Minister brings in new arrangements

After much criticism of the authorities about the treatment of the Moldovans the Minister for Justice, Mr O Donoghue, last night announced new arrangements to ensure it does not happen again.

He said that, at his request, the new arrangements would allow for the temporary admission to the State, where appropriate, of persons with visas obtained on the basis of validly issued work permits, but where the jobs in respect of which the permit was issued no longer exist. Such temporary admission "obviating the need for detention" would be based on an assessment of the person's prospect of obtaining legal employment.

The Minister said it should also be borne in mind "that work permits were granted to over 18,000 persons in the year 2000 and this is the only incident of this nature to have occurred."

Earlier the director general of the Irish Prisons Service defended the chaining of 19 Moldovan workers as they were taken from Mountjoy prison to court on Thursday. Mr Sean Aylward denied that the action of prison staff had "demonised" the men, saying the real demonisers were those who had published photographs of the event.

He also criticised the media for "emotively" describing the men as being in chains. The use of "long chains" to link handcuffs was introduced to protect prison staff, he said, after a series on incidents in 1996 and 1997 when officers handcuffed to prisoners suffered broken wrists during attempted escapes. The use of chains did not imply the prisoners were dangerous.

He added: "It is mistaken to suggest that we were demonising these unfortunate people. To suggest we were parading them through the streets to be photographed in this manner is completely unfair, when the fact is we are loath to facilitate any photographs of prisoners."

Mr Aylward said the publication of the photographs by some newspapers was part of a "lowering of standards generally". He also attributed media coverage of the event to the frustrations arising from the inability to record Mr Liam Lawlor TD entering or leaving prison.

The Irish Times did not publish the photographs in question. This was in keeping with a policy that pictures of handcuffed defendants are used only in the event of conviction.

Chris Dooley, South East Correspondent, adds: A comprehensive and transparent policy on immigration was called for yesterday by the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, who said lessons were not being learned from past mistakes.

It was "quite extraordinary" that people who arrived with valid passports and visas, and "from their point of view" valid work permits, should find themselves in jail, he said. The detention of the Moldovans showed

nothing had been learnt from a recent incident in which a group of Pakistani businessmen had been jailed.

Dr Comiskey questioned whether the Government wanted a policy on migrant workers. The bishop He was also sharply critical of the interventionist policy which has prevented asylum-seekers from arriving via the Cherbourg-Rosslare ferry route.

Dr Comiskey asked if trade unions were happy that members were effectively having to operate as immigration personnel under the new regime.

Staff of Irish Ferries have been advised by the Garda National Immigration Bureau not to allow on board passengers who have inadequate or false documentation.