YOUR columnist Fergus Finlay (October 19) is spot-on in his assertion that investing a little in deprived children would save a fortune on super-prisons like Thornton Hall.

I READ with anger and disbelief your excellent report (April 19) on the adoption situation.

I WAS shocked by Vincent J Lavery’s criticism of Marie Collins (Letters, December 7). His reference to “those people who claim to have been sexually abused” is grossly insensitive.

IN 1971, in a CBS school on the northside of Dublin, I witnessed two first-year boys receiving six slaps on each hand using a leather strap.