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THE PARISH PRIEST of Portlaoise is set to do defy a “ban” placed on him from visiting a a direct provision centre in Co Laois tomorrow.
The Sunday Times reports this morning that Monsignor John Byrne received a phonecall from the owner of the Montague hotel direct provision centre telling him not to go ahead with a planned visit.
Byrne has been invited to attend the centre by Equality Minister Aodháin Ó Ríordáin who is visiting the centre along with local Senator John Whelan tomorrow.
It’s reported that Byrne was told not to visit the centre because staff were upset at comments he made comparing the direct provision system to an open prison.
But speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics this afternoon, Ó Ríordáin said that Byrne will be joining him on the visit, adding it would be a “brave member of staff” who stops him.
“He will (be attending) and he’ll be getting in because he’s going as my guest,” said the junior minister. “I’m very impressed with Monsignor John Byrne’s comments about direct provision and I think he’s spoken as a man of compassion. He has spoken about the entirety of the system, not just this direct provision centre.”
Myself and Senator John Whelan are going to the centre tomorrow, he’s going as my guest and it’ll be a very brave member of staff who stands in his way because he’s there with me as Minister for State in the Department of Justice.
Ó Ríordáin and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald have established a working group that will report to the government and recommend changes to the the direct provision accommodation system.
The system, which places curfews on asylum seekers, doesn’t allow them the right to work has been criticised by human rights organisations.
Last week, the High Court ruled that the direct provision system did not breach the human rights of two asylum seekers in Galway
Ó Ríordáin has previously visited a number of different centres and has made a commitment to reform of the system.
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Usually in an economic crisis countries resort to economic protectionism and barriers to free trade. Thankfully we’ve learned from the past and are instead seeing free trade as one of the many routes to recovery. Fair play to Obama, ain’t no way in hell Mitt Romney would have touched this idea.
Let’s hope we can use our presidency to advance these talks. We’ve everything to gain in the way of foreign direct investment and jobs.
the federal reserve runs america not the president so it wouldnt have made a difference whether its obama or romney.
If you want to learn from the past, maybe you should take a look at the mess that NAFTA made of the Mexican economy.
@limofax nafta also destroyed the US economy as mexican truck drivers undercut americans.US companies now outsource manufacturing to mexico as its cheaper & pay no import duties on goods.free trade is all about the big boys maximising profits.its the little guy that suffers with job losses.
The damage to Mexican farmers is down to US subsidies to the corn industry, not to the free trade policy itself.
and overall NAFTA has been of benefit to the Mexican economy.
Wrong on both counts. You need to Google it a bit harder than that.
Mexico’s economy is booming. GDP growth of 4% last year and rising.
Another step towards a one world government ? US, Canada & Mexico linked in the AMERO & Europe linked in the Euro & now the US & Europe will be linked so when the next crisis happens the talks will be about lets link the Euro & AMERO to create jobs & growth ? ? ! !
The ‘invisible hand’ as introduced by Adams into Economics will be used to line more pockets for the rich from the hard work of the middle and lower classes.
Can you imagine if people made these comments when free trade in the EU was first proposed?
Thank God TheJournal wasn’t around back then, Europe would still be at war.
Oh I contradicted your faith in greed just as I’m contradicting your belief in supernatural superstitions now. This god of your was created as another control mechanism for the workforce. A better life in the next one. Don’t make me laugh :)
I don’t think David that there is anything wrong with being very cautious about any new agreements. However, blind optimism is just plain stupid. A deal will only be a good deal if its a great deal for our citizens. Anything which would further drive down wages or allow multinationals to lay waste to our SME sector or independent retailers would be a disaster.
Well look, you go close the borders while I get my coat.
There’s no future in this country without free trade.
They once told us a country couldn’t survive without free trade in men, women and children of the same skin colour as the lad in the pic. Don’t take everything you learn in Trinners as a student mate as gospel mate. Been there. Done that ;)
I never mentioned closing the borders. I was talking about a good deal for our citizens. David, you could save yourself and FG any further daily embarrassment by not commenting on anything at all. I’d nearly believe that the reason FF polled higher than FG on Monday is down to your mutterings on here. If you’re the future of FG, then we all need to get our coats. Gullibility is not something to shout about.
Oh he’s a blueshirt. They’ve always been all about expansion. I should have known better and realised his was a party political broadcast.
Watch the US government pushing GM sh1t on Europe with Monsanto nudging them along. They’ve screwed up farming and food over there. Soon you’ll hear how GMO will help our agri industry prosper…. NO NO NO!!!!!!
Free trade will benefit the whole world. This is great news.
American’s eat GM food with no adverse effects to their health or environment. I would like to have the option of buying cheaper food. What if there’s a global famine in 50 years or so. I want food security for our grandchildren’s generation. Let the anti GM people starve and gather wild berries. The rest of us can eat crops.
Is that why the EU has banned some of Monsanto chemicals because it stops bees from collecting pollen & is killing them off ?
Have you not seen the studies on the rats that eat only Monsanto sprayed chemical food ?
Food security ? Tell the EU to stop putting a cap on what can be used, like their law trying to make bananas more straight or odd shaped fruit being banned ?
Be prepared to see SOPA or ACTA like proposals being made core parts of this agreement. They have done it before with Canada.
Roll on the NWO
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