Madam, - Dr Joanna McMinn (July 21st) mentions the "humanitarian crisis" afflicting the Roma on the M50 roundabout.
When we hear the words "humanitarian crisis" we naturally think of Darfur or Somalia, where thousands of people need our help. Dr McMinn abuses the term in the hope of gaining sympathy for a Roma group who freely flew from Romania to Ireland, across half-a-dozen other EU countries, to camp on the M50.
Why did they not go to EU neighbour Hungary first if they had a problem in their own country? I suggest they came here because they heard the Irish Government would dole out money to the world (while denying their own Irish citizens basic healthcare).
Perhaps Dr McMinn would like to house them in her own offices while the Irish Government takes care of real problems first? - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN LYNCH,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
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Madam, - While I know nothing of the specific circumstances which any individual member of the Roma community left behind in Romania, I was surprised to hear the Romanian Ambassador to Ireland suggest on RTÉ radio that the general conditions of the Roma community in Romania would be better than those faced by the community currently encamped on the Ballymun roundabout.
In April 2004 I visited the municipal landfill site in the City of Galati in eastern Romania as part of a review of a grant application received by the EU Commission. There was rubbish piled up over 90ft high, with smoke emanating from it. In addition to the wild boar and wild dogs which were living on the top of the waste, there was also a family of Roma gypsies. These people lived in a wooden shack on top of the rubbish heap and their children ran around the dump with bare feet. As lorries arrived with rubbish the children jumped on to the back of them to scavenge for metal, which their parents took away by horse and cart. On the day of our visit the temperature was - 5 degrees and there was snow on the ground. The mother of the children had washing hanging on a clothes line behind the shack - which, I guess, demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit.
As a citizen of the wealthiest country in the European Union I felt rather uncomfortable to hear Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan say on RTÉ's Questions and Answersthat the Roma were "Romania's problem, not Ireland's problem". I would suggest to the Minister that it is not acceptable for any citizen of the European Community to live on top of a rubbish dump, or indeed on a motorway roundabout; and if the richest country in the EU is to adopt the Minister's attitude that it is none of our business, I suggest that it will take Romania (the poorest member of the EU) many years to resolve this issue. Perhaps it is time for us to look beyond our borders and embrace the ideals of social inclusion which the EU espouses. - Is mise,
JAMES CORCORAN,
Griffith Avenue,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.
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Madam, - It is strange that among the many who demand the Irish Government provide the Roma camping out on the M50 Roundabout with shelter and food, none seemed to have opened up their own homes to take them in. Isn't charity supposed to begin at home? When was it completely outsourced to the State? - Yours, etc,
TONY ALLWRIGHT,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.