Maghaberry Prison Talks In Disarray

Talks aimed at resolving a protest by republican prisoners at a high security Co Antrim prison are failing. The dispute concerns Maghaberry prison conditions and discussions were this week said to "have collapsed".

However, Sinn Féin north Belfast MLA and Justice Committee member Carál Ní Chuilín has since restated the party's position that with the "necessary political will" the issues involving prisoners in Roe House can be resolved.

"Over the course of recent weeks a number of Sinn Féin representatives have visited prisoners in Maghaberry.

"We are actively seeking a resolution to the issues in the jail. It is important that prisoners' rights are protected," she insisted.

Also, party President, Gerry Adams has raised the issue directly with NI Justice Minister, David Ford and the MLA said she has also met with relatives of prisoners affected by the current regime in the prison.

"We are currently involved in an ongoing engagement with the Justice Department as we seek to ensure a speedy resolution of the problems in Maghaberry.

"It remains our view that with the right political will the outstanding issues can be resolved and a humane regime can quickly be put in place.

"People being held in prison have the right to be treated with respect and dignity," she concluded.

The prisoners have said the protest was over issues including strip-searching and restricted movement with discussions ongoing for a month.

Mediators are now expected to try to resurrect the discussions in meetings with both the Prison Service and Justice Minister David Ford over the 25 prisoners in the republican wing at Maghaberry.

They have spent 23 hours a day locked in their cells since a protest at Maghaberry on Easter Sunday, when they barricaded themselves into the prison canteen, and smashed toilets in their cells.

Earlier this year a protracted prison hunger protest by a dissident republican ended after talks, with a secretive transfer of the man involved into the republican wing.

Liam Hannaway - who is a relative of Gerry Adams - was quietly moved into the mainstream prison at the high security prison.

He was previously being held in a vulnerable prisoners' unit for his own protection - rather than on a wing with other dissidents as the prison authorities believed his life would be in danger if he were moved to the republican wing.

After weeks without food, a Prisons Press and Communications Unit spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that Mr Hannaway is now being located in the general prison population."

See: Republican Hunger Striker 'Rewarded'

(BMcC/GK)