Pricking Europe’s conscience - Refugee crisis

THE ongoing tragedy of a shocking refugee exodus of biblical proportions from war-torn countries, graphically illustrated by the heartrending front page picture of a drowned three-year-old boy on a Turkish beach, finally appears to be pricking Europe’s sleeping conscience.

Influenced in no small way by this symbol of the horrors of war and failure of governments to respond in a meaningful way to the plight of the thousands drowned in the Med, where members of the Irish navy are doing valiant work to combat evil traffickers, and thousands more are struggling to find a new life in the West, the latest estimate is that EU countries should prepare to take 100,000 refugees. There are welcome signs that the emphasis is shifting perceptibly from a blunt proposal to set a quota for each EU country and leave it at that towards a more enlightened approach by countries to take in more than the bare minimum.

While some people hold to the view that charity begins at home, influential members of the Catholic hierarchy believe refugees would be welcomed in many parishes. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin believes this country should act now rather than wait for quotas to be fixed. He found people were so moved by the picture of the dead children, they favour Ireland taking more than the agreed quota.