Sir, - As reported in your edition of June 28th, at the NGO Forum on Human Rights in Dublin the Minister of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Mr Chris Flood, expressed the Government's embarrassment at failing to ratify the UN Convention against torture or the convention for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. To date we have no concrete research on refugees/asylum-seekers living here who may have been torture victims. However, it is agreed that there are an increasing number of refugees/asylum seekers who have been tortured and abused.
Farmleigh House could be put to good use as a national centre for post traumatic stress disorder to treat all victims of violence and torture. This includes offering a service to those in Northern Ireland whose lives have been shattered by paramilitary violence.
Let us as a small nation play our part in a constructive way in the field of human rights and act rather than just talk. - Yours, etc., Rosaleen Maguire, Irish Association of Social Workers,
Pearse Street, Dublin 2.