The week-long hunger strike by 41 Afghan asylum seekers has revealed Ireland's immigration policy to be one of the fairest and most transparent in Europe, the Minister for Justice has said. Conor Lally reports.
Michael McDowell made his comments after the asylum seekers said on Saturday night they would offer
no resistance if gardaí entered St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, to remove them seven days into their hunger strike.
The Minister said the stand-off had drawn public attention to many aspects of our immigration regime.
"Probably the most important one is that the United Nations high commissioner's representative in Ireland and his predecessor have both pointed to the fact that the Irish system is one of the best in Europe and that it's a good and fair one and that it's transparent, that it's subject to judicial review."
Any concessions made to the men may have led to further protests,as had been the case in Belgium.
The protest had not been "simply spontaneous". The men had been assisted by people outside the cathedral.
On Saturday afternoon, Church of Ireland authorities had negotiated a deal with the Afghans. It involved all of them leaving the cathedral and attending a meeting with officials from the Department of Justice to discuss their cases. The Afghans were to be permitted to bring human rights observers of their choice to the meeting.
However, the department rejected the deal. It instructed the church authorities to desist from negotiating with the men and told them to allow gardaí to assume complete control of the situation.
By 9pm on Saturday it was clear the department's policy would bring about a peaceful end to the stand-off. Seven minors, who had been made wards of court following a Health Service Executive (HSE) application to the High Court on Friday, were taken away by ambulance.
The eighth minor who had been made a ward of court had slit his wrists with razor blades on Friday and had been taken for medical attention.
After the minors left, negotiations with the remaining men concluded quickly. They agreed with Garda negotiators, HSE and church staff that if gardaí came to remove them, they would not resist. They were taken away in small groups between 10pm and 11pm.
About 60 anti-racism protesters had gathered at St Patrick's Close, where Garda vans carrying the Afghans drove to and from the church. Some sat in the road in an effort to block the vans but were quickly cleared away by members of the Garda's public order unit. The protesters were engaged for long periods in verbal altercations with local youths who chanted racist slogans. A number of minor scuffles broke out.
By 11pm all of the Afghans had been brought to the Bridewell Garda station. Thirty-three of them, some of whom had threatened to hang themselves from a church balcony, were charged early yesterday morning at Dublin District Court in relation to forcible entry.
At about midnight, a small group of reporters was allowed to enter the cathedral. Aside from discarded empty water bottles and gardaí searching the building, there was no evidence of the events that had unfolded there during the previous seven days.