Female genital mutilation: Non-negotiable opposition

A married couple convicted of the female genital mutilation (FGM) of their one-year-old daughter, in Dublin in 2016, were yesterday jailed for five and a half years — the toddler’s father — and four years and nine months.

The couple, aged 37 and 27, have three children and this was the first Irish case of its kind.

Immigration is one of the issues of our time and one we must better manage and accept.

Looking away is no longer an option.

The hope is that immigrants or refugees recognise the need to compromise to assimilate into a society that might have very different values and traditions to the one in which they were born.

FGM is a red-button issue in that relationship-building.

It is a barbarism lingering from the Dark Ages and is generally illegal in the West.

Despite that, it is believed the practice persists in some immigrant communities, especially those from East Africa.

The rite, which the court heard is not a religious obligation and is not a principal of the Muslim faith, is an affront to values and protections centuries in the making.

Those who choose to come to live and work here should not confuse any welcome they get with even a tacit endorsement of this misogynistic savagery.

FGM is unacceptable in any situation and the new Irish must accept that it is, and always will be, non-negotiable.