Sir, - It was refreshing to read Vincent Browne's column of August 12th on the plight of Roma Gypsies and indeed all who are forced to come to our shores to seek refuge.
For too long the debate over the so-called "refugee problem" has been characterised by xenophobic media coverage and inflammatory accounts of "a flood" of asylum-seekers.
The truth, as succinctly described by Mr Browne, is that in relative terms the number of people coming to Ireland to seek sanctuary from persecution represents more of a trickle than a flood.
Some in media and political circles seem drawn to the theory that many asylum-seekers make their way to Ireland simply to abuse what these commentators see as the great generosity of the Irish people and State.
It is preposterous in the extreme to suggest that an individual would leave his or her home in another part of the world, abandoning perhaps forever their culture, way of life and often, tragically, their families, to make their way to Ireland, very often by dangerous means, simply to defraud the Irish Minister for Social Welfare out of approximately £65 a week.
The crisis, in as much as it exists, was correctly described by Mr Browne as one experienced by the asylum-seekers. From their perspective it is indeed a very real crisis and from any reasonable perspective can be seen to be one created by at best political inertia and at worst institutional xenophobia as evidenced by the failure of this Government to implement the provisions of the 1996 Refugee Act, which would have gone some way towards establishing fair procedures for the hearing of asylum applications. - Yours, etc., John Moher,
Warren Street, Portobello, Dublin 8.