Sir, - If, as a person living in a glass house in Northern Ireland, I might be permitted to throw a stone, there are some things happening in the Republic that are unbelievable.
Specifically, there were the comments by a judge that a young offender would be raped if sent to prison. What the judge was saying was that the State would offer no protection to its prisoners and would therefore sanction the commission of this unspeakable offence.
This happened some weeks ago and I awaited the public reaction - letters to the press, explanations, statements and guarantees from the Government, protests outside the prisons, comments by all your very able journalists, actions from all the very active lobby groups, shouts of horror from churchmen and prison chaplains. But there was not even a comment from any of the great legal minds who might just consider that there could be a legal obligation on the State to protect those people supposably in its care.
Even a tiger cares for its young. To use a northern expression, what are yez at, down there? - Yours, etc., G. P. McCAUGHEY,
Omagh,
Co Tyrone.