Madam, - Conor Lenihan's recent comments on "kebabs" highlight, yet again, this Government's failure to take the rights of migrant workers in Ireland seriously. Given this failure, Fianna Fáil's lobbying to regularise the status of undocumented Irish nationals living in the USA is particularly hypocritical. In the light of Conor Lenihan's insensitive remarks, the Government should now move swiftly towards ratifying the UN Convention on Migrant Workers and their families. This would signal a willingness to safeguard the human rights of all migrant workers and would be an appropriate response to Mr Lenihan's ill- advised comments in the Dáil last week.
The Migrant Workers' Convention is one of the UN's core human rights treaties. As yet, however, not one member-state of the EU has signed or ratified the convention. This failure is at odds with the realities behind the phenomenon of immigration in Europe.
As long as conflicts and poverty prevail in other parts of the world and as long as individuals aspire to a better life, immigrants will continue to come to Europe. A recent European Green Paper on demography has highlighted the ongoing labour shortages in Europe. There is, and will continue to be, a market for foreign labour in a Europe of declining populations. The construction of a "fortress Europe" is unlikely to be able to withstand this convergence of supply and demand. - Is mise,
Dr SIOBHÁN MULLALLY, Faculty of Law, UCC, Cork.
Madam, - Conor Lenihan TD, more to be pitied than laughed at, - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL J STOKES, Dublin 6.