Sir, - Louis Power (Opinion, July 25th) claims that "an inherent sense of morality was deeply rooted in the Irish psyche through generations of regular religious practice, catechetical formation and socially acceptable behaviour, and that this was the major deterrent to those who might otherwise have contemplated committing criminal acts".
While not disagreeing with his overall thesis that crime has substantially increased over the past 40 years, I feel I must draw attention to two types of criminal assault that he cites in his article.
We now know that many cases of and incest went unreported in the past, and that it was the morally utopian theocracy that constituted Ireland in the 1950s, which he so admires, that discouraged people from making such reports.
Moreover, we also know that many of those involved in "catechetical formation" and in determining "socially acceptable behaviour" in the Ireland of the 1950s were also responsible for the types of criminal assaults referred to above.
Might I respectfully suggest, therefore, that in the above quotation from the article, "committing" be replaced by "reporting"? - Yours, etc.,
Frank Bouchier-Hayes, Newcastle West, Co Limerick.