Madam, - John Vaudin's letter about blatant drug-dealing on the Dublin quays and the persistent lack of a Garda response (June 7th) strikes a chord.
I preface my remarks by saying that I am all in favour of law, order and policing. But, as someone who lives in the middle of Dublin city, every day I see gardaí on foot patrol ignoring breaches of the law which occur under their noses. It is also not uncommon to see and hear gardaí being downright rude and foul-mouthed to respectable civilians in broad daylight.
Are uniformed gardaí issued with work-related mobile phones? If not, why is it such a common sight to see city-centre gardaí talking intently into their mobiles while seemingly oblivious to what is going on around them? Drinking alcohol on the streets, aggressive begging, threatening and antisocial behaviour, bicycles on footpaths, cars zooming through red lights, unaccompanied children on the streets late at night, and so on.
All this is generally ignored; but on the other hand, one fairly often sees gardaí harassing taxi drivers parked in Forster Place. An easy target? Why is such a rare occurrence to see a sergeant, much less an inspector, on foot patrol? Rank-and-file gardaí, many looking as if they have just graduated from Templemore, can hardly be blamed if there are no senior officers present to take an example from. Or maybe the problem is that the rank and file do take their example from senior officers. - Yours, etc,
ARTHUR BOLAND, Cecilia Street, Dublin 2.