CHILDREN’S advocates such as the ISPCC (Letters, March 9) have been using recent horrific abuse cases like that in Roscommon to make false claims about the proposed children’s rights referendum.

IN June last year, 20 Roma families, including many small children, were forced to move out of the Village area of Belfast following an organised campaign of harassment against them.

I CHECKED the index of Bertie Ahern’s biography for an entry under “Immigration”.

LIKE all ministers, in the current economic crisis, Batt O’Keeffe is seeking to make budget savings.

INTEGRATION Minister Conor Lenihan recently introduced a new twist to the immigration debate.

I REFER to the suggestions by Richard Greene of Cóir (June 19) towards solving the Lisbon Treaty situation.

MUCH has been made of Bertie Ahern’s Northern Ireland contribution, and who would not welcome that?

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.

SO Kieran McCarthy (Letters, December 27) wishes to see the deportation of Áine Ni Chonaill for daring to raise the immigration issue (Letters, December 13).

IN relation to Áine Ní Chonaill’s letter on Chinese immigration (December 13), I too would like to have received a Christmas present from Justice Minister Brian Lenihan.

I WONDER sometimes why anti-immigration groups exist in Ireland.

IN her news analysis feature headlined ‘Barriers to Fortune’ (November 28), Áilín Quinlan caused many of us surprise by claiming the Chinese population in Ireland now is approximately 50,000.

WELL done to former Labour Party leader Dick Spring, the first public figure to admit the immigration debate is primarily about numbers.

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

SINCE the French riots began, the media have been full of warnings on the possibility of such a situation happening here in Ireland in the future if we don’t “get it right.”

IT was very heartening to see (Irish Examiner, July 15) that David Begg of ICTU has joined economic commentators like Garret FitzGerald and Moore McDowell in questioning the ‘mantra’ of maximisation of growth as opposed to optimisation of growth.

THE Government has said repeatedly that other than for special skills shortages, businesses should be able to recruit from within the EU, particularly since the accession of 10 new countries in May 2004.

ÁINE NÍ CHONAILL (Irish Examiner letters, June 14) argues that the Irish taxpayer is being abused by the likes of 20-year-old Nigerian Tude Ominiyi.

YOUR report (Irish Examiner, June 8) about the efforts of the 20-year-old Nigerian, Tude Ominiyi, to avoid deportation until after the Leaving Cert points up the abuse of Irish taxpayers by such people.

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.

TWO letter writers (Irish Examiner, November 1) do not want people deported who had applied for residency before January 2003 on the basis that they had had a child in Ireland.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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 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.