Consul protests at treatment of Poles

The Polish consul in Ireland has protested informally to the Department of Justice after an incident on Sunday last, in which seven Polish citizens were refused permission to enter the State for a holiday and were detained in Mountjoy prison.

Mr Peter Longchamps said yesterday that the seven men were not given the opportunity to contact him as Polish consul, as is their right under article 36 of the Vienna Convention, to which Ireland is a signatory.

The consul has also protested to the Department that Mountjoy prison was not suitable as a designated "place of detention". He said he was particularly aggrieved that the Poles were required to wear prison uniform, while some had to sleep on the floor of their cells. They were kept for about 24 hours before being sent back to Warsaw.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties is also making a formal protest to the Department of Justice. A Polish woman who contacted The Irish Times yesterday said she and her Irish boyfriend had recommended Ireland as a holiday destination because of the men's interest in folklore and traditional music. An Irish resident had been waiting to greet the Poles at Dublin airport and contacted the woman in Warsaw when the men never emerged at Dublin Airport.

Two of the party had previously been refused admittance to Britain some years ago. A Garda spokesman said the decision to withhold access to the State was taken because of a "lack of funds" on the part of the group, the fact that some of them had been refused entry to the UK, "and deception, which means that somebody was not telling us the truth". The Polish embassy first heard of the incident from Warsaw, after the woman, who asked not to be named, made a complaint to the authorities there. "I was told by Warsaw and not by Dublin that there had been an incident and this is very unusual, "Mr Long champs said. He usually enjoyed good relations with immigration authorities, being called upon to translate and to verify passports.

"I can be useful to the authorities here. Apart from the Vienna Convention, I can make the immigration officers' lives easier, I really don't see why the men's request to see me was not fulfilled." He had used his contacts in the Department of Justice to make an informal complaint and a request for an explanation.

Mr Longchamps said it was important for immigration officers to realise that they were dealing with people who did not speak the language or who spoke it poorly.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice acknowledged that a complaint had been received but said the immigration officers concerned were members of the Garda.

A Garda spokesman, however, rejected the assertion that the seven men had been denied access to the consul. The spokesman said they had been allowed to make telephone calls. One had rung his wife in Warsaw while another has telephoned another woman there, the Garda spokesman insisted.