justice for mick kenny

petition to:
john o'donoghue (irish minister for justice)

sir

you are aware of the present plight of mick kenny as you have been all along since his arrest, the murder attempt on his life while arriving in portlaoise gaol on remand, the enquiry from the governor which concluded that no one was to be blamed, not even prison officers who had left their prisoner all alone on the landing on his arival in the jail, trial at the special criminal court where judges stated there was exculpatory evidence effectively agreeing that mick was innocent, however sentenced him to five years. you are also aware that mick was told that, and in order for him to move to mountjoy training unit, he would have to spend 4 to 6 weeks in wheatfield prison. i had written to his td seamus brennan at the time, mr brennan wrote to you, forwarded a copy of your reply to me which stated that you would be looking into 'this matter' namely a human being, my husband to be mick kenny. two weeks after your intervention, mick found his conditions of detention deteriorated. my brother in law sean kenny phoned wheatfield chaplain, sister anne, she told him that mick would not be moved out of wheatfield prison because it was your wish that he should remain there. you are also aware of the fact that mick was told that he could not be moved to the training unit because he was a politcial prisoner, then that he could not be moved back to portlaoise because he was not a political prisoner. you also know that mick and friend stefan breachneach have issued legal challenges against whetfield prison and the justice system holding them there as you are also aware of the fact that justice smith, the high court judge who, according to the irish constitution, had 30 days to let them know of his intent to act or not failed to reply within the due delays, hence equally broke the law himself. finally you know that mick and those who love him will carry on fighting on his behalf and along with him, until we can see a semblance of justice being done. the fact that his appeal should have been put back by at least a year gave much concern to those we spoke to, they then heard of more wrong doings which led some of those people to suggest an on line petition. the aim is to highlight mick's plea, the injustice surrounding his sentence and conditions, also to highlight the fact that in ireland, in 2001, prisoners' human and constitutional rights are still being abused, from bill of rights as per the united nations, european convention and indeed the irish constitution. last but not least to raise awareness to the fact that breaking the law as prison governors, a high court judge and indeed many other people do is perfectly acceptable in southern ireland. it only depends on who the person is, not what they have done.

we, the udnersigned believe that it is the minister for justice's role to correct our profound disbelief in irish justice. you can do this mr o'donoghue, you have the power to do so yourself. you can tell prison governors to treat mick kenny and indeed any other irish prisoners with dignity and fairness, not vindictiveness as too often demonstrated in mick's case. you can also tell us all why any article written about mick's plea was never published, and why the hunger strike that took place in portlaoise in july 2001 never became an item on the national news.

we are all waiting to see what you will do mr o'donoghue.