A GROUP of Fianna Fail MEPs visiting Irish prisoners in two British prisons have called on the British government to speed up their repatriation or transfer to Northern Ireland.
After the visits, Mr Brendan Crowley MEP, Mr Niall Andrews MEP and Mr Pat Gallagher MEP said they were "a bit disappointed" by the slowness of British government to take up the cases of prisoners seeking repatriation or transfer and by the length of time it had taken the Irish and British governments to ratify the legislation.
The MEPs said yesterday they were concerned by the treatment of Irish prisoners which they regarded as "unique".
It is pretty rough. There is regular and continuous strip searching and it is unnecessary psychological torment. Those prisoners who have requested transfers or repatriation should be allowed to on the basis that many of them have contributed to the peace process. We will be raising the issue at a national and European level."
Mr Andrews, who is a member of the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament, said he and his colleagues would be preparing a report for the committee addressing the treatment of Irish prisoners in British prisons which would be published in the summer.
The MEPs met 17 Category A prisoners at Belmarsh Prison, including the "Whitemoor Five whose trial collapsed at Woolwich Crown Court last week. Mr Andrews said they had told him they were "anxious" for a full public inquiry to be held to investigate their escape from Whitemoor Prison in 1994.
Mr Andrews said the five men had described their treatment by prison officers when they were transferred to full Sutton Prison three months before their trial. During the three months, he said, "the men told me they were kept awake for long periods. The lights were kept on and they could not sleep."
Earlier the MEPs had visited Ms Roisin McAliskey, who is on remand at Holloway Women's Prison facing charges in connection with the IRA bombing of a British army barracks in Germany last year.
Ms McAliskey, who is six months pregnant, was "very frail", said Mr Gallagher. Mr Crowley insisted: "Roisin does not have full time access to medical attention at the prison. She should be transferred to Maghaberry Prison in the North, where it would be provided.
"We spent an hour with her and we believe that while she is waiting for her trial she should be moved to Maghaberry. There is no need for Roisin to be a Category A prisoner. She is afraid and very emotionally upset by the whole thing. She has no communication with anybody."
It is also understood that Ms McAliskey is concerned for her safety in the prison.
Mr Crowley said he would also be raising Ms McAliskey's case with the German attorney general so that the German authorities would hear "the outcry over this treatment. I think the law may have been misinterpreted. If Germany doesn't extradite its own nationals it cannot claim to extradite the nationals of another country."
While the governor at Holloway Women's Prison was described as "very reasonable" and listened "with concern," the MEPs said they understood there was little a governor could do about their security status.
Mr Crowley said he had written to the Tanaiste, Mr Dick Spring, recently, urging him to raise the issue of Irish prisoners with the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew.
It was also suggested that pressure would be brought to bear on the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, to raise the prisoners issue with the British Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard.