Madam, - Ireland is properly judged by the manner in which we treat people at immigration control and in prison. We are all diminished by the treatment of a Nigerian visitor, Fr John Achebe, who arrived at Dublin Airport on Tuesday, September 9th. As your edition of September 13th reported, he was stopped by immigration officials, taken to Cloverhill prison, strip-searched in front of prison officials and placed in a cell for the night. According to my information, all his papers were in order and he was going to visit a relative in Limerick. All of this came to public attention because Fr Achebe is a priest with good connections.
It is atrocious to treat any human being in this fashion.
From the reported response of the immigration bureau to solicitor Gerry Cullen, it seems that this treatment is standard practice. Is this really what Ireland stands for and accepts, almost 90 years after independence? This violent event should alert us Irish citizens to pay much more attention to what State officials are doing in our name.
On a personal note, I lived and worked for many years in Nigeria. On several occasions I passed through Nigerian immigration control at Lagos airport. I was always treated with courtesy, often with a friendly greeting: "Welcome to Nigeria".
It seems that prosperous, self-confident Ireland has assimilated some of the worst habits of past colonial regimes. - Yours, etc.
Fr BREIFNE WALKER, Whitehall Road, Dublin 12.