Madam, - Yesterday, driving through Cork city, I was shot at. The "gunman" was a lad of about eight or nine, and his gun a realistic-looking plastic toy pistol.
Now that the IRA have been prevailed upon to decommission their arsenals, is there any chance we could persuade Páistí na hÉireann to do likewise? The diplomacy and negotiations required might tax even Gen de Chastelain, but the results would surely be worth it.
Most people in Ireland would - rightly - condemn the recruitment and use of child soldiers for warfare in other parts of the world. Why then do we allow, indeed facilitate, children here in Ireland to engage in the play equivalent? Toy guns, every bit as much as their real-world equivalents, can have no place in a civilised society. - Yours, etc,
DARIUS BARTLETT,
Midleton,
Co Cork.