Ireland must own up to its cruel treatment of refugees

We criticise Donald Trump’s separation of migrant children from their parents at the Mexico-US border, yet 4,300 asylum-seekers languish in inhumane direct provision here, and with families split by deportation, says Caroline Forde

Family and children have long been valued aspects of Irish life. The sanctity of the family is enshrined in our Constitution. Though problematic in its conceptualisation of this unit as nuclear and heteronormative, the importance of being part of a loving family, whatever form it takes, cannot be denied.