Work permit expiry a fact of life for migrants
Until the 1990s, Ireland had no direct experience of immigration and guest workers and the majority of the Irish public have been somewhat misled on the subject by articles such as this. A more appropriate headline would be 'Silent casualties of the EU expansion'.
The minority of Irish people who avail of such work permit systems elsewhere (for example, UAE and Saudi Arabia) watch with dismay as various pressure groups and correspondents lead an inexperienced general public in an attempt to sway opinion, generating a collective guilt complex that we are somehow responsible for "destroying this man's life" by "sending him home" when his work permit expires.
Having spent most of my career in foreign countries, I have experience in dealing with the realities of jobs coming to an end and work permits not being renewed. This is a simple fact of life for any citizen of any country accepting overseas work.
As the majority of the Irish public have experience of Britain and the US (prior to implementation of rigid visas) it is easy for pressure groups to assert that something is wrong with Irish legislation that "someone can be sent home"; a point made more ludicrous when we read headlines such as Romanian parents of an "Irish child" being deported as meaningless as Irish parents having a Saudi Arabian child or a Nigerian child.
Migrant workers generally come from poorer countries. However the disparity in standards of living between Ireland and their country of origin appears to be the only criterion taken into consideration by those seeking an open-door visa waiver policy and not the accepted criterion of threat to life.
Our confused legislation and pressured public are well-known throughout some regions, where organisations advise people on how to exploit the Irish system. There will always be pressure groups seeking changes in legislation and there will always be profiteers to push these cases, whether it be lawyers or journalists.
It is time for public opinion to be reflected more fairly rather than being continually driven by the agendas of fringe groups.
Michael Ashe
Szigony u10 IX/50
Budapest
Hungary
