Madam, - I was appalled when I read Carol Coulter's piece in your edition of March 4th regarding the release of Joe McColgan. Given the torture and abuse he afflicted on his children over a 20-year span, it beggars belief that he served only nine years out of a total sentence of 228 years.
I too, like Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, March 5th) would like to know why his sentences ran concurrently and not consecutively. Is this right? Is this justice?
Where is the public outcry? Does anybody care any more? The powers that be which allowed this man out after nine years should hang their collective heads in shame. - Yours, etc.,
CHRIS WILKINSON, Santa Sabina Manor, Dublin 13.
Madam, - Kevin Myers set out just some of the horrors inflicted by Joseph McColgan on his children and put these in the context of the prison sentence he was given and the time he served. I understand that, in addition to the apparent leniency of the latter, there was no requirement for McColgan to receive any treatment or therapy while in prison and that he refused to undergo any such treatment voluntarily. Why, in spite of this, was he released into the community? - Yours, etc.,
KATHRYN TRACEY, Cherryfield Avenue, Dublin 6.