Crisis In The Balkans

Sir, - The images on our TV screens of a little boy aged about 10 years, with his head in his hands as he cried bitter tears …

Sir, - The images on our TV screens of a little boy aged about 10 years, with his head in his hands as he cried bitter tears as he sat in a muddy field somewhere in Albania, must have spelt out to the world the extent of the Kosovo refugees' plight. Other images of the dead and dying butchered by Slobodan Milosevic's thugs seem to have moved the Irish Government only to the extent of providing a mere £2 million to Irish aid agencies working to relieve the plight of the half-million refugees who have fled from their homes, losing everything and lucky to escape with their lives.

We are told by NATO that over the next three weeks the number of refugees will double to over a million. This is the equivalent of the entire population of Dublin city and county being displaced within four weeks. £2 million works out at £2 per refugee, at a time when we have plenty and should, as a nation, be opening our hearts, doors and pockets to relieve the plight of the refugees.

Hopefully, the response to next Sunday's church collection for the refugees will demonstrate to the Government that Ireland is still a caring nation. - Yours, etc., Joseph Anderson,

Avonbeg Court, Dublin 24.