Madam, - A car pursues another at full speed along a city ringroad. As the chasing car draws alongside the other, a submachine gun opens fire from a lowered window, showering the pursued car in a hail of bullets. Two occupants are hit, but are left alive and manage to scorch their way to safety.
This image from the realm of fiction is now a reality in Dublin.
Michael Corleone would be proud of it. After the brutal, almost incredible, murder of Donna Cleary, now this. It is simply impossible to guess the next scene of this movie-like reality.
What will it take for the authorities to declare war on these ruthless brutes? Apart from a few extra gardaí here, and a sound bite there, I see no evidence of a massive focused effort to take them on. If the authorities fail to act now, the next episode from the saga may contain the corpses of judges, police chiefs, or political leaders.
At that stage, the war is lost, and we will face an enormous struggle to regain from the Godfathers territory ceded from citizen and State.
Can our police force, Government, and other arms of Irish criminal justice deliver a Dublin city where the horrid scenes I have described are reserved for the big screen? - Yours, etc,
CIARÁN McGUINNESS, Churchtown Dublin 14.