Challenge to sentence is on one ground only
The only case I am attempting to bring concerns the Belfast Agreement.
For three and a half years I have been trying to get a hearing in the High Court but the Dublin legal establishment has stopped the case being heard. The facts of this matter are clear:
(1) On October 12, 1995, the State asked me to sign a declaration stating that I supported the peace process. I did so.
(2). The peace process led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998. The people, north and south, voted for the agreement.
(3) Under the agreement, the Irish Government undertook to put in place a mechanism to release prisoners convicted of offences similar to scheduled offences in Northern Ireland. This mechanism was supposed to protect prisoners' rights under national and international law and the review of cases was to be completed in two years that was in 2000.
(4) As I clearly came under the provisions of the agreement, I tried to find out how this mechanism worked. But unlike the case in Northern Ireland, the way prisoners were actually released in this State was a secretive and shadowy affair. The criteria and stated reasons for release kept changing; my case was not even considered within the two-year period.
(5) The Government has reneged on its commitments regarding prisoners under the agreement. It has also reneged on its undertaking about civil rights by not incorporating the European Convention into Irish law.
The Government has been aided and abetted in these manoeuvres by the Irish courts and legal profession who have brought a jesuitical touch to justifying the breaking of the agreement. But all these clever people are overlooking one fact: the peace process is a reciprocal process. Those who renege on their commitments will not enjoy the pace.
Colm O'Shea,
Portlaoise Prison,
Portlaoise,
Co Laois.
