Sir, - I find myself sadly unsurprised by the smugness, not to mention naivete, exhibited by A. McCabe (May 27th) and others in relation to the state's ongoing immigration "problem".
A. McCabe claims to offer an illuminating insight with his/her assertion that Irish emigrants, past and present, have "been prepared to work and make a go of it," unlike, presumably, these shiftless foreigners presently bleeding the country dry.
Wake up, A. McCabe. Having lived in various countries around the globe - Australia, the United Kingdom, the US and elsewhere - I can assure you that there are plenty of Irish "scrounging off the state", begging in the street, committing crimes or pushing drugs. Whether we like it or not, we are just like every other race on this planet. Smug attitudes of the "I don't mind them as long as they work hard" type ignore the fact that many immigrants are willing to work but are restricted by language difficulties or the inability to secure a work permit. Suggestions that there is an inherent difference between economic migrants from Ireland and from non-English speaking states are both ignorant and dangerous. "No blacks, no dogs, no Irish", remember?
If A. McCabe is really as concerned for the Irish tax-payer as s/ he claims, s/he should be here paying his/her share, rather than sitting (as an economic emigrant, I believe) on the other side of the Atlantic, bemoaning Ireland's "appallingly high" taxes. We do indeed have high taxes, but offering immigrants as a scapegoat is dishonest, both morally and intellectually. You might as well blame the public transport system (it's been blamed for everything else). - Yours, etc., Feilim McLaughlin,
Rathgar, Dublin 6.