Smacking children - as well as emotionally abusing them with threats and insults - is perfectly legal in this State. Children are second-class citizens, worse off than animals in some cases. At least if you see an animal being abused, you can call the ISPCA, but what do you do when you see a child being battered?

Take this experience of a reader, who witnessed appalling abuse on a recent long train journey.

Sitting near her were a parent and three children. Throughout the journey, the parent shouted at the eldest boy and hit him in the face and head. The boy was so distressed that he kept trying to ring the absent parent on

his mobile phone, with no success.

The reader witnessed this in silence, feeling increasingly distressed but unable to act. The abusive parent was an intimidating presence whom she hadn't the courage to confront. When the train arrived at its destination, the reader kept an eye on the family and noticed that the absent parent did not meet the train. The reader could only look on in frustration as the boy and his siblings were taken away by the abusive parent.

The reader was witnessing clear abuse of a child and felt helpless to act. She wrote to EL, asking "what would you have done?"

The question has preoccupied me since. What would I do? If smacking were illegal, I could report the behaviour to the Garda and have them meet the train. I rang the Garda Press Office, who responded that in cases like that, where a parent is chastising a child, phoning gardaí would not be appropriate. The observer could do no more than "express distaste through body language". What would you do in this situation? Please e-mail your responses.

kholmquist@irish-times.ie