AN ANTI-IMMIGRATION group is urging a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum on the grounds that it will lessen the country’s controls over its own borders.

More than three million voters go to the polls today in one of the tightest general election contests in history.

A total of almost 470 candidates have been nominated to contest the upcoming election in the 43 constituencies nationwide.

YOUR report (November 1) on a recent poll that showed approximately half of the respondents expressed worries about future levels of immigration.

IN the context of the recent brouhaha over Nigerian deportations, your readers might like to reflect on the following:

Outspoken anti-immigration leader Áine Ní Chonaill will debate immigration controls with Councillor Toireasa Ferris of Sinn Féin, the daughter of TD Martin Ferris at University College Cork.

I FIND it rather enlightening that both the Ku Klux Klan's Ray Larsen, and Áine Ní Chonaill of the Immigration Control Platform used the term 'invasion' to describe the immigration situation in their respective countries (Irish Examiner, July 15).

IN A report in the Irish Examiner of July 8 there was a reference to our “severe” immigration policy? Nothing could be further from the truth.

PAT Talbot has no hesitation in declaring himself to be a single issue candidate in June’s local elections.

Referendums make for the strangest of bedfellows, and this one is no different. Paul O’Brien profiles some leading campaigners.

RTÉ must have thought their report on the fundraising calendar of the Newbridge girls’ volleyball team would have gone down a treat.

IN his column (Irish Examiner, April 20) Fergus Finlay says, “there is no party in Ireland ... advocating an open-door policy on immigration”.

Junior Minister Dick Roche has dismissed claims that Ireland will face a flood of economic migrants when 10 new countries join the European Union later this year.

Recently there has been a focus on the visit of President McAleese to China and the trade delegation accompanying her.

I'M afraid there was a major error in the information given by Caroline O'Doherty in her piece on asylum seekers (Irish Examiner, August 30).

IRISH-BORN children deported with their parents will return and sue the State for breaches of their constitutional rights, a legal expert predicted yesterday.

YOUR report (Irish Examiner, August 6) that a group called CADIC (Coalition Against Deportation of Irish Children) has been formed.

IT IS extremely worrying that in an effort to coax the unions towards a new partnership deal the Government is to promote the incorporation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in a new EU constitution.

CHILDREN’S welfare organisations and refugee support groups expressed deep concern for families affected by the Supreme Court ruling that foreign-born parents of Irish-born children can be deported with or without their offspring.

FIONÁN Sheehan’s feature on ‘Scrooge Employers’ (Irish Examiner, Dec 24), highlighted, in a very praiseworthy way, the abuse of workers’ rights

The anti-Nice Treaty lobby group Immigration Control Platform claims a 'yes' vote would pave the way for Ireland to become a multicultural society.

THE high-profile crackdown on suspected illegal immigrants is a cynical Government exercise to swing a Yes vote in the upcoming Nice Referendum, refugee campaigners claimed yesterday.

The Immigration Control Platform has urged the Government to hold a referendum to prevent the children of asylum seekers from securing automatic Irish citizenship.

The Irish Refugee Council has condemned calls by the Immigration Control Platform to have the status of asylum seekers determined before they enter the country.

Business leaders are warning that racism must be rooted out of Ireland if we are to convince non-nationals to come here and fill our skills shortages.

The Immigration Control Platform is calling on the Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue, to put measures in place whereby a person’s need for asylum would be determined before he or she enters the country.