Despairing drift

As a rural dweller who has been the victim of three major crimes for which nobody was held responsible, I despair if the direction ‘official Ireland’ has drifted.

From the bugging of ministers and journalists through the blue flu, Donegal scandals, planning corruption, Fr Brendan Smith, the recent threat of Garda mutiny, fake breath tests and speeding fines cancelled – not forgetting Templemore and Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

Meanwhile, travelling thugs with a list of convictions roam the countryside with impunity, preying on the old and isolated. Then the free legal aid system ensures that taxpayers are mugged once again. But if a Garda station in Kilgarvan was reopened in the same manner as Stepaside, several forests would have been felled to record the outrage. Martin Murphy, Kilmihill, Co. Clare.