Irish soldiers should be put distributing Philippines aid

The UN has called for £190m aid for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

The British conservative MP Frank Ledwidge claims that since 2006 it has cost UK taxpayers £15m a day to keep British troops in Helmand province, in a war that has caused untold suffering for the people of Afghanistan, as well as 444 British troop deaths, 2,600 wounded, and more than 5,000 soldiers ‘psychologically injured’ since 2001.

So the cost of 13 days worth of British troops in Afghanistan would answer the UN’s humanitarian call to help the people of the Philippines.

The Irish Government should immediately redeploy the seven Irish soldiers serving under NATO command in Afghanistan and put them distributing aid in the Philippines.

Jim Roche,

PRO

Irish Anti War Movement

Dublin 1