Stop passing buck on immigration or we will be targeted as easy back door to Britain

THE arrival into Rosslare of 16 Kurds, one of them juveniles, in a shipping container might so easily have ended in the same sort of tragedy we saw last month in Essex, when 39 Vietnamese nationals died in a refrigerated truck. Fortunately, the outcome here was different and all 16 are safe and healthy but this again reminds us that we cannot abrogate our responsibilities for managing our immigration policy.

There is an Irish dimension to both cases and, as Brexit looms, we must realise that this country will be targeted more often as a back door to the UK.

The most recent arrivals find themselves placed in our direct provision system, already straining at the seams as asylum seekers wait, sometimes for years, to have their applications processed. Even when decisions to deny asylum are made, they can be appealed seemingly ad infinitum. Ireland must take its immigration policy and systems seriously. We can no longer consider ourselves some rocky outcrop in the Atlantic that can delegate these responsibilities to police forces and policy makers in Britain and Europe.

The Taoiseach recently spoke of two countries as ‘big drivers’ behind the rise in those seeking asylum. Scapegoating countries is no substitute for effective policy. Traditionally, Irish people have been sympathetic to the plight of the emigrant, as so many families, over so many generations, have been affected by sons and daughters leaving the country. It would be a shame if a failure to manage immigration were to temper this positive attitude. We need proper policing and a housing system that is fair to those who travel here, and in which those already here can have faith.

BEAUTY QUEEN’S ‘ONLINE TORTURE’

MISS Ireland Chelsea Farrell has long been the victim of sustained online abuse – as she tells this newspaper today, she has been ‘tortured on social media from the age of 13’.

Ms Farrell reveals she was also the victim of a stalker. Given all this, it would be understandable if she wanted to hide away and never mention the subject, but the beauty queen is made of sterner stuff and has been speaking to secondary school pupils about the dangers of social media. Her insight comes from having lived through the petty jealousies that drive such behaviour and which her subjects are likely to endure or even inflict.

She is to be commended for speaking out on this difficult topic, her courage matched only by her social conscience. It is more likely the teenagers she is speaking to will listen to the message from someone of their own generation than from parents or teachers, making her a true ambassador on this troubling topic. We wish her all the best in the forthcoming Miss World pageant.

MORE TREES TO FIX CHANGING CLIMATE

RICHARD BRUTON wants to plant trees to mitigate climate change but his target of over 60,000 a day sounds extraordinary to the point of incredible. Nonetheless, even if the target seems ridiculous, a sustained programme of tree-planting to absorb carbon is a positive step in tackling the very real dangers from climate change.