HARSH treatment by the Home Office of republican prisoners in British jails is destabilising the peace process, a group of Fine Gael politicians has claimed.
The TDs spoke of loss of weight and extreme tiredness among prisoners they visited and said all those held in secure units complain of sleep deprivation, barely adequate food and erratic heating.
At the launch of a report yesterday by the delegation, which has visited republican prisoners in Britain, the Laois Offaly TD, Mr Charles Flanagan, called on the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste to ensure the prisoners issue was kept high on the Anglo Irish political agenda.
The Fine Gael delegation - which involves Mr Flanagan, Ms Mary Flaherty TD and Senator Dan Neville - also confirmed that sanction is expected to be granted next week by the Minister for Justice, Ms Owen, for the repatriation of four republican prisoners from British jails. A fifth prisoner, Patrick Kelly, who is suffering from skin cancer, is to be cleared by the Justice Department for a transfer to the Republic from the North.
But the delegation said the Home Office had agreed no deadline on when prisoners would be allowed out of British jurisdiction.
In a highly critical report on the conditions prevailing for republican prisoners in British jails, the delegation said it had noted "a marked deterioration" in the special secure units since their last visit.
"The ongoing punitive treatment of Irish republican prisoners calls into serious question the sincerity of UK government statements which asserted publicly almost 18 months ago that, in a ceasefire situation, the British response would be generous and imaginative."
It insisted that review, repatriation and recategorisation remained fundamental to advancing the peace process. All republican prisoners should be recategorised in Britain, particularly inmates of Belmarsh jail, which has closed visits.
Of the 52,000 strong prison population in Britain, 11 inmates are regarded as "exceptionally high risk category A". Five of these are republican prisoners and are held in special secure units in Belmarsh awaiting trial for attempting to escape.
"Since our last visit we have noted a marked deterioration in the condition of those held in special secure units. We noticed a loss of weight, extreme tiredness and all of those still held in these units complain of steep deprivation, barely adequate food and erratic heating. Their treatment is both cruel and inhumane," the report says.
The delegation blamed the attitude of the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, for the severity of the prison regime.