Sir, - Mr Ivor Callely's recent inflammatory speech came at the end of a shameful month in Ireland's human right's history. That such an outburst should be made by the chairman of the Eastern Health Board, which has statutory responsibility for 8,000 asylum-seekers, is extraordinary.
Mr Callely asserted that "misspending money on people who have no right to come and claim asylum in Ireland is wrong." According to the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its protocols - to which Ireland is party - every individual is entitled to claim asylum as a basic human right. Thus, to deny asylum-seekers access to the asylum process is to breach our international legal obligations.
When the doors of the "one-stop shop" in Mount Street closed earlier this month, people were prevented from exercising this fundamental human right. The Government has continually refused to mobilise sufficient resources despite obvious national and international trends.
Many legal practitioners in the field had reservations when the concept of the "one-stop shop" was proposed. Firstly, it was thought, overcrowding was inevitable, with too many services being placed under one roof. Secondly, and in our view more importantly, the asylum process must not just be fair but must be seen to be fair. It is to be expected that a building which houses the Department of Justice, the Eastern Health Board, the independent Legal Aid panel (until recently the UNHCR representative) and the Asylum Appeals authority is treated by many with some suspicion. The departure of the United Nations' representative to more suitable premises is to be commended.
We understand that additional plans are afoot to relocate sections of the EHB and we welcome this proposal. However, we believe that it is time for the whole concept of the "one-stop shop" to be reviewed and in particular that the Legal Aid Board be located elsewhere. In what amounts to an adversarial process, it is entirely unsatisfactory that the independent legal panel for asylum seekers shares many of its facilities with the Department of Justice. The integrity of the panel as an independent body is not in question, but we believe that the perception of its independence must be both enhanced and promoted.
We call on the Government to fulfil its obligations under international and national law in a just and equitable fashion. In this regard it might take inspiration from Mr John O'Donoghue's Dail speech in October 1995: "The status of refugees is an issue which should strike a chord with every man, woman and child here who has any grasp of Irish history, our history books being littered with the names and deeds of those driven from our country out of fear of persecution." - Yours, etc.,
Sarah Molloy, Lawyer's Refugee Association, Arran Quay, Dublin 7.