‘Drew Harris and his gang’

Sir, – I am surprised at the outrage expressed by Taoiseach Simon Harris in the Dáil when Mattie McGrath TD used the phrase “Drew Harris and his gang” (News, April 30th).

The Garda Commissioner actually described the police force as “his gang” in comments reported by your newspaper (“Harris defends Garda after Hutch acquittal”, News, April 26th), and you published my letter the next day criticising the Commissioner.

In case he has forgotten, Simon Harris was minister for justice at that time. Perhaps as the then-minister for justice, Simon Harris should have upbraided the Commissioner for his reductive language.

Will he now correct the Dáil record by noting that “my gang” is the Garda Commissioner’s own description of the force under his command? – Yours, etc,