Madam, - No surprise, really, in the findings of the Barr tribunal about the Abbeylara affair. It joins a litany of other cases which have found against the gardaí and for which the Garda Síochána seems singularly unable to apologise. Not a healthy sign.
I wonder if the Minister for Justice and the Government would consider a root and branch change to the training of the force whereby all guards at entry level would continue to do their basic training in Templemore but upon completion of this could aspire to promotion only to the rank of sergeant.
Entry to the higher ranks would be confined to those who have also completed a university degree course in appropriate disciplines in recognised colleges both here and abroad so that up-to-date techniques can be acquired.
It will take a good few years to change the attitude/perception of Seán Citizen and his wife towards our guardians of law and order, but just taking a look at the esteem in which our Defence Forces are held shows just what could be done - and indeed how much more there is to do. - Yours, etc,
ARTHUR DUNNE, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - On the day of the release of the Barr report into the shooting in Abbeylara the Garda Commissioner indignantly (for him) defended the force and the Emergency Response Unit.
He said the State owed a lot to that organisation for upholding democracy against the IRA.
He is right, of course, but the ERU should never have been deployed in Abbeylara, where a depressed young man, not in a hostage or kidnap situation, was killed by the State.
On Sunday, three days after the release of the report, we had Minister for Justice Michael McDowell declaring on RTÉ that an apology would issue from the gardaí. As I write, this has not emerged.
Are the gardaí slow readers or learners, or do they need help and prodding from outside to do the decent thing? Perhaps they need outside help to manage them? - Yours, etc,
BRIAN McCAFFREY, Clifton Crescent, Galway.
Madam, - Vincent Browne's scurrilous column of July 26th is a concoction of smears and inaccuracies. What proof does he have that it is "part and parcel of the system" for members of the Garda to commit perjury? Did he provide Madam Editor with proof of this? I doubt it.
Mr Browne then goes further: "There is also, one suspects, the transmission within the force of prejudices - prejudices against "Travellers, against black people and, possibly, many immigrants". Again, where is the proof?
There is too much of a tendency in society to attack the Garda. This plays into the hands of criminals by undermining the only force that stands between civil society and total disorder. Where are the articles every week praising the brave men and women who sometimes put their lives on the line for our society?
Vincent Browne may not stand by the Garda, but the vast majority of the Irish people do support their force. They also support the reform of its structures and management by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell. Irish people know instinctively that the Garda can only be reformed by a man with an impeccable record on fighting crime and subversives. They know there is no better man for this than Michael McDowell. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNY, Monkstown Valley, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Vincent Browne has expressed thoughts and ideas which the Garda should incorporate immediately. The lack of any emotional feeling or regret by the Garda Commissioner with regard to the Abbeylara report was disturbing . - Yours, etc,
POL Ó DEORÁIN, Siúlán na Mainistreach, Baile Átha Cliath 22.