A chara, - It is easy to criticise bishops. However, I think it would be a pity not to praise some of the bishops for their contribution to justice issues in recent weeks. Praise firstly to Bishop Willie Walsh (The Irish Times, December 24th) for his unfailing and practical solidarity with the Travelling people. Praise also to Bishop Edward Walsh for his utterly compassionate and challenging sermon at the Christmas Eve Mass from Mountjoy Prison broadcast on RTE television. Praise to the auxiliary bishop of Dublin, Fiachra O Ceallaigh, for his call for an amnesty for refugees in this State and to Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath for highlighting the facts that refugees in Ireland are being brutalised by those who should feel compassion for them and that the infant mortality rate for Travellers in Ireland is more than twice the national rate.
Is it too much to expect this kind of leadership from all authorities in this land? On the refugee issue I have almost no faith in the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and his Department. To me they show not hope but darkness, not generosity but the clenched fist of meanness. Given the lack of leadership on Mr O'Donoghue's part, it is not surprising that the harrowingly sad account in your Review '98 of the life of one Nigerian asylum-seeker came to be written.
As we pass through a year that will culminate in an orgy of ridiculous hype, our sense of justice, compassion and ordinary decency - our very humanity - will be judged by how we, the dominant majority population, treat refugees, Travellers and all those who are on the edge of our society. - Is mise, Sean O Riain,
Leopardstown Gardens, Blackrock, Co Dublin.