Sir, - I recently ventured back to the capital to attend a Feile concert in the Point Depot. In the light of the recent fatality at the venue, it was reassuring to see the large number of gardai and security officers stationed throughout the building. The young crowd was gentle and well behaved.
An hour after the concert finished, however, I was walking some American friends back to the Gresham Hotel, a taxi being impossible to find. Walking up the west side of Westmoreland Street was a nightmare. Gangs of youths sprinting off into the night, young gurriers openly pushing a veritable menu of drugs, and staggering drunks with head wounds, all weaving with the static taxi queues and the meandering, wide eyed tourists.
There was not a garda in sight. It was scary, much worse than the Lower East Side of Manhattan where I'd lived for years. The people ordered out of the bars at midnight have no choice but to walk, like lambs to the slaughter. I wonder how much can Ministers of Justice actually see from a bullet proof Mercedes? - Yours, etc.,
Kilkishen,
Co Clare.