Immigration and the Irish

Madam, - According to your Editorial "The EU and Immigration" (July 8th), Irish treatment of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants…

Madam, - According to your Editorial "The EU and Immigration" (July 8th), Irish treatment of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants has been "patchy, at best, in spite of our experience as a people of long-term forced emigration".

The suggested paradox is unconvincing. Is migration from a tiny island to vast continents (America and Australia) credibly comparable to inflows to a small country from Africa, China, India, etc?

A final point. Many other EU countries coping with mass migration, were colonial powers. But not so Ireland. Indeed, Ireland was for long centuries at the receiving end of the "bestiality of imperialism" (Che Guevara). - Yours, etc,

J.A. BARNWELL, St Patrick's Road, Dublin 9.