Sir, - You call for the creation of an Ombudsman for Children (Editorial, May 12th) which, together with a system of inspection, would help prevent further abuses of young people in institutional care.
Similar steps should be taken to safeguard the position of prisoners, perhaps the most invisible, vulnerable and unpopular group in Irish society today. They are precluded from making a complaint to the Ombudsman and there is no inspector to monitor their treatment.
If this neglect is allowed to persist, will it become a cause for future scandal and shame? - Yours, etc.,
Dr Ian O'Donnell, Director, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Lower Dominick Street, Dublin 7