The Kettle's Boyled: Low standards in public office 

Colm Brophy is the proverbial safe pair of hands, a good choice for the role of Minister of State with responsibility for Migration in the current government. That job is seen as a political hot potato with the potential for a dose of runaway populism, trying to keep everybody happy while also managing to meet our obligations under all the international laws and charters that apply to this minefield. He has handled it well so far.

Minister Brophy has introduced proposed changes to existing protocols where immigrants seek to become citizens, and it is hard to argue with his logic. Applicants will have had to live here for eight years instead of five before being considered, and will have to prove financial self-sufficiency without depending on social welfare. 

While most already meet the self-sufficiency criteria, that will shut up the often loud voices that claim otherwise.

Another proposed step to citizenship will be a requirement to be proficient in English. It’s not our national language, but it is the language most of us use every day. Setting the bar higher, as with a requirement for fluent Irish for instance, would be unfair and might discourage the immigrants we need to do the jobs Irish people won’t do or aren’t qualified to do.

Naturally the new proposals will include the need to have a clean record with no criminal history. Even so-called ‘spent’ convictions, sometimes ignored once a certain period has passed even if a prison term has been served, will be taken into account. If somebody has committed crimes in the past they can’t become citizens.

In fairness, we set similar standards elsewhere for jobs involving any kind of responsibility. Nobody with a criminal past can get a job as a teacher or a caregiver of any kind. If you’re a convicted fraudster, a bank won’t let you clean their toilets, with justification.

You won’t get a job as a Garda if you have a record of criminality or association with known criminals. Gardai have to enforce the law, and a criminal background would make that impossible. And clearly a judge with a criminal past couldn’t be allowed preside over our courts. I don’t think anybody would argue with the need for any of those safeguards.

But what about the people who make the laws, our elected politicians? What safeguards apply to them? Are they Garda vetted, and if somebody has served a couple of years for violent crime or fraud, surely they can’t run for public office? Wouldn’t that make a joke of all the other safeguards around hiring people in other responsible jobs?

But of course they can. Any criminal can get elected to the Dail or to a local authority, where they can spend our money any way they like. Maybe there’s a bigger job there for this government once they finish setting standards for our newest citizens?