Sir, – The headline on Peter Murtagh's article, "Security expert urges public readiness in the event of any possible attack", is a good one and reflects wise advice. However, the article itself shows there is little to indicate readiness for such a possible attack, either by the Government, security services, or by the general public.
Security expert Sadhbh McCarthy recommends that “people need to know how to stay safe and how to help themselves and help others”. This is true but of little value, unless such knowledge is provided.
One of the lessons that should have been learned from the Paris attacks is that the level of fatalities was unduly high given the small number of attackers.
The critical period in such an incident is the time between the beginning of the attack, and the counter-attack by well-armed security forces. In Ireland this critical period could be catastrophically long.
Given that the attackers will likely be both suicidal and murderous, those who have the opportunity to escape should do so, or barricade themselves in rooms or offices. This will not be an option for those who are too close to the gunmen. If in that situation, you are most likely about to die anyway, and your best and probably only chance is for a group of able-bodied people to charge down the attackers and subdue them. Some will die in the process, but their courage will probably save many lives. Such action must be taken in the initial seconds of any such atrocity in order to seize the element of surprise from the attackers, and any such counter-attack must be ruthless, using any available materials as weapons. If we have not thought this out beforehand we will be too “terrorised” to act if it actually happens.
The threat of a terrorist attack in Ireland is now a reality, even if it never happens. We do not have, and can never have, an armed Swat team in every town, so we must be mentally prepared to act as individuals or small groups.
We must also accept the reality that US and Nato-led wars have caused the deaths of more than one million people across the Middle East and that Ireland’s unjustified complicity in these wars is the reason for Ireland being on a target list. Ending US military use of Shannon Airport will significantly reduce the likelihood of any such terrorist attack on Ireland. – Yours, etc,
EDWARD HORGAN,
Castletroy,
Limerick.