Would you now bring your family to Portugal on Holidays?

jimd2

With the heartbreaking tragedy of the disappearance of little Madeleine I have decided to strike Portugal off the list of potential destinations to bring my family on holiday.
Unless the family and media are making it up but it seems that the law and systems in Portugal are just not geared up for dealing properly and swiftly with this type of thing. I fairness to the tour company mark Warner - they seem to be helping as much as they can but the authorities seem to be limited either in their ability or legally to ramp up the search and publicity across Europe. In fairness they probably want to do more - who wouldnt - but they seem helpless.

I would expect to see changes in Portugese law and systems before I would consider bringing my family there in future.

event

?

kidnappings happen all over the world, and police there dont always find kids.
i dont see why you would change now, so long as you are careful

tabatha

im off sunday week. i have gone every year for the last 5 and love it. it happens everywhere all the time. look at america and how many children go missing there on a daily basis. you cant stop living cause there are some sick ba@ta*ds out there. i will say that i dont like the way the police are handling it and i think the laws over there are well out of date and need to be changed. that said i am still going.

man1

This is a completely typical ignorant irish (and british) attitude to everything bad that happens in the world.
The reason that it is on the news so much is because they were on holiday and it didnt happen in their home country.
We all know what the The sun and The mirror (and sky news) are like when something, god forbid, happens to a brit abroad.
There is also a lot of media coverage as to whether they should have left their kids alone. A lot of people are blaming the parents so there is a debate about this as well.
Perhaps they should start looking closer to home before they all (and some people here on boards) start jumping to conclusions about portugal.

There are about 800-900 abductions in england every year, thats about 15-20 every week and some of them end in murder. Do we hear about those kidnappings/abductions??? No
There are a lot less cases in portugal but it still happens as it does everywhere, even in ireland.
There are a lot of families of missing persons in england (and portugal) who are so frustrated at the moment because of the lack of attention their families are receiving from the media while all the talk is of this girl in portugal.
The newspapers and sky news like to latch on to a story and it will go on for a week or two and then they will move on to another story if she hasnt been found in the meantime. Lets hope she is found by the way.

The portugese police are doing a tremendous job looking for this girl and are putting a lot of their resources from other departments to help with the case.
They dont understand all the attention it is receiving and are right that in some instances it is affecting and hindering the case.
Anyway what can we do in Ireland for example if we read it in the sun newspaper.

Lets stop slating portugal and hope this girl and all the other missing people in Ireland, portugal and England are found soon.

BuffyBot

jimd2 wrote:

With the heartbreaking tragedy of the disappearance of little Madeleine I have decided to strike Portugal off the list of potential destinations to bring my family on holiday.

What happened to that child was unfortunate, but there have been kidnappings and disappearances all over the world - including Ireland. So where exactly will you go? If you follow that logic, you wouldn't set foot outside of your own house.

Unless the family and media are making it up but it seems that the law and systems in Portugal are just not geared up for dealing properly and swiftly with this type of thing.

It's sort of a "moral panic" fuelled by tabloid hysteria. A bit of mis-reporting of the facts coupled by the usual tabloid media wish to pull on it's readers heartstrings, which then results in the sale of more copies. It's success depends on people like you buying into it. Both the family and the British embassy have come out since and said the Portuguese authorities are doing a good job...but of course, that doesn't get much coverage.

I've yet to see a police force anywhere in the world that solves all crimes instantly, with a satisfactory resolution for all.

I fairness to the tour company mark Warner - they seem to be helping as much as they can but the authorities seem to be limited either in their ability or legally to ramp up the search and publicity across Europe. In fairness they probably want to do more - who wouldnt - but they seem helpless.

I'm not sure where the lack of publicity comes into it..as for the search, how are we to know exactly what's being done. In situations like this, if the police authorities would liase through Europol/Interpol if they suspect the child has been removed from the country.

I would expect to see changes in Portugese law and systems before I would consider bringing my family there in future.

Again, I can't help but think this is a knee-jerk reaction to event which, while tragic, is extremely rare. Plus there is the whole parental reponsibility issue which is a for another forum, and preferably after the child is found. Similar incidents have happened, and will continue to happenin pretty much every corner of the globe.

Tom Dunne

jimd2 wrote:

With the heartbreaking tragedy of the disappearance of little Madeleine I have decided to strike Portugal off the list of potential destinations to bring my family on holiday.

For the love of God would you cop on.

What about the ETA bombings in Spain? Would you bring your family to a "warzone"? What about France, with all those nasty little men rioting in the suburbs, would you bring your family there? Or Italy, with the Mafia - surely an Irish family would be a prime target for them. Or Belgium with all the pedophiles there? Strike that off too. Ooooh, and don't they murder people in America all the time? And so on....

While not meaning to detract from the seriousness of the situation, you can find a reason not to go to any country if you want to. It is terrible, but sadly it happens. Unfortunately you appear to be susceptible to the mass hysteria induced by the trash tabloid media such as Sky "News" and the likes of the Sun.

If you are old enough to have kids, then you should be old enough to make a grown-up, rational decision on holiday destinations. :rolleyes:

Dave!

Jesus, what a ridiculous thread!!! Those Holly and Jessica kids were kidnapped and killed in England -- and the murderer (who was previously accused on sexual crimes I believe ) was interviewed on TV during the search.

You gonna strike England off the list too?

There was recently a shooting in an American university. Firstly 2 people were killed. The police didn't evacuate the buildings, and then 2 hours later the killer killed about 30 more people.

I suppose American universities are off the table too, for when the kids grow up.

Ridiculous knee-jerk reaction.

jimd2

man1 wrote:

This is a completely typical ignorant irish (and british) attitude to everything bad that happens in the world.
The reason that it is on the news so much is because they were on holiday and it didnt happen in their home country.
We all know what the The sun and The mirror (and sky news) are like when something, god forbid, happens to a brit abroad.
There is also a lot of media coverage as to whether they should have left their kids alone. A lot of people are blaming the parents so there is a debate about this as well.
Perhaps they should start looking closer to home before they all (and some people here on boards) start jumping to conclusions about portugal.

There are about 800-900 abductions in england every year, thats about 15-20 every week and some of them end in murder. Do we hear about those kidnappings/abductions??? No
There are a lot less cases in portugal but it still happens as it does everywhere, even in ireland.
There are a lot of families of missing persons in england (and portugal) who are so frustrated at the moment because of the lack of attention their families are receiving from the media while all the talk is of this girl in portugal.
The newspapers and sky news like to latch on to a story and it will go on for a week or two and then they will move on to another story if she hasnt been found in the meantime. Lets hope she is found by the way.

The portugese police are doing a tremendous job looking for this girl and are putting a lot of their resources from other departments to help with the case.
They dont understand all the attention it is receiving and are right that in some instances it is affecting and hindering the case.
Anyway what can we do in Ireland for example if we read it in the sun newspaper.

Lets stop slating portugal and hope this girl and all the other missing people in Ireland, portugal and England are found soon.

I am sure that if it was your daughter or neice that was abducted that you would be happy with the police only showing the e-fit picture to people living in the area, about a week after the event not even taking into consideration the fact that many holidaymakers would have gone home at that stage. It would'nt matter to you either that no more than half the people in the nearest Spanish town across the border could recognise her picture six days after she was taken.

Yeah right.

U.S. or British police ahead of Spanish or Portugese in this type of situation anytime

killbillvol2

I'm sure the people of Portugal will be devastated by your decision not to grace them with your presence

U.S. or British police ahead of Spanish or Portugese in this type of situation anytime

That statement displays such ignorance it's mind-boggling. How many of "this type of situation" have you seen the four police forces you mentioned handle?

Have you ever actually been outside Ireland or do you get all your information from tabloid journalists?

Mr. Presentable

jimd2 wrote:

I would expect to see changes in Portugese law and systems before I would consider bringing my family there in future.

What changes would you like? Make kidnapping illegal? Make abduction illegal? You're asking a lot of the Portuguese:rolleyes:

What you need is, you need to get off Sky News.

WindSock

You must live in contstant fear in Ireland, what with the troubles and all that.

Dave!

nipplenuts wrote:

What you need is, you need to get off Sky News.

lol. That's what it comes down to.

BuffyBot

Well, as you already seem to have made your mind up and go along with the mass hysteria, I don't see much point in this thread.

Locked.