Madam, – Jamie Smyth is to be congratulated for highlighting the dreadful treatment being meted out by the Government to asylum seekers in Mosney and elsewhere in this jurisdiction (Front page and Home News, July 3rd).
It is bad enough that these most vulnerable of people must put their lives on hold for up to seven years while the Department of Justice decides their fate, but to herd them around like cattle from one holding pen to another is an outrage. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and his officials should hang their heads in shame.
The direct provision system of looking after asylum seekers is a shambles that should and could have been sorted out years ago if the political will had been there. I call on the Minister, even at this very late stage, to leave the 150 asylum seekers affected by this latest move where they are. He should address the situation of all such people with the urgency and respect which they deserve – and which should be theirs as of right.
These are people, not mere numbers to be pushed around to make the Minister’s accounting look good. – Yours, etc,