ONE RULE FOR ALL?

Last night as I lay dreaming.....ahh I felt a song coming on. But in my mind I have, in my time, imagined myself as the Irish heavyweight champion, and if I keep consuming cakes and chocolate at my current rate I easily make the weight, taking on Rocky (and I'm still younger than him) for the World title and defeating him to bring glory to my land.
But in order to prepare for the fight I need an easy warm up fight, an opponent I can easily beat. And my local advisors, PJ Bradley (SDLP) and Mick Murphy (SF) suggest I look at the US immigration department. They have been alerted to this potential adversary by their support for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), a body which is trying to get official status for the estimated 50,000 "undocumented" Irish living and working in the US. As these people do not have Green cards to work legally in the US they are unable to travel home as it would prove very difficult to re-enter again. As well as this inability to return home on holiday they also risk capture by the Immigration service and being deported, they cannot get social security numbers or a US driving licence. The Irish Government have weighed in also to help finance the ILIR campaign by donating monies to help their campaign of lobbying the US Government to look at the possibility of legalising the status of these individuals living in this twilight world.
So as I prepared to head into the ring with the US Immigration Service I felt very confident. After all my Irish heart was beating, wondering why any nation would deny any rights to my fellow countrymen. I was ready to batter this opponent to pieces. And yet......

As my mentors held up the ropes for me to enter the ring a strange feeling washed over me. What if I was standing in the Immigration's shoes. What if every nation that has illegal immigrants living here, either in the UK or Ireland, were to say to me please legalise their status and allow them to live here without threat of deportation would I be so understanding? As I looked into my heart I would have to say that the answer would be no. Here in the Newry area I have seen the very positive, under rated and under appreciated, efforts of members of the Polish and Lithuanian community have made to the economic success and growth of the community at large in the last few years. There is no doubt that some companies would not have grown (maybe some not have survived) without this available workforce from Eastern Europe. I would also hope that some will put down roots here long term as cultural diversity is very welcome in a growing region.

And yet I am mindful of the fact that when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU restrictions were placed on the ability of its citizens to take up work here. Immigration should probably be limited to that necessary to allow the economic growth of a country. I do not think that any country should have totally unrestricted immigration, as I think that would allow an underworld of exploitation to develop and grow. So while of course I feel sympathy for the plight of the illegal Irish in the US, I have to recognise the right of the US, as well as the UK, Ireland or any other country to have rules re the access of people to their country looking for work.
So as the bell rang my opponent landed the knock out blow and I had no fight to offer.
As I hit the floor I saw stars (and stripes maybe!!!!) - terrible pun (could not resist)

Peace Dividend for South Down?

As the countdown towards the re-introduction of devolved Government on May 8th. seems to be progressing smoothly you do have to wonder what the benefit to South Down will be if, as expected, we end up with two ministers in the NI government. With Catriona Ruane likely to be Education minister and Margaret Ritchie as Social Development minister both will be anxious to enhance their profiles ahead of the next Westminster election of 2009 as it seems likely that they will go head to head for Eddie McGrady's seat.
While the ministry's may not have the scope of a regional development or employment to show their generosity to the region I am sure that both will be using their new positions to show their commitment to the area. There may be more pressure on the SDLP to be seen to be delivering as Ruane topped the poll in the Assembly election (even though SDLP still had a slightly higher total first preference vote)and I think that the expected promotion of Ritchie to office is an attempt by the SDLP to hold South Down in the 2009 election. Whatever the future of South Belfast the SDLP probably feel that they can hold Foyle again so South Down may be seen as its last stand to retain a position of power in the south of the country after the loss of Newry and Armagh to Conor Murphy.