A bit of humanity in Tynwald could address problems at home as well as abroad!

I just knew that there would be a raft of intolerant comments from some under this story about refugees. By the way is the title right have we taken in any refugees I didn’t think so.

Leaving aside the usual bigotry some people make a pertinent point with food banks etc proliferating are we in a position to offer a home to others albeit in this case a small number. Well in truth the fact we have food and fuel poverty is down to our own government's inability to react positively. The Island Howard Quayle and others tell us is a world leading community even if we have slipped down the global league table. It's only COMIN slavish addiction to Chamber of Commerce policies of meanness that ensure that people here are hungry or cold in winter.

We actually have the ability to solve both problems. We could accommodate a small number of refugees and address issues of deprivation a home if there was a political will but don’t hold your breath.

I wish Daphne Caine MHK well but am bound to say that I also sympathise with a view that rejects her idea not on the basis of bigotry but on the basis that government should first tackle the crisis at home.

Syria is a dreadful humanitarian disaster but in truth such refugee situations abound globally. In that part of the near east Palestinians have been refugees for 70 years and of course there are others like the Rohingya of Burma or indeed the Coptic christian community in Egypt that face horrible persecution. The list is endless.

I trust in addition to tabling questions Daphne is putting her hand in her own pocket?

As I remarked the other day I had a request from the Irish Red Cross last week as part of their ‘first responders’ appeal for Yemen and Bangladesh so I (not for the first time) dug deep. However I would imagine your average MHKs pocket is even deeper and better filled than mine! Perhaps at the end of the session Daphne should put the hat round her colleagues that would give us an idea of how much humanity there is in Tynwald and that's something we really need to find out for the sake of folk not just hundreds of miles away but also at home!

Here’s the link:

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=42867&headline=Why%20can%27t%20...

Bernard Moffatt