Madam, – I read with some alarm that the Minister for Justice travelled to Ballymun on Wednesday (Home News, October 14th) to launch 85 surveillance cameras so that the Garda Síochána can monitor every move of this suburb’s inhabitants. Dermot Ahern’s realisation of Orwell’s prediction should certainly put an end to blasphemy.
Later in the day we heard on RTÉ’s Liveline that county council surveillance cameras are being used to jail citizens who commit the heinous crime of leaving empty cardboard boxes in the vicinity of recycling depots.
If there are any cameras left, Mr Ahern might prevent some really serious crimes against the people by placing one in the room where he and the rest of the Cabinet meets, and a few more in the board rooms of our financial institutions? – Yours, etc,