Madam, - Is there any such thing as personal responsibility in this country any more? In the "compo culture" we inhabit, no one seems responsible for their own actions.
Penalty points, the smoking ban, drink restrictions and never ending stories of compensation claims give our children no sense of responsibility. Surely we should be educating our children to learn and understand life's dangers and make their own decisions.
We all know how the prohibition of alcohol in America in the 1920s ended up: an underworld of vice, crime and seedy drinking dens - until the ban was lifted. Micheál Martin loves the title of Minister for Health, yet the only successes he has achieved are those which cost him nothing and involve banning and penalty taxes. Our health service is a joke.
Its ironic that 60 years ago thousands of men died on the beaches of Normandy, to defend us from a dictatorial regime. George Orwell would be in his element in Ireland 2004. - Yours etc.,
ROGER ELLIS, Chandlers Walk, Rushbrooke, Cobh, Co Cork.