Madam, - I note with disbelief the comments of the IMO with regard to Michael McDowell's proposed café bar licences. In their submission the IMO states that the new licences will lead to "public disorder, fatal road accidents, house fires and suicide". Fortunately, they stopped short of saying that the licences would lead to mass insurrection and the collapse of civilisation as we know it.
In my opinion these comments are both sensationalist and based on little evidence. The Minister's proposed licences are a genuine attempt to change the culture of alcohol consumption in this country, a policy which I feel the medical profession should support.
Finally, I am disappointed that the IMO has seen fit to be so vocal on this issue. In my view, this compares shamefully with their relative silence in the face of the nurses A&E protest and their continuing failure to publicly confront the culture of administrative ineptitude in our health service. Sadly it has been left to individual members of the profession to comment on these issues whilst the IMO valiantly defends society against the "cafe bars". - Yours, etc,
Dr RUAIRI HANLEY,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.