LETTERS - The Irish News online - Repatriate Noel Maguire |
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http://www.irishnews.com/articles/540/576/2009/1/22/608230_369943731901I8217m.html You are > Home > Repatriate Noel Maguire LETTERS - The Irish News online Wednesday, December 17, 2008 Repatriate Noel Maguire FOR seven years now, Irishman Noel Maguire has been interned nearly forgotten, in a series of British jails; held on a 22-year sentence on political charges based on evidence that the prosecution at the time called unconvincing. Mr. Maguire holds a now-expired Irish passport and has two young children living in Carlow yet the Irish Government refuses to allow him repatriation to serve his sentence in his home country. In addition, Mr. Maguire has a learning disability that has made it difficult for him to correspond with outsiders who might be in a position to assist him. Shamefully, Irish Justice, Equality and Law Reform Minister Dermot Ahern has just overturned a FIFTH application by Noel Maguire to be repatriated to Ireland, the country of his birth, to serve the remainder of his 22-year sentence where he could be closer to the children he hasn't seen in nine years. Request for repatriation to a jail in the land of one’s citizenship is a right to all prisoners arrested abroad, under the EU Human Rights Convention. The Irish Freedom Committee charges here forth that the dismissive attitude that Minister Ahern and the Irish Government have taken in Mr Maguire's case for repatriation, is grounded solidly in an unspoken bias toward Mr Maguire's well-publicised learning disability. One would have to wonder why all four of Mr Maguire's co-accused have long since been repatriated, or transferred, to the jail closest to their home in Ireland; all but Mr Maguire. We call on Minister Ahern to answer for this increasingly apparent and dismissive bias toward a handicapped prisoner and a citizen of the country. Since Mr Maguire cannot speak for himself, we will. We request the repatriation of Noel Maguire by Christmas to be near his family. Eight years are too long. No sensible or logical reason has been presented why this Irish citizen and father of Irish children cannot be repatriated to serve the remainder of his sentence closer to where his children live in Ireland. Bearing in mind that this prisoner has a pronounced learning disability, one can only wonder why this poor man and his family are being forgotten. Shame on Justice Minister Dermot Ahern. Deirdre Fennessy, Secretary, The Irish Freedom Committee Via e-mail (Google cache of orig article here)
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