A grubby term that demeans immigrants

SHORTLY before leaving office, Bertie Ahern spoke about our relationship with our immigrant population as one of the definitive challenges ahead of us.

This sparked much discussion on employment and social policy, particularly on the relative merits of the integration and assimilation models. I would strongly suggest we rid ourselves of that appalling term “non-national” before we do any more fancy talking.

Firstly because it’s a nonsense phrase — everybody is a national of some country, for God’s sake — and secondly because it’s a shabby and demeaning little epithet.