Book urges cancellation of Third World debt

The rights of people must take precedence over the rights of property, according to an Irish priest who has worked in the Philippines for 22 years.

The views of Father Sean McDonagh, a Columban missionary, are included in The Ethics of Debt `Forgiveness': Jewish, Christian and Muslim Perspectives on the Third World Debt Crisis, which was launched in Dublin last night. The book, a collection of papers derived from a public conference held in Dublin in January by the Irish School of Ecumenics, will be presented to leaders of the G8 countries at their annual meeting in Cologne later this month.

Contributions cover the arguments on debt cancellation and the biblical and religious sources of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which lobbies western governments to cancel Third World countries' "unpayable debt". Mr Iain Atack, a lecturer in the Irish School of Ecumenics, said more than 750,000 Irish people had signed the Jubilee 2000 petition. This will also be presented to the G8 leaders with petitions from other countries.

The book is published by the Irish School of Ecumenics and the Debt and Development Coalition, and was launched by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Joe Doyle, and the presenter of RTE's Worlds Apart programme, Mr Rodney Rice.