Sir, – As children, we fear the imaginary. As a young adult, the reality is far more terrifying. Halloween, Cork city, 11pm . . . The city is already strewn with what one friend terms human debris.
On the brief walk between bar and bus stop, we witness carnage: the streets are strewn with vomit and broken glass. People are fighting, walking without shoes, lying semi-conscious in doorways with friends loitering nearby. The gardaí are out in force, and already the ambulance service is picking up the pieces. This is not normal. This does not happen elsewhere. People visit Ireland for the “craic” and leave thinking we go too far, too often.
This is not a generational problem, this is an Irish problem. Time for a new national pastime? – Yours, etc,
SHIRLEY CARR,
Cork.