Madam, - Marie Keenan's choice of language in her article "Sex offenders are just as entitled to a home" (Opinion, March 26th) is counter-productive and inflammatory.
Her remarks about "mob rule" and "fear-based, prejudiced ignorance" set the tone for an article that raises hackles but offers no new ideas or worthwhile considerations of what is a thorny problem facing communities throughout the country.
I find Ms Keenan's superior attitude offensive in the extreme. The residents of Maple Drive are far from ignorant and certainly not a "mob". When we recently discovered that Drogheda Borough Council, without any consultation whatsoever with local residents, planned to house a convicted sex offender on our estate we responded by consulting local politicians and voicing our feelings by means of a poster campaign - two avenues which surely are open to anyone living in a democracy. This attracted considerable media attention and we availed of the opportunity to further express our opinions.
It is all very well for Ms Keenan to put such cosy, well-meaning ideas on paper, but those of us living in the real world have to live with the consequences of the short-sighted actions of others. At the very least people in Maple Drive or elsewhere deserve to be consulted on such issues in advance. For the council to act unilaterally is unacceptable and for Ms Keenan to row in with her tuppence-halfpennyworth after the event adds insult to injury.
Everyone knows this man has to live somewhere, but to ignore the feelings of the local residents is not the way forward. It is not good enough for Ms Keenan to blame the psychological and psychiatric professions and the media for misleading us "the plain people of Ireland".
The residents of Maple Drive have worked hard to achieve their standard of living. We are more than capable of rational debate if given the chance. So, as a concerned mother of two daughters and a resident concerned for my neighbours, I ask Ms Keenan: "Do you want this man living beside you?". - Yours, etc.,
TERRY BRITTON, Maple Drive, Drogheda.