Madam, - It is very pleasing to see several of Ireland's leading politicians naming Casablanca as their favourite movie (The Ticket, May 11th).
The film, of course, portrays a refugee-like situation in which the lovely Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) flees a European home devastated by war and persecution.
At the time, there was no international refugee convention to buttress the rights of refugees, as we have now, but it was customary, as it still is today, for people to expect to be able to seek and enjoy safety from persecution in another country.
In Ireland, a new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill was set out in 2007. When in the future the question of asylum is debated in Ireland at a political level, we hope sincerely that Europe's own experience of persecution will be kept close to mind, and we trust that if a young Ilsa shows up on Ireland's border, she will be given the very best consideration. - Yours, etc,
STEVEN O'BRIEN, Public Information Officer, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Lower Fitzwillaim Street, Dublin 2.