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Thursday, July 15, 2010
Are we supporting hordes of scroungers?
BY TP O’MAHONY
A DESIRE to put the interests and welfare of the Irish people first is as close as one can get to a working definition of patriotism.
The common understanding of patriotism is love of one’s country – but I’m happy with James Connolly’s qualification of this when he said: "Ireland, apart from its people, means nothing to me".
To translate this into Ireland for the Irish is a step too far. Closing our doors entirely to outsiders would exclude genuinely gifted people. In any case, our membership of the EU places obligations on us in terms of the free movement of workers within the memberstates.
This policy is obviously advantageous to some of our own people who, for a variety of reasons, choose to work abroad.
In the current grim economic climate, seeking work abroad is not a matter of choice any longer for many.
It may be taken as a commentary on the current state of play within the EU that some of our young people look beyond Europe for employment, though I suspect that language barriers are factors as well.
I don’t really want to digress, but since I’ve touched on language issues I can’t help but wonder if our educational system is doing enough – or even nearly enough – in the area of foreign languages.
Not that long ago I listened to an extended radio interview with an internationally renowned economist, and when he was asked what advice he would give to parents concerned about their children’s future, he replied: "Teach them Chinese".
But in how many Irish schools can you get Chinese lessons?
Just recently former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald had this to say: "The mess made of our economy since the end of the 1990s will lead to a further tragically large exodus of Irish people".
How prepared are they for work abroad? And once again emigration acts as a safety valve. Imagine the situation here if all our unemployed citizens couldn’t emigrate?
So in acknowledging that doors are open elsewhere for our young people, I’m implicitly recognising that attempting to operate a closed-door policy here would simply be impracticable.
That said, two further considerations arise – (a) were we foolish to throw the doors wide open in the first place, exercising at best very lax controls, and (b) what do we do about all the nonIrish people who are now here?
No apologies are due to anyone for asserting that there is a moral obligation on us to provide for our own people first. As a moral doctrine this is so self-evidently right as to need no justification.
After all, what’s the point in being Irish if the government you’ve elected denies you preferential treatment relative to all others?
You might as well be a citizen of Zululand if being a citizen of Ireland confers no privileges on you above and beyond whatever you may be able to find as an immigrant in Zululand.
Citizenship carries with it privileged access to resources: this has to be an essential part of the package. And since resources are always limited, then a policy of selectivity must come into play.
We prioritise resources all the time. This is largely what the whole social partnership deals were all about.
Every government has to control access to resources. In Britain the new coalition government is talking about a cap on immigration. We need to face up to this as well.
What is the total amount of money being paid out at present to non-Irish residents? Does anyone know? Are we supporting hordes of foreign scroungers? We mustn’t be afraid to ask.
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