Asylum seekers could offer many benefits for island
WE ARE frequently told that the island is facing serious problems due to a declining workforce and that there are now around 1,000 job vacancies in Guernsey ranging from supermarket shelf stackers up to the finance sector. In addition, the new cannabis growers claim that they will have work for 40 or 50 people when that business expands. Also the new Admiral Park hotel are advertising for a whole range of staff for when they open next year. This all means that the island urgently needs to import people in order to keep functioning.
As some deputies have suggested, I feel that we should now take in a large group of asylum seekers of working age, most of whom have had to abandon jobs in their home country.
I remember watching a television series when a small camera crew joined the long line of asylum seekers as they walked across Europe. Many spoke English and they ranged from agricultural workers through all skills up to and including doctors.
This suggestion will no doubt produce an outcry of where are they all going to live? Senior deputies claim that St Peter Port should be able to take in around 1,000 people if flats above shops were developed, but that would be of no use now as developments like that will take a long time to complete.
To solve that problem, a solution might be found if the States purchased one or more of the large hotels which now are empty and are unlikely to ever be used again to house visitors, using funds for the purchase from the Overseas Aid budget.
Once housed and in work, their income would be spent in our retail sector and such a move would result in two things for Guernsey.
A number of empty jobs at the moment would be filled and income from wages or salaries being spent in the island would benefit local businesses and the economy.
TONY MCDADE
Eaton Cottage
Vale