Sir, - Constitutional government has taken a battering. The Government, in not insisting on the decommissioning of paramilitaries, is ignoring Article 15.6.2: "No military or armed force, other than a military or armed force raised and maintained by the Oireachtas, shall be raised or maintained for any purpose whatsoever." When a garda defending our Constitution is murdered by paramilitaries and the courts accept a plea of manslaughter because sufficient evidence is not forthcoming due to the intimidation of witnesses, this is a travesty of the truth and of the law. - Yours, etc.,
Stephen Fallon, Barrington Street, Limerick.