Madam, - J.A. Barnwell (July 11th) is not convinced by the claim in your Editorial "The EU and Immigration" (July 8th) that the Irish treatment of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants has been patchy at best. His final point is that Ireland was not a colonial power but instead suffered the "bestiality of imperialism". I am not convinced by this point.
The Act of Union in 1801 made Ireland part of the United Kingdom. It was hardly an equal partnership between these two islands. However, the Irish had a very real voice in Westminster after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and were thus able to influence what was then the world's greatest colonial power.
The Irish played a very significant role in the administration of the British Empire. Vast numbers of Irishmen joined the British army. Many others worked as civil servants and policemen in overseas locations. Irish settlers in North America and Australia displaced the native inhabitants of those lands, often by force, and, in doing so, they participated in, and profited from, the "bestiality of imperialism".
Our supposed lack of a colonial past is an unconvincing argument that is often used by Irish people to evoke a smug sense of moral superiority over our European neighbours, particularly the British. I do not believe it stands up to serious scrutiny. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DURKAN, Dublin Road, Lusk, Co Dublin.