Another great siege (1)

1565, 1940-43 and now we have 2006 as hundreds of illegal immigrants land on our shores. Is it not enough that we have to work hard for a lifetime, pay taxes and try to retire in a peaceful, quiet environment on a pension that just about sees us though our old age?

Now we have been invaded by ungrateful immigrants who come to this tiny land of ours and take the law into their own hands without a thought for those who have saved them from the seas around our island and expect to be given the freedom of our island.

They do not give a thought for the hardworking members of the police and armed forces who at all times of the day and night, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter, have to bring them ashore. They hand them over to the Health Division and immigration department who then have their own problems to face. Malta feeds them, clothes them. The next thing we will hear is that these immigrants will want one of them to be elected a Member in our Parliament.

While we hear that the EU is "going to help", this dangerous situation continues to exist and worsen. In the meantime I suggest the EU can take immediate positive action by chartering a passenger liner on Malta's behalf and anchoring it in Maltese territorial waters. The government would be able to keep all the immigrants on board from where they could live in comparative comfort and be processed and sent on to the countries which will take them.

I believe the Australian government some years ago did this and my suggestion might provide an immediate solution to our problem also.