Sir, - Allow me to set the record straight regarding the public meeting held in Killinarden soon after the death of my young son Ben in August 1998 (with reference to Mark Hennessy's article of August 30th).
This meeting had originally been scheduled to take place during the week that Ben died, and was postponed as a mark of respect to our family. Indeed, it would have been postponed to an even later date had we so wished.
The meeting was not called as a consequence of Ben's death and was not organised by Sinn FΘin. It was organised by Killinarden Action Against Drugs, of which I was a committee member, so I was actually involved in organising the meeting.
The "politician who was present" seems perturbed by the level of anger and outrage articulated by local residents at the meeting - a case of 20/20 vision and walking around blind. Anyone familiar with the area would know that local people were despairing at the inaction of State agencies, the Garda and South Dublin County Council in dealing with the problems in Killinarden, particularly joy-riding and drug dealing.
Ben's tragic death might have served as a catalyst, bringing these agencies and local people together to tackle the problems, but unfortunately this has not been the case. The problems and the demonisation of local people attempting to tackle them remain. - Yours, etc.,
Peter Smyth, Killinarden, Tallaght, Dublin 24.