My blood is boiling after listening to the bunch of self-righteous horrors who called in to the Joe Duffy show this week. Not one of the self-satisfied callers - many of whom had been in the US themselves - had any sympathy for a man called Gareth who was deported from the US after 20 years.
They also seemed to have very little knowledge of the current visa situation - one woman was labouring under the illusion that there was an amnesty (yes, Philomena, there was, but it happened in the early 1980s long before the new Irish began going to the US.)
Some other man said that being an undocumented immigrant was like breaking into a person's house. Another man actually said he would advocate the death penalty if that's what the US wanted.
Thankfully, Celine Kennelly, the Executive Director of the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center, was at home for her sister's wedding and called in. If not for Celine, the whole show would have been taken over by those vicious people who called in.
Celine also nailed the myths that the undocumented Irish could have sorted themselves out by now. As Celine pointed out there is no way for people to do that. Celine also added that they are seeing more and more people coming through the centres - higher numbers than have been seen in recent years.
Click here to hear the show
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