A BLOCKADE by loyalists at the Church of Our Lady in Harryville has become front page news here and internationally, a fact that would probably surprise readers of the Ballymena Guardian. Since September, that newspaper has covered the controversy, although never commenting editorially, as is its style.

Its latest edition subtly used the comments at a Ballymena Borough Council meeting to try to answer the question of why it had taken so long for the blockade by loyalists of the church in Harryville to be noticed, not just by Sky News but by the borough council itself.

"For weeks, borough councillors have endured the brunt of heavy criticism from many observers who felt that they had failed to take a lead in demanding a resolution to the problem. During Monday evening's discussions, however, most members were at pains to voice comprehensive condemnation of the blockade at Harryville and to demand that action be taken to repair the damage done to community relations in the town.

Alderman P.J. McAvoy, who had attended the church since protests there began, had to wait until the meeting's agenda was completed to ask: "Are we not going to discuss Harryville? Surely we should let it be known what our opinion is on the horrific things that have been happening down there?"

A "lengthy and at times bitterly acrimonious debate" ensued, accompanied, the report implied, by the painful sound of local politicians wrenching their heads out of the sand. Because there's nothing like seeing your town on CNN to make you bite the bullet.

In Co Tipperary, the feeling of denial was also palpable, just as the "feeling of satisfaction" at Alan Dukes's appointment was raising glasses at the Leinster Leader.

"The feeling amongst the public, rightly or wrongly, is that many wide ranging questions need to be asked," said the Leinster Leader. Unless "there are reasonable explanations to be presented. . . public confidence in our leadership, already at a low ebb, will sink completely".

THIS point was made by many local editorials, including the Tipperary Star, although it used the bulk of its editorial to eulogise Mr Lowry's ministerial career and to speculate on "the political future of one of the country's brightest and most courageous young politicians".

North Tipperary had "benefited enormously" during Mr Lowry's two years as Minister. There was the Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute to celebrate, not to mention the Minorco Lisheen mining venture to start early next year, "the most exciting industrial initiation here since the opening of sugar factories in the Thirties". The newspaper concluded, rather cockily, that "ultimately, it is the people of north Tipperary who will determine his political future. By their votes next year they will pass judgment, not simply on the events of the past week, but on his overall performance as a public representative. That will be the acid test".

When sentencing a 24 year old Dublin man to two years for three burglaries and one attempted burglary of supermarkets and shops in Co Roscommon, Judge Bernard Brennan wanted to send a message which the Roscommon Champion highlighted on its front page.

"You are a hardened criminal. This has got to stop and the only way I can stop it is to give you the maximum sentence. People are stealing cars in Dublin, driving down here without insurance and robbing and plundering in the West of Ireland," he said.

Youthful criminals have inspired an epidemic of what the Mayo News called the "fear" and menace of youth".

"The emergence of an underclass in Irish society is a phenomenon no longer confined to the largest cities. Any average provincial town is well aware of the existence of a sector whose lifestyles, values and expectations are outside the mainstream . . . Ireland is not alone in seeing the development of two very divergent cultures - one comfortable and affluent and motivated; the other deprived and isolated and bitter," it said.

It blamed the lack of a sense of values in the young, "the decline bin respect for authority" and "the lack of moral direction in society".

Which brought us back to the Price Waterhouse controversy. What an irony it was, the Connacht Tribune pointed out, that the CD, Faith of Our Fathers, was at the top of the charts during such an "appalling week" in the State's political history, when the pillars of society were once again shown to be in sandy soil. Perhaps it is the "affluent and motivated" who are most in need of moral direction.