Local populations should be entitled to express their concern at migrant housing

The migrant crisis of 2015 saw hundreds of thousands of people try to get into Europe, mostly coming from Syria via Turkey, into Greece.

There were also many migrants and refugees who attempted to cross the Mediterranean into Spain, from Africa.

It was a sudden mass movement of people and yet it was also in many respects a predictable one. There are vast differences in wealth and opportunities between western societies and poorer ones in Africa. At the same time, war in the Middle East was a further reason for the flight of people north.

There was, and has been, an admirable desire in Britain to help people in desperate circumstances that are not faced by those of us who were born into the UK. And yet at the same time, accommodating large numbers of new arrivals into our society does pose logistical problems, such as finding housing and work for the migrants.

Over the last week there has been controversy over the use of a closed hotel in Carrick to house refugees and migrants. Yet if very large numbers of immigrants are granted entry, there will have to be such takeovers of hotels and buildings to ensure everyone has a bed.

Some people will be more than happy to have such temporary housing established beside their own home. Others though will fear that the long effort and expense that they have put into their neighbourhood might not be appreciated and shared by transitory populations.

It is entirely legitimate to hold and express such concerns so long as it does not manifest itself in hostility towards the migrants themselves.

The leader of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Rev Dr Sahr Yambasu, a farmer’s son from Sierra Leone, has articulated a thought provoking Christian justification for helping strangers. But there are equally valid perspectives that societies should first and foremost pay heed to the needs and wishes of their existing populations.

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