It is our obligation to help these people and treat with dignity. But our country cannot be expected also to accept African ‘refugees’ and migrants from Italy or other EU countries. As long as the Dublin II is still in place.

EU citizens are being asked to take medical insurance coverage in order to get a Maltese identity card. I’ve been told as much by two of the outraged victims. Join the dots is not lying.

Holier than thou, no Daphne?

[Daphne – Compassion for others, Joey, has absolutely nothing to do with holiness. Its root is imaginative empathy, which is why those who lack imagination are often also hard and heartless, and why stupid people are often the most cruel.]

Incidentally, my impression is that the Church and religious organisations, even in Malta, receive a fair share of criticism for showing too much sympathy towards people like those in this story.

[Daphne – In fact I almost never write about religion as it is rarely topical. It was, inevitably, topical these last few days because of the terrorism in Paris. It is the people who rant and rave against Islam who have religious people in their gun-sights all the time. My views are the opposite of that – and though by ‘religious people’ I know you mean Roman Catholics and not, say, Muslims or Buddhists, the same applies.]

Anything made of asbestos will be costly to handle, transport and destroy.

Full safety gear required by all handling it.

That’s probably why not touching them was the safer option at the time?

However, I wouldn’t be confident that no asbestos dust/particles is/are released into the (immediate) environment.

I lost my job, found it impossible to get work, over 50’s seem to here, decided to stay and live off my savings. My Son was born here. I changed my address and went to Valletta to change my I.D. card as I had done before. They asked for freedom of movement letter from 2003 which I later provided, they said it would take two months to process, I recieved a phone call after about 6 weeks, “Sorry, no longer married, no freedom of movement” I explained that was not needed as I was a European in a European country. Bank statements and medical insurance asked for, I am still to provide them yet.

I am not lying, I will keep you informed.

[Daphne – You don’t need to keep ME informed. You need to speak to a lawyer to speak to them. British citizens don’t need medical insurance in Malta. They didn’t even before we joined the EU because Malta and Britain had a reciprocal health agreement.]

How is it that the non-eu people caught were allowed to travel using such documentation ?

Also, as far as I know given the fact that they are not EU citizens (unlike the Spanish chap) wouldn’t they need a visa for any sort of travel other than the country they have a permit to live in ? In this case Italy/Sicily.

Asbestos-containing cement pipes are not hazardous unless they release asbestos dust or fibres. To do that they have to be ground to a powder.

Originally asbestos was used in the manufacturing of fibre cement products, but today other nonhazardous fibres are used in the manufacturing of fibre cements.

The authorities should check the real composite of these pipes in Hal Far and act accordingly. They have been lying there for decades now.

[Daphne – If they have been lying there for decades then they are made of asbestos and not of ‘today’s materials’. How shocking that they should still be lying around in public.]