Sir - I welcome the response by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Opinion, December 11th) to my article on the Refugee Act (Opinion, November 20th) but his piece was misleading and factually incorrect.
The Minister disputes my view that asylum seekers who possess forged identity documents (as international law entitles them to in order to flee oppressive regimes) could be detained, saying that the example I posit "could not possibly result in detention" once "reasonable cause" is shown.
How is "reasonable cause" determined? In fact, it is left to gardai or immigration officers to decide. To go by their judgment last month in the case of the seven Pakistani businessmen, who clearly possessed valid visas for Ireland but were nevertheless locked up in Mountjoy, my interpretation of the Refugee Act was anything but "fanciful".
The Minister's assertion that the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees does not address the rights of asylum seekers but "only addresses the rights of refugees" is astonishing. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees clearly states that a person is a refugee, and therefore covered by the Convention, as soon as s/he flees a country because of persecution, or fear thereof. Does Mr O'Donoghue not know this most basic fact?
Mr O'Donoghue also criticises me for saying that asylum seekers must correspond with the Department of Justice by registered post. He should read the information leaflet on the Refugee Act, written by his own Department, which explicitly stipulates this requirement.
The Minister's article reveals a disturbingly weak grasp of refugee law and the work of his own Department. I would be happy to forward Amnesty's new user-friendly guide to refugee law - which might be of use. - Yours, etc.,
Ursula Fraser, Refugee Officer, Amnesty International, 48 Fleet Street, Dublin 2