Violent death, North and South

Madam, - The killing of Robert McCartney has rightly shocked people throughout this island

Madam, - The killing of Robert McCartney has rightly shocked people throughout this island. The demand for justice has reached levels unseen in this country before and one can only hope that those who carried out the crime are brought before the courts and that those who were present and know what happened come forward with the truth.

However, reading this Letters page and other media comment I am left wondering why there is such selectivity in the demands for justice and for people who know the truth to come forward and make statements. Not so long ago, a young man was killed outside a nightclub in Dublin. There were no demands then from the great and the good for justice, for those who were present and who know what happened to come forward and tell the truth. What does this tell us about the society in which we live?

I believe that the killers of Robert McCartney will be brought to justice and that is as it should be; I fear that the other dead young man and his family will be forgotten. And why? Because there is no political capital in the latter. What a sad indictment of this Ireland of ours. - Yours, etc.,

T GERARD BENNETT, Templeroan Park, Dublin 16.