It is not difficult to imagine the frame of mind of the 19 Moldovan men as they pondered the prospect of employment on the far side of Europe, in a little known - but apparently booming - place called Ireland. Moldova, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, is not blessed with prosperity. Semi-skilled labourers can expect to earn about £15 a month, a sum of money many Irish people would not think twice about spending in a pub on a Saturday evening. By contrast, someone in Ireland was willing to pay the Moldovan men £230. . . a week. As many of them have told reporters since their arrival in Ireland, they planned to send the money home - to their families so they could have a better life. It is a story deeply familiar to very many people on this island. It might have been expected, therefore, that in dealing with a group of migrant workers, the authorities here would handle matters with a degree of common sense and sensitivity. But what actually happened to the 19 is little short of a scandal.
When they arrived at Dublin Airport last weekend, they had valid entry visas and work permits. Unfortunately for them, the effects of the BSE crisis and the consequent slow-down in meat processing meant their jobs at one of two meat plants were in doubt. While it is possible to have sympathy with the individual servants of the State who believed (wrongly) that they were enforcing the law in these circumstances, it speaks ill of the system in general that the result is summary imprisonment. It cannot be right that 19 such people, who have committed no crime, are locked up inside Mountjoy Jail for four nights - an ordeal that ended when they were brought to court cuffed and shackled only to be freed by a judge who lost little time in declaring their detention illegal. Bishop Brendan Comiskey was right yesterday to question the conduct of the State in this instance. And the head of the prison service, Mr Sean Aylward, did no one a service when he responded by attacking the media and referring to the Moldovans as "the accused" as though it was all right to treat them as common criminals.
This State and all its officials must get used to the idea of foreigners coming here to work, and procedures will have to be put in place to process people who, in some cases, may not have proper papers immediately to hand. In this regard, last night's announcement by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, that there will be no repeat of the incident is to be welcomed. The details of his plan will bear scrutiny but consigning individuals to prison is assuredly not the right approach. As this newspaper disclosed this week, official estimates of the number of foreign workers needed by our economy between now and 2006 stands at a staggering 336,000.
By contrast with the way the State treated the Moldovans, the action of Mr Bertie Dunne, a Naas hotelier, and his sister, Mrs Mary Elliffe, is to be applauded. They took action to help the men get alternative jobs and they offered them accommodation because they felt that was the right thing to do - a more appropriate and decent response than the State was capable of.