The Glenstal Ecumenical Conference 2004 has claimed that Ireland's legislation on asylum-seekers was "simply unworthy of us and should be repealed".
This was particularly so "against the background of the many thousands, even millions, of Irish people who were forced to emigrate over the years", the conference claimed.
A letter expressing the conference's "serious concerns" on the issue has been sent to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to coincide with World Human Rights Day on Friday next.
It is signed on behalf of the conference by the Abbot of Glenstal, Dom Christopher Dillon; the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh; and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, the Right Rev Michael Mayes.
It is the first time in its 41 years that the Glenstal Ecumenical Conference, which represents all major Christian denominations in Ireland as well as many of the smaller congregations, has made a public pronouncement.
The signatories criticised "the inordinate amount of time taken to process applications for refugee status". It was a matter of record, they said, that such applications "take two, three or even four years to process".
This, together with 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", they said.
Another area of concern was "the criminalisation of paid work during the application process".
It effectively declared all asylum-seekers had nothing to contribute to the economic well-being of the country.