Fifty-eight illegal immigrants died in horrendous circumstances at the port of Dover last Sunday, as they sought to make new lives for themselves. During the hottest day of the year, fifty-four men and four women suffocated in an 18-metre-long container that had its refrigeration unit switched off. It could have happened here. The people who died were from China and are believed to have paid criminal gangs to smuggle them into Britain.
Yesterday in the Dail, the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill, 1999, finally passed all stages. The Bill was designed to discourage trafficking in human beings and the penalties provide for unlimited fines, the confiscation of vehicles and up to ten years in jail for those involved. In the last few months, however, other provisions have been grafted onto the Bill by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and the legislation now curtails the access of asylum seekers to the Courts. This is an unfortunate development and blurs the distinction that should exist between asylum seekers and immigrant workers and those criminal gangs they pay to help them cross EU boundaries. In the same way, the recent Government decision to automatically finger-print asylum seekers creates a negative image of asylum seekers in the public mind.
Reaction to the deaths at the EU Summit in Portugal on Monday, was to bring down the shutters more firmly on illegal immigrants rather than to review existing mechanisms or to address the broader issues of world economic policy that impoverish some countries while allowing others to flourish behind protective barriers. Nobody quibbles with the need to penalise traffickers in human beings. But an alternative to paying such gangs must be provided for legitimate asylum seekers. Because of the common travel area that exists between these islands, the Government has made common cause with its British counterparts in trying to stop asylum seekers reaching our shores and to agreeing similar, tough responses to them if they do arrive. Through the Dublin Convention, it has sought to have asylum seekers dealt with at their EU entry point. The system hasn't worked. And individual governments are now establishing bi-lateral agreements to fast-track arrangements for the readmission of their citizens.
It all boils down to a concerted effort by EU governments to close their borders to all but the most obviously persecuted, or the most highly skilled, foreign nationals. And this State, which currently has the second-highest asylum application rate per capita in Europe, is taking a very strong line. Mr O'Donoghue has rejected repeated requests from the Catholic Bishops Conference to allow those asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who have put down roots here, to remain. But even as we act tough in relation to illegal immigrants, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, speaks about attracting skilled foreign workers to build and staff a new $2 billion computer chip plant near Dublin.
There are obvious problems in relation to the accommodation of large numbers of refugees. But they are compounded by a Government policy that prevents many of them from working until their applications have been processed. The one certainty that exists in relation to refugees and immigrant workers is the longterm financial and social benefits they bestow on their country of adoption. Given our own experience as a people, we should recognise that and act accordingly. There is still time to adopt a more humanitarian approach.