Housing asylum-seekers in prison `immoral'

The Church of Ireland primate, Dr Robin Eames, has described as "immoral" and "a total injustice" the conditions in which asylum-seekers were being detained at Magilligan prison in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Belfast yesterday, during a debate on the Role of the Church Committee report, he applauded the "pioneering leadership" given on the asylum issue by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey.

But he said he didn't want the synod to think the issue was confined to the Republic. While the number of asylum-seekers in Northern Ireland was relatively small, there were "the seeds of a major problem".

He and the other church leaders had twice visited the asylum-seekers detained at Magilligan who, he said, were kept there in close contact with people convicted on serious charges. He was "totally dissatisfied with the conditions".

He queried the situation with the British government which responded that what he described was correct, but the reason Magilligan was being used was that there was no other suitable accommodation. He described the letter, "if correct", as "a total shame".

Addressing the issue of scandals in public life in the Republic, Dr Kenneth Milne, proposing the Role of the Church Committee report, said he was deeply concerned at the possible damage to institutions being caused by corruption. He was concerned in particular at the damage it might do to the credibility of the institutions. Mr Wilf Deverell, from the Meath and Kildare diocese, said he felt the church had to say it would not put up with what had gone on (in public life in the Republic). It was unbelievable, he said, that the public would be expected to accept that £50,000 had gone into someone's account and they did not know it.

He was applauded by synod representatives when he said anyone associated with scandal should not be allowed to stand for office at the next election. He hoped "the leader of the party" would listen to the synod on the matter. At the next election the public should do to such people what Jesus did when he cleared the moneylenders from the temple.

He wondered what would happen to such corrupt people and recalled a conversation he had on the matter. A friend had remarked that an ordinary decent criminal would be jailed for stealing a few pounds while not one of those corrupt people were in jail. "I wonder how many of them will go to jail?" he asked. "None" was the spontaneous chorus from representatives.