Refugee Crisis: Mealy-mouthed ministers shamed into belated action

ON THURSDAY evening, as he talked of “leadership” and how Ireland will accept “thousands [of migrants] over the coming months and years”, Environment Minister Alan Kelly was asked why it had taken a heartbreaking picture of a three-year-old boy lying dead on a beach for Government to act.

Labour’s deputy leader said “everyone is shocked at that image” and that “last night I couldn’t sleep, I’ve a three-year-old son”. But despite the “harrowing and upsetting” scenes, he insisted the sudden response to an issue that has been increasing day by day for a year “isn’t just a reaction” to the photograph and that cabinet has been doing all it can for months.

The comment was repeated hours earlier when Transport Minister Paschal Donohue responded to the same question by saying that while the image shows the “unbelievable anguish and terror” involved, Ireland has been doing everything it could.