Sir, - Is there a lesson to be learned from recent events in Fiji and Zimbabwe with respect to the immigration issue in Europe generally and Ireland in particular?
It is clear from the situations in the aforementioned countries that satisfying an economic imperative can have disastrous long-term results for both the indigenous peoples and the immigrant population.
It is also very clear that a sense of ownership of a land or country reaches to the core of our being and transcends the historically more recent concepts of legal ownership. A sense of place and purpose gives a society a cohesion which permits the trappings of civilised society to flourish. There is a definite sense that the recent influx of immigrants undermines the sense of ownership of the indigenous people of this country.
This should come as no surprise to anyone as this nation state owes its existence to a deeply-rooted and ancient sense of belonging. Many of those who secured the national homeland had no economic stake in the country.
Permitting mass immigration into this country to fulfil the requirements of a transitory economic boom will be as great a tragedy as the enforced emigration that was the lot of many of the sons and daughters of this nation. - Yours, etc.,
Peter O'Donovan, Malahide, Co Dublin.