Sir, _ Gregory Allen (May 9th) makes some dubious assertions about the ERU. The existence of the ERU was hardly a State secret until some of its 20 members killed John Carthy. It was formed for just such a task - to kill, if necessary, armed persons that the ordinary uni-formed garda is not equipped to handle.
The intervention of the ERU would not have been required if all gardai were armed in the first case. In an increasingly violent society, is a benign, unarmed police force what is needed? Mr Allen makes much of the fact that many gardai have been decorated for arresting armed criminals and jumps to the conclusion that at Abbeylara, unarmed gardai could have done the same. But is it reasonable to ask members of the force to risk their lives unnecessarily to preserve the life of someone quite willing to kill them? I think not. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Dolan, Wilderness Grove, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.