Asylum-seekers controversy

Sir, - How comforting it must be for ethnic minorities in Ireland to know their rejection is really "only" a symptom of a collective…

Sir, - How comforting it must be for ethnic minorities in Ireland to know their rejection is really "only" a symptom of a collective uncertainty and not in anyway to be confused with that dirty word racism.

John Waters' article (May 22nd) made me angry. Discrimination of others on grounds of race, creed or culture is always immoral. Was not the Holocaust fuelled by a nation's fear and prejudice?

It is time as a nation that we recognised the dark undercurrents in our society before we point the finger at others. For all their perceived racism, the English have absorbed huge numbers of ethnic minorities into their communities. Ireland is only beginning to face this challenge.

Accountability to others begins with John Waters and me recognising and accepting our blind spots, and facing the fear of change that ethnic integration inevitably brings. - Yours, etc.,

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Jill Casey, Burlington Road, Dublin 4.