Sir, – As those around the country who have prevented the accommodation of asylum seekers through a combination of arson, intimidation and 24-hour blockades reflect on the recent discovery of 39 bodies in the back of a truck, they and certain politicians who whip up hysteria through provocative statements and outright lies might consider that these asylum seekers and those like them in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere might prefer to be living in the so-called “middle of nowhere” with “no facilities”, etc, rather than drowning in the Mediterranean sea or freezing to death in container trucks.
They might also cast their minds back to when thousands of unwanted Irish people travelled to the US in coffin ships to escape poverty and worse in their own country.
They might also recall the annual begging bowl of shamrock accompanying requests for favourable treatment for the current group of illegal economic emigrants living in the US. These Irish people are not so different from other illegals except of course that the Irish are not fleeing war, torture, starvation and oppression.
It is time that a wealthy country like Ireland take its responsibility to others seriously and the government in doing so need to stand up to objectors, racists and populist politicians and remember that it is not so long ago that we were those people. – Yours, etc,
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HUGH PIERCE,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.