Sir, - G. Quinn states (May 25th) that the Irish Government has a policy of admitting only "fair skinned" refugees to this country.
Does Mr Quinn not realise that Ireland has received many persecuted people over the last 50 years? In the post-war years, we received many victims of Nazi Germany, Czechs, Hungarians and, in more recent times, our Government allowed a large number of Vietnamese and Bosnian refugees to settle here.
I would agree that we have a moral obligation to receive persecuted people in this country in as far as this is possible. However, many of these people seeking asylum here are not refugees, but economic immigrants. This puts a heavy strain on the Exchequer. As a small State of 3.6 million inhabitants, we cannot accommodate the number of refugees arriving here. Would those who advocate our receiving them and giving an amnesty to those illegals already here be prepared to pay a tax rate of 75-85 per cent to fund this? - Yours, etc., David P. Bergin,
Booterstown, Co. Dublin.