Madam, - My favourite example in trying to explain the definition of the Yiddish word chutzpah is this: a boy, after murdering his parents, pleads for mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan. This is precisely what the Irish illegals in the US are doing - engaging in chutzpah. They broke US immigration laws and are now pleading for mercy on the grounds that their actions are making them miserable.
I find it disturbing that the Taoiseach (Opinion & Analysis, March 16th) is actively lobbying another country to change its laws. To interfere in the internal affairs of another country is not only unseemly but breathtakingly arrogant.
These people, no matter how stressful and difficult their situation, simply broke the law. They knew when they entered the US and obtained jobs that their actions were illegal; and for our Taoiseach to write an article that advocates rewarding individuals who break the law in another country is rank hypocrisy. Would he appreciate reading an article by the Nigerian president urging the Irish Government to make all Nigerians here legal because they make a dynamic contribution to the Irish economy? I should think he would be infuriated and would tell the Nigerian president to mind his own business.
Mr Ahern would do well to concentrate on enforcing the laws in this State, where he is democratically elected, rather than putting so much effort into trying to change the laws of another country. - Yours etc,
GAVIN REDDIN, Grange Park Walk, Raheny, Dublin 5.
Madam, I read with amusement the article by the Taoiseach, "Undocumented Irish in US deserve chance to emerge from shadows".
I look forward to the next instalment in this series by the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell: "Undocumented Russian, Nigerian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Sudanese. . . deserve chance to emerge from shadows". - Yours, etc,
DAVID JOHNSON, Corrib Road, Terenure, Dublin 6W.