Sir, - Shame on us.
Shame on us for congratulating ourselves on our "generosity" toward a tiny number of the persecuted people of Kosovo.
The Evening Herald (May 11th) had the cheek to run a front-page headline declaring "Welcome" in Albanian. Previous Herald headlines and vernacular decrying the cost to the State of the "floods of refugees" arriving here spring to mind when confronted with the Herald's new-found humanity.
Shame on our Government for refusing to implement the Refugee Act 1996 which would have afforded at least some assistance and security to those forced to our shores.
As matters stand, asylum-seekers here are treated like criminals by a cold bureaucracy and all too often abused on our streets.
Shame on our Government for continuing to flout international law by refusing to grant full refugee status to the Kosovars coming here, despite acknowledging that they are refugees.
Shame on our Government for trying to justify this refusal by pretending to be concerned that those coming here from Kosovo might want to return home some day.
Why not grant the Kosovars full refugee status and, if and when appropriate, help in returning home, but only when they want to return home and only when it is perfectly safe for them to do so?
What of the Kosovars here in the meantime?
How long before they experience the abuse suffered by Romanian asylum-seekers in Ireland? Junior Minister Liz O'Donnell is confident that the Kosovars will not be mistreated, given our knowledge of their suffering. Didn't we also learn of the terrible suffering of the Romanian people under Ceaucescu? - Yours, etc.,
John Moher, Warren Street, Dublin 8.