FACHTNA O'REILLY,
Madam, - I wish to respond to an article by Sister Stanislaus Kennedy (December 23rd, 2002) dealing with refugees.
The Geneva Convention states that a refugee is someone with "a well-founded fear of persecution". As all our asylum seekers come through mainland Europe or Britain, where there is no persecution they are therefore not refugees. Further, Mr Rudd Lubber, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees advocates one refugee per 1,000 citizens for the host country, and says that if this were applied, there would be no refugee problem. Ireland had four asylum seekers in 2002 per 1,000 citizens. In the case of Britain, it had 1.2 asylum seekers per 1,000 population. Yet, in spite of this very unequal load on Ireland, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy wants to increase it further.
We are spending directly €300 million per annum on people who should not be here. This €300 million is not being paid by the wealthy in our society, but by those being deprived of its use, the homeless and thousands on housing waiting lists. Give €10 million to Simon, Focus Ireland, St Vincent de Paul and a few million to Father McVerry and our homeless problem is solved. The remaining €260 million would build 2,000 social houses per annum.
One of the many indirect costs of the current situation is the significant increase in rents due to the increased demand. Again the illegal immigrants are competing with the poorest in society for the available space.
We also have the ridiculous situation that taxpayers, who are renting, are increasing their own rents by contributing to the illegal immigrants rents. An example of this is where possibly the best accommodation in Cork for 300 students is now taken over for illegal immigrants. How can this be justified to parents, who by their taxes are instrumental in putting their own children into inferior accommodation at increased rents?
Sister Stanislaus Kennedy should remember one financial axiom, "one cannot spend the same euro twice".
Why do these illegal immigrants leave France, Germany, Holland, Britain, etc., and come to a wet windswept island on the western fringe of Europe, in unprecedented numbers? Simply, because it is by far the best deal in Europe. - Yours, etc.,
FACHTNA O'REILLY, Model Farm Road, Cork.