A chara, - I want to commend Nora Owen on her excellent interview on Radio Ireland news. I thought it was hilarious that she attacked Fianna Fail for having done nothing about crime, and then went on to give examples of all that "this Government has done".
It was particularly funny when she mentioned her prisons programme, only implemented after relentlessly sustained pressure from Fianna Fail; her bail Referendum, a Fianna Fail proposal which she rejected first, and then accepted some months later, again after sustained pressure; and finally, best of all, the Proceeds of Crime Bill, an actual Fianna Fail Bill, only grudgingly accepted by the Government in the wake of the murder of Veronica Guerin.
She then accused Fianna Fail of "cynicism". I actually thought it was Scrap Saturday that I was listening to! Oh how the long Cabinet meeting must fly! -
By the way, one little slip-up - when she accused Bertie Ahern himself (not just his party) of having done nothing about crime, she not only forgot that it wasn't actually Bertie who was Taoiseach or Justice Minister then, but that her present partner, Labour, was in government also. That memo mustn't have reached her desk either! - Is mise, le meas,
Bridge Street,
Boyle,
Co Roscommon.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
FIGHT AGAINST CRIME
From CAROLYN SWIFT
Sir, - Would Michael J. Stokes (March 20th), and Fianna Fail activists in general, please read the letters from Fr Peter McVerry ("On the Streets") and Valerie Bresnihan ("Towards Penal Reform") in the same edition?
This "zero tolerance" nonsense would be totally non-productive, leading nowhere but to a police state. It might be said that I would feel differently if I lived in an area devastated by drug addiction and crime, but these are the very communities who would benefit most if the money Fianna Fail propose spending on "zero tolerance" were used to remove the causes of crime - i.e. treating drug addiction (while continuing to target the drug bosses and pushers) and removing the inequalities in education, housing, job opportunities and general quality of life which makes them vulnerable to crime.
Yours, etc.,
Upper Leeson Street,
Dublin 4.