A chara, I have just returned from holiday to 18 issues of your esteemed newspaper, one of which contains a special report on An Garda Siochana. Nowhere does it mention the political chicanery which existed when certain TDs and their cronies were summonsed for after hour drinking, traffic offences, etc. These petty tyrants had the power to have the unfortunate guard in question transferred to a remote station, causing hardship to him and his family.
A recently dead politician told the story that when he was engaged in after hours drinking, he said to the investigating guard: "Would you like a drink, or a transfer?" This is not apocryphal or isolated. That such threats could be invoked against members of a fine police force, which was always loyal to the State no matter what political party was in power, was monstrous, and should have been recorded in any honest "look back" at the history of the Garda. Is mise agus meas agam ort.
Gerrards Cross,
Buckinghamshire,
SL9 8HZ.