Church body hits at State over refugees

A LEADING Church body yesterday launched an unprecedented attack on the Government’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

The Glenstal Christian Conference, whose members are drawn from all the major churches, said it felt compelled to go public for the first time in its 41-year history because of their serious concerns for the welfare of asylum seekers.

Three leading members of the conference, in an open letter to the Minister for Justice Micheal McDowell, said the current laws expose asylum seekers and refugees to increasing racism in Ireland.

The letter, signed on behalf of the Conference by the Abbot of Glenstal Christopher Dillon, Bishop of Killaloe Willie Walsh and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick Reverend Micheal Mayes, calls on the Government as a matter of urgency, justice and ordinary humanity, to address the matters they raise in their letter.

The Church leaders set out three areas of major concern:

The failure of the Department of Justice to ensure the safety of unsuccessful applicants forcefully deported back to the countries they fled from.

The inordinate length of time taken to process applicants for refugee status.

The criminalisation of paid work during the application process.

Adults and children, states the letter, are being imprisoned after repatriation and left to their fate.

The Church leaders state: “Applications for refugee status take two, three or even four years to process. This, together with processing procedures incomprehensible to all but fluent English speakers with legal knowledge, casts doubt in many minds on the standards of justice that this country claims to uphold.”

The three churchmen said that present legislation effectively declares all asylum seekers as having nothing to contribute to the social and economic well being of this country while they are here.

Asylum seekers, they say, are portrayed as no more than a nuisance, seen as jumping local authority housing queues, and causing a serious drain on the public purse.

“This exposes them to the risk of suffering at the hands of increasing racism in Ireland. It has also given succour to the belief that all of those who come to Ireland for shelter are not to be trusted and it has led to the growth of another form of criminal activity - the cynical employment and exploitation of cheap labour,” the Glenstal Conference leaders said.

Participants in the annual conference represent all the major and minor Christian denominations in Ireland.