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Questions on integration
"We asked for workers and we got people instead," said the late Swiss writer Max Frisch of the German guest worker programmes of the 1960s. For all the lessons learned since then, the aphorism - capturing the absurdity of viewing immigrants purely as economic agents who will one day return home - has present-day resonance. Like the Turks and Yugoslavs who came to turn the wheels of Germany's postwar economic resurgence, Ireland's immigrants have been vital to our prosperity. They fill gaps in local knowledge and take the jobs that many Irish people shun. Just as importantly, their presence introduces wealth of another kind, by bringing new cultures, languages, religions and experiences. p
Pension problems
French public sector workers went on strike last Friday in protest at President Sarkozy's plan to change rules which allow some transport and energy workers to retire at 50 on full pension. Not surprisingly, the Irish Government's own Green paper on pensions - published a few days earlier - produced no such violent public reaction. The document contained no proposals but instead included a broad range of policy options to stimulate discussion. The Green paper may later lead to a White paper before the Government finally decides how to proceed. But that may be some years away. p
Opinion
Hearing only pious cliches
On the announcement that he is to become a cardinal, one of the first things Archbishop Seán Brady said was that there was a necessity to put an end to the idea that Catholicism is "a collection of prohibitions". I had a sense of hearing something new followed by something I had heard many times before, writes John Waters . pHead 2 Head
Is Shell's Corrib Gas project good for the local community? YES - Pádraig Cosgrove says the project is bringing back life to Erris villages long drained of people and jobs. NO - Maura Harrington says local benefits are exaggerated and far outweighed by the costs to the environment and democracy p
An Irishman's Diary
Next weekend, for the fifth time, I will be attending the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School in Athy, Co Kildare. I wonder what EHS himself - the H stands for Henry - would have thought about the get-up in the town at this time of year, with flags flying and banners across the front of the castle - and now a permanent exhibition dedicated to him in the Heritage Centre, asks Arthur Dunne . p
