Madam, - Trust our President to hit the nail on the head! It is our tolerance of drunkenness that is the problem, rather than our tolerance of alcohol. Those misguided, illiberal, lazy-minded advocates of prohibition are seeking easy, cheap solutions. But limiting the availability of alcohol and restricting the promotional activity of the drinks industry damage business, tourism and the average person - as well as removing the responsibility for bad behaviour from the drunk, anti-social perpetrator.
The charge of being "drunk and disorderly" seems forgotten here, though quite rigorously enforced on the Continent. Visiting Europeans are amazed by our acceptance of loutishness. Alas, Michael McDowell knows it is politically expedient and cheaper to introduce constraints on everyone's behaviour rather than invest the required manpower enforcing the law.
President McAleese has done well to reiterate the nation's concerns while shifting the focus to the real source of the problem. If a society accepts bad behaviour it will see plenty of it. - Yours, etc.,
A.V. MCGANN, Hollybrook Road, Dublin 3.