Sir, - I refer to Fintan O'Toole's column (Opinion, August 6th), which appeared under the heading "Real-life experience gives lie to `armed robber' myth".
No doubt those of your readers who troubled themselves to read the article will have made up their own minds about the substance, if any, of it.
But I think it is a pity that a newspaper that once prided itself rightly on the intellectual rigour of its columnists has apparently decided that it is valid instead for its columnists to try and bolster the arguments by name-calling and personal abuse.
Mr O'Toole refers at the end of his column to "pathetic, shambolic and desperate" people. Many might conclude that the same epithets could be applied to his column. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Donoghue TD, Minister for Justice, Equality, and Law Reform, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.