Sir, - The level of misinformation on the immigration debate reached a new low with Mr David P. Bergin's letter (May 30th). He asserts that if we had an amnesty for the current numbers of refugees and economic migrants in the country, coupled with a policy of accepting immigrants in the future, then we would have tax rates of between 75 and 85 per cent. Where does he get his figures from?
If there were an amnesty, these people would be allowed to seek gainful employment, instead of being forced to claim social welfare. Despite the fact that we have large numbers of people unemployed, there are skill shortages in nearly every sector of the Irish economy. Unemployment and labour shortages are not mutually exclusive events. Many of the people arriving on our doorstep undoubtedly possess skills which could benefit our economy. There is further benefit to this scenario (which is largely ignored in the immigration debate) in that there is a supply side effect on the Irish economy because these people would spend their earnings on goods and services here.
I am not saying that we should open the floodgates, but have a measured response to this issue which is free from xenophobic hysteria and which befits a country of our size, wealth and history. - Yours, etc., Kevin M. Windle, (Junior),
Taney Avenue,
Dublin 14.