Sir, – Fintan O’Toole’s accuracy in pinpointing the historical and geographical background of the Jewish refugees arriving in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is to be commended (“The only difference between a good migrant and a bad one is time”, Opinion & Analysis, August 29th). And he is right about the rapid rise of that community to prosperity and social respectability – a development attributable to hard work, an ingrained respect for education and a culture free from dependence on alcohol.
However, it is a stretch to draw a close parallel between refugees fleeing savage tsarist persecution a century ago and the current wave of asylum seekers arriving mainly, according to official data, from Georgia, Algeria, Albania and Somalia.
Although the last-named suffers from chronic Islamist terrorism, and others from the political instability and poor employment opportunities common in some parts of Asia and Africa, none of those states are experiencing war or wholesale persecution, as your columnist seems to suggest. Albania is an EU applicant.
Further, it is difficult to imagine 40 per cent of the earlier Jewish refugees contriving to lose their identity documents just before arrival, as the Garda Síochána have told us is the case with the recent migrants here.
It is a shame that Fintan O’Toole’s forensic skills in documenting the historic Jewish inward migration should desert him so suddenly when dealing with the 21st-century “refugee” problem. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT MELEADY,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Like many readers, I have long been impressed by the vast range of topics about which Fintan O’Toole knows a great deal.
But his locating the game between Notre Dame and Navy in Croke Park rather than in the Aviva suggests he should be kept well away from the sports section. – Yours, etc,
FRANK GAVIN,
Toronto,
Canada.