street, Dublin 1.
A chara, – To the Roma families who had children taken from them into care, and to the Roma people in general, I would like to say I am sorry. To the Irish authorities and Government I would like to say that it does not take these actions in my name.
Lest we forget, it is not long since the Irish were being racially profiled and vilified because of perceptions about the size of their skulls, their dirtiness and their laziness. I am horrified and appalled that this could happen in Ireland in 2013. – Is mise,
GERTRUDE COTTER,
Ballyregan, Carrigtwohill,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Whether a child has blond hair or blue eyes depends on the genes they inherit for these particular features. For example, the gene that controls blond or red hair colour can be recessive whereas the gene for dark hair colour is generally dominant. Since a child will inherit one gene from each parent it is quite possible that two dark-haired parents can have a blond-haired child. This is because the mother or father who carries a hidden or recessive gene for blond or red hair will only see that gene expressed in his or her child when there are two identical copies inherited, one from each parent. If the child inherits a gene for dark hair and a gene for blond hair, the gene for dark hair doesn’t allow the blond hair gene to be expressed and the child has dark hair as a result. Simply Leaving Cert biology! This also explains why hair colour can often skip a generation.
I am not sure whom HSE/gardaí this week consulted on this issue, but whoever it was he/she mustn’t have done well in their Leaving Cert biology! – Yours, etc,
THOMAS G COTTER PhD,
Professor of Biochemistry,
University College Cork.
A chara, – Many school principals will be relieved to know that the secret to getting action from the social services is in the colour of the hair! – Is mise,
SEÁN Ó DIOMASAIGH,
Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa,
Huntstown, Dublin 15.
A chara, – I am a pale-skinned, red-haired, green-eyed woman with three children. Two have pale skin and red hair, but one has dark hair and big brown eyes. Should I submit him for a DNA test? Will the HSE and the Garda come and take him till I prove I gave birth to him? Unlikely: I am not Roma. – Yours, etc,
DEIRDRE McCARTHY,
Clarkes Terrace,
Rialto, Dublin 8.
Sir, – The recent case of a child taken from a Roma family on the suspicion, of having been abducted, now shown false, understandably causes concern. I suggest the authorities may have committed an error of statistical reasoning. Given that the child was blond (and blue-eyed) they concluded that there was a reasonable chance that she had been abducted by this family. Most likely they were reasoning from the fact that if the child hadn’t been abducted by them then it was unlikely that she would be blond: she is not representative of their children. However the latter does not at all imply the former possibility.
The mathematics of this has been understood for centuries and is known as Bayes’ Theorem. In effect, the authorities seem to have neglected the fact that child abduction is very rare, while lots of kids are blond. This logically implies, in a precise way, that the probability that this child had been abducted was actually extremely low. In legal circles neglecting this is known as the “Prosecutors’ fallacy”. This fallacy has been implicated in the case of Lucia De Berk, a Dutch nurse convicted of seven murders and three attempted murders and subsequently exonerated. It is, in fact, a common error. For example, there is evidence that many doctors fall into the same trap when interpreting positive test results from routine screening for various illnesses. While hindsight is wonderful , how many of us can be certain that we would not have made the same mistake? A little statistics goes a long way. – Yours, etc,
Dr KEVIN DENNY,
School of Economics &
Geary Institute,
University College Dublin,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – I have four kids. Every one of them had blond hair up to the age of seven or eight. I have brown hair and their mother has very dark hair. I understand that this is not uncommon. Are the Garda Síochána now going to investigate every instance where a child’s hair colour differs from that of their parents, or will it only do so if the parents are from an ethnic minority? – Yours, etc,
EOGHAN Ó NÉILL,
Beechdale Grove,
Blessington, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – The removal of two children from Roma parents in the Republic because they happened to look “different” was probably and inevitably going to look bad for the Garda Síochána insofar as it smacked of racial profiling. In a sense though, I have sympathy for the police, since their reaction is but a symptom of the mass hysteria around human-trafficking that has taken root in Irish society and which has no parallel elsewhere in Europe, including north of the Border.
Trafficking is a complex phenomenon that has been devalued by overuse. It is linked to migration patterns and the movement of people (often voluntary) from a poor place to a rich place to find work. However, in the Republic an incredibly powerful constellation of lobbying and advocacy groups have managed to oversimplify and connect a whole range of issues that should not be connected. Specifically they have linked trafficking solely to the issue of sexual exploitation that flies in the face of international research evidence.
It is important to keep things in perspective, however. The recent international Global Slavery Index (http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/) ranked 162 countries according to the prevalence of trafficking and other forms of exploitation on a scale of one (worst) to 160 (best).
Collectively the Republic of Ireland, the UK and Iceland achieved the best scores (160) and had the lowest levels of trafficking and other forms of exploitation of all the countries examined in the study. This is not of course to argue that there is no trafficking or exploitation in these jurisdictions, but it does suggest that the current hysteria in the Republic is misplaced. Indeed, I would argue that the current legislative arrangements in the Republic are working well and that the Garda and other agencies are doing their job effectively to deal with issues around trafficking. – Yours, etc,
GRAHAM ELLISON (Dr),
Reader in Criminology,
School of Law,
Queen’s University,
Belfast.
Sir, – The lawyer for the Roma family whose child was held under protective custody by the State asked, “How would you feel if this happened to you?”
I would ask him: how would I feel if they didn’t act and something bad happened to a child? When it comes to the welfare of a child, the onus is on the State to protect that child: it’s better to be safe than sorry. If some such an event happens in the future the parents or one of the parents should always be allowed to stay with the child until the matter is resolved. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN DEVITTE,
Mill Street,
Westport,
Co Mayo.