Madam, - Glad to see that Mr PJ Stone of the Garda Representative Association (June 21st) has at last broken his long silence on the findings of the Morris report.
He does so in a grudging sort of way and doth protest too much - the "few bad apples" (more like orchard infection!), the "media to blame, the public do not share the indignation" etc.
On this latter point I would remind Mr Stone that several corrupt politicians have been re-elected and people like to support their gardaí and clergy for instance, but if Mr Stone does not believe that confidence has been shaken severely, he is on another planet. We have no one else to turn to but our police in the fight between good and evil.
He gives every sort of reason why gardaí should not be accountable and tell the simple truth.Surely grown-up people who are well paid, take an oath of office and whose word often convicts the general public of wrongdoing should not themselves hide behind every device and law.
As Mr Justice Morris said, "the truth will set you free".
That's as old as the hills, Mr Stone, and still holds good.
In Morris part one we had reference to a hoax bomb find at Ardchicken - how appropriate.
In Donegal the noise of the flapping of the wings of the chickens coming home to roost has become a hurricane and the sun is almost blotted out.
Get real, Mr Stone. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN McCAFFREY, Clifton Crescent, Galway.
Madam, - In the light of Mr Justice Morris's most recent report and unequivocal observations regarding certain Garda members, the decision merely to relocate and transfer these officers to other active duties is nothing short of astounding, and strongly hints of a force which is steadily becoming out of control.
Such a decision must come from the highest level in the Garda Síochána, and as such can only be seen as a gesture of arrogant defiance, aimed squarely at the Minister for Justice.
As such, it must be countered with a swift and decisive response from this quarter.
The public, along with the by now dismayed rank and file of the gardaí, require nothing less. - Yours, etc,
DAVID GRANT Mount Pleasant, Waterford.