Madam, - There are, according to your Editorial of October 8th, 5,000 to 25,000 illegal Irish citizens in the US. I wish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern the best of luck in his endeavours for these unfortunates. When he gets home, I hope he will bring his enlightened view of humanity to the cabinet table and try to arrange an amnesty for the many illegal non-EU citizens in the State.
He could start by giving papers to the many people rotting away in the asylum limbo in hostels and camps around the country. Then he could insist on a decision time of four weeks for asylum cases. An independent audit and review of the humanity of some of the decisions made at our airports is also in order. Some of our immigration officers have a heart; some have a stone. - Yours, etc,
Dr BILL TORMEY, (Dublin City Councillor), Glasnevin Avenue, Dublin 11.
Madam, - I found it strange that your Editorial omitted to mention that, while Dermot Ahern is attempting to make a special case for illegals of Irish origin, his cabinet colleague, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, has been quoted in your paper as saying that such amnesties "can exacerbate the problem of illegal migration by sending out the wrong message".
But of course Mr Lenihan was talking about migrants into Ireland, not migrants from Ireland. Such is this cabinet's concept of equality of treatment. - Yours, etc,
CHARLES TYNER, St Joseph's Street, Dublin 7.