Sir, - On October 20th, 1997 Philip Sheedy was sentenced to four years in prison with leave for a review in two years. Some weeks later he made application to have the review date dropped, apparently because there was a very real possibility that he might get early release before October, 1999 in view of the overcrowding in the prisons and the resultant "revolving-door" syndrome.
So, it is quite in order (and obviously happening every day) for a prisoner to be released early, before serving half of the sentence handed down by the courts, on foot of a decision made behind closed doors and in secret by an anonymous individual, yet it amounts to a constitutional crisis when a judge, charged with the administration of justice and sitting in public, makes that same decision.
Surely it is the former - happening every day and making a mockery of the decisions of our Courts - which should be viewed as the constitutional crisis, and not the latter. - Yours etc., Patricia Lord, Solicitor,
Ormond Place, Dublin 7.