Irish parliamentarians recounted their personal experiences of racial discrimination in a unique and impassioned discussion at the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. The committee was considering the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
While acknowledging racism in Ireland, Mr Austin Deasy of Fine Gael said the difficulties encountered by Irish people in the UK were not talked about: "There is wholesale discrimination against the Irish in Britain." He described the "harrowing sight of decent Irish people" being harassed at points of exit and entry in Britain. At Heathrow, decent people had their suitcases opened and belongings thrown onto the table. "It's disgraceful."
He met Irish truckers who told him the way they were treated by immigration officials in transit through Britain to the Continent. It was "just unbelievable". They did not complain because they felt it was pointless. "The same goes in the workplace in many areas of England."
Mr Michael O'Kennedy (Fianna Fail) said he was the only former minister actually to be detained at Birmingham Airport under the Prevention of Terrorism Act because he had no passport, which is not a legal requirement for Irish people entering the UK.
The Fine Gael MEP, Ms Mary Banotti, recalled her years as a trainee nurse in England when a young man who wanted to take her out on a date explained that he could not do so because: "You are Irish and my mother doesn't like Irish people."
The Fine Gael senator and MEP, Ms Avril Doyle, said she had experienced racist attitudes towards herself in the European Parliament. A political proposal she had made was the subject of a disparaging email message sent to a British Liberal MEP by a member of his staff but, through a mistake in transmission, the email went to Mrs Doyle instead. The message read: "What else would you expect from a Paddy?"