Opposition play the immigrant card in a political race to the bottom

IT IS now open season on discussing immigration in our political system. Having been too retentive about the issue for too long, the pendulum has swung the other way.

However, there is a real risk that all restraint on the topic is being thrown aside in a political race to the bottom. What has been most disturbing is the way figures are recklessly thrown around or ratcheted up in the immigration debate. Both opposition parties have been guilty of this in recent weeks.

Early last month the Labour leader, Pat Rabbitte, in order to emphasise the risk of so-called displacement of Irish workers, spoke about how there are “40 million Poles after all”.