....And Then A Step to The Right

Enda Kenny argues that you can't argue with aspirations, then he declares Ireland is a Celtic and Christian Country - and leaves you to decide yourself whether it should be for a Celtic and Christian people. With no Ivor Callely to disrupt the governments media bandwagon as he did on budget day, Enda took a firm step to the right and brought immigration centre stage, or at least he tried to.

He may well be right up to a point. There really hasn't been much of a debate on this, but whether in the middle of an election campaign is the right time to do it, is another matter. Using immigration as a political football is not in anyones interests. Certainly d'ordinary people of Ireland, not just IBEC and the Equality Authority, should have the right to have their concerns heard - but in an election campaign, slogans as opposed to reasoned argument tend to hold sway.

Prior to the last election, all major parties signed up to a code of practice promising not to have a swipe at minorities. Methinks someone needs to dust that down again and remind Inda that although he may be right about the need for debate, now is not the time.