THERE has been considerable media coverage recently about the behaviour of immigration officers towards foreign nationals at Dublin airport, in particular the extremely disturbing treatment of Rev John Achebe.

THE Department of Justice said the new prison complex in north Dublin would “absolutely” not be used to detain asylum seekers applying for refugee status.

THE Refugee Appeals Tribunal is to maintain its policy of secrecy around the way it handles cases despite internal disagreement over the way it has operated.

ONE in 10 refugees coming to Ireland have already tried to seek asylum in another European country.

IT would be hypocritical for the Government to seek to detain people just because of their nationality after identifying with those annihilated by Nazi Germany, an asylum seeker claimed yesterday.

Applications by asylum seekers to live in Ireland have dropped to the lowest level in ten years, the Government said today.

WIDE-RANGING reforms to the asylum and refugee procedures have been proposed by the European Commission.

Political parties are being urged to prioritise the elimination of poverty in the next government.

Farmers are one of the most deprived groups in Irish society, statistics released today reveal.

AT the start of this month, the Central Statistics Office reported again that Ireland is one of those EU states with the highest numbers ‘at risk of poverty’ (below 60% of median income) and one of the lowest levels of social spending.

DESPITE the unprecedented wealth of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon — now a dim and distant memory as industry declines and thousands of jobs are lost — the stark reality is that poverty remains a dark blot on the conscience of society.

Anti-poverty campaigners have slammed the Government's policies on tackling poverty as a "catalogue of missed targets and opportunities".

YOUR report headlined ‘Ireland warned property slump looming’ only tells part of the story (Irish Examiner, August 8).

I WISH to congratulate Pat Brosnan for highlighting the poverty hidden behind the mask of the Celtic Tiger (Irish Examiner, August 31).

THE EU Directive on the Internal Market in Services could be one of the most important EU decisions for some time.

IRELAND’S commitment to the world’s poor has long been a source of national pride and international respect.

THE most depressing thing the annual UN human development report tells us is not that, yet again, Ireland is the second richest country in the EU and that it still has the highest poverty rate. We know this from other studies.