It’s time for a cultural shift - Immigration a permanent reality

AS EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg yesterday, the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean escalated.

Speaking at that meeting, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said Ireland would “play its part”, but EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, was more demanding.

She urged the EU engage more with the conflict in Libya, including possibly sending troops to the region if a government of national unity is formed. Most EU members, including Ireland, oppose this escalation and hope a political solution might prevail. Hopefully this optimism is justified though, as we have said before, it is hard to imagine that Islamic State might be convinced to take a softer line other than by the most forceful persuasion.

The current immigrant crisis is driven by war and a particularly savage form of religious zealatory but maybe it’s time Europe accepted immigration, which is, after all, nothing more than an individual’s determination not to live in squalor or under a tyrant, is a permanent reality rather than a recurring theme reaching an occasional crescendo.

It seems time to put in place the physical infrastructure needed to cope with a more or less permanent flow of immigrants. It may be more difficult, however, to drive the cultural change needed to embrace this prospect and so avert the conflict that seems inevitable if we we do little or nothing.