Madam, - It was with horror and sadness that I read the report of April 19th about the Polish man who left journalist Mairéad O'Dwyer fighting for her life.
The fact that shocked me most was that the young man had been involved in criminal activities in Poland since he was 11 years old. He had eight convictions there before he came to Ireland. One of his crimes was fracturing a man's skull with a metal object.
How was this not detected on his arrival in Ireland? How did a habitual criminal manage to find his way here without the immigration authorities knowing about his history of violence? Why are we letting people with criminal records into Ireland? Are things not bad enough with our own violent criminals? - Yours, etc,
ETHEL GALLAGHER,
Frankfort Avenue,
Dublin 6.