Sir, - Firstly I wish to express my condolences to the people affected by this outrage. My emotions since Saturday are a jumble of despair, outrage, sadness, anger and disbelief at the shocking slaughter. I forced myself to watch and read as much as the coverage as possible, not out of any ghoulish curiosity but out of a feeling of responsibility as an Irish person to share a minuscule fraction of the emotions of the thousands of people directly affected by this crime against fellow countrymen, women, children, unborn children and international visitors. I believe the perpetrators of this crime should be treated as criminals against humanity. These things (how can one call them people?) should be hunted down and stopped. This is a knee-jerk reaction.
I also believe a national day of mourning is vital, not only to show the victims our feelings of solidarity (little comfort to them, I do realise) but also to show the international community that those criminals have no support from the Real Irish People. How horribly appropriate that the acronym for that is RIP. - Yours, etc.,
Finnian Mathews,
Sherlock Terrace,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.