Ireland’s human rights - State has neglected its duty of care

Ireland appears before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva today. A report was issued yesterday on human rights conditions in this country.

It was compiled by the Irish Council on Civil Liberties (ICCL), the Free Legal Advice Centre, and the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

The report is particularly critical of conditions in our prisons, especially overcrowding and poor sanitation. Occupancy of Irish jails currently runs at 122%.

It was ironic that the report was published the day the Taoiseach was in France celebrating Bastille Day, which commemorates the liberation of prisoners from the notorious Paris jail in the French Revolution.

Ironically this was just days after the riot in Mountjoy jail.

A spokesman for the ICCL declared on RTÉ yesterday that prisoners are essentially being housed in lavatories. Not only are the conditions unhealthy, they are also unsafe because prisoners are at risk of violence from other prisoners. It is not possible to ensure their protection from harm under current conditions.

There is a responsibility of care on behalf of the state, which should ensure that prisoners are housed in safety. But prison authorities are frequently unable to provide that protection as so many in jail are mentally ill.

We have been closing mental hospitals and releasing people back into the community. Much of the burden is being placed on families in dealing with mental illness, because the proper support mechanisms have not been implemented.

Parents and other family members are saddled with the difficulties of tending to loved ones with mental health problems. The latter pose a danger not only to themselves and their families but to society in general.

To protect society many are sent to jail, where they are a danger to other prisoners. Earlier this month a prison report disclosed that 65% of female prisoners and 35% of male prisoners have suffered from mental illness at some stage of their lives.

Mentally ill people who should be in secure care are being jailed, while criminals are often freed as there is no room for them in jails. The manner in which the problem is being handled is itself administrative lunacy.

The issue of extraordinary rendition, whereby the United States has been kidnapping people and jailing them without due process, is again in the news, because this country has been cravenly facilitating the US at Shannon Airport without question.

According to the report published yesterday, Shannon Airport was used to refuel a plane engaged in such extraordinary rendition. Henceforth all flights landing there should be subject to random inspections.

The Americans like to portray their country as the land of the free, but their human rights record has some serious blemishes. They treated native American Indians abominably and institutionalised slavery long after it was abandoned by the civilised world.

We should not facilitate extraordinary rendition in any way.