Madam, – No doubt Department of Justice officials, the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces will have had their fingers crossed that their US and UK counterparts, in Ireland overseeing the security measures being put in place to protect their respective heads of state, did not read your court report (Home News, May 7th) of a man convicted of the unlawful possession of an semi-automatic pump-action shotgun who walked free from court, having received a suspended prison sentence.
As this country is spending millions of euro sealing every shore, manhole cover and junction box on the route Queen Elizabeth is expected to travel, it is incomprehensible that our courts would release back on the streets someone who had just been convicted of possession of a loaded sawn-off shotgun.
By any standards, the imposition of this penalty is an affront to law-abiding society, bearing in mind some citizens of this State have served custodial sentences for not having a valid TV licence.
Long after Queen Elizabeth and President Barack Obama have returned to their countries, the citizens of this State will still have to live here. Are citizens of this State less worthy of protection? – Yours, etc,