On 5 November, Maynooth University published a report on specific issues and challenges experienced by Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs) in the Irish prison system, titled, National Prisoners and Irish Prisons: Evaluating the Need for a Dedicated Service.
Bishop Martin Hayes, the Bishops’ Conference Liaison Bishop to the Irish Prison Service, and Bishop Paul Dempsey, chair of the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) of the Bishops’ Conference (pictured above), expressed support for the report’s recommendations to establish a dedicated support service for FNPs, similar to that currently provided by the ICPO for Irish prisoners abroad.
Commenting on Foreign National Prisoners and Irish Prisons: Evaluating the Need for a Dedicated Service Bishop Hayes said, “I know well from my pastoral visits to our prisons around the country the amount time and effort invested in maintaining harmonious environments for the whole prison community. I have no hesitation in crediting civil servants, governors, staff, chaplains, the Irish Red Cross and prisoners themselves for creating this supportive and calm atmosphere within the Irish Prison Service.”
Bishop Dempsey said, “since 1985 the role of the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas has been to provide vital pastoral support to thousands of Irish people who have been incarcerated abroad, as well as to offer advice to their distraught families at home who suddenly find themselves in helpless circumstances. Our ICPO service offers essential assistance to Irish prisoners abroad who are incredibly isolated – physically, emotionally and psychologically. While our work goes unheralded, in a typical year it would involve providing over 9,000 letters, phone calls, emails and prison visits made to, from or on behalf of Irish citizens overseas, thus bearing real witness to the Gospel mission to love God and to love your neighbour.”
Visit CatholicBishops.ie to read the full text of Bishops Hayes and Dempsey’s statement. To read National Prisoners and Irish Prisons: Evaluating the Need for a Dedicated Service click here
ENDS