Madam, - What a timely reminder for republican apologists in Kevin Myers's Irishman's Diary of December 8th. His sound advice to "go daily" to David McKittrick's Lost Lives should be grasped with both hands by anyone with an interest in balanced statistical reporting. Why doesn't the Government, particularly Michael McDowell, blast these easily verifiable facts from the rooftops at every opportunity?
We don't have to look far to see the creeping malaise that is becoming endemic in Irish society as a direct result of doing nothing. Of late, "semi-retired" bomb-makers from some of the most troubled areas in Northern Ireland are plying their trade in this State. Idle "volunteers" have become inextricably linked with criminal gangs. Guns of every description have become easier to acquire than marijuana. And, regardless of upbeat Garda statistics on crime, there are areas in Dublin where our erstwhile protectors have difficulty in looking after themselves. All of the above has been tirelessly brought to the fore by Kevin Myers, while lesser journalists have settled for safe denial and a trouble-free ride.
I would ask those who are charged with governing our otherwise progressive little country to pay more heed to the needs of the peaceful majority of normal law-abiding people, and less heed to the minority of diehard activists. - Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY, The Demesne, Killester, Dublin 5.