Was the minister for real, or was it a joke?

SURELY the letter signed by a John O’Donoghue (Irish Examiner, November 23) was a joke. Or was it a hoax perpetrated on a minister who could not possibly have got his ‘facts’ so wrong.

Secure gun bins in civic centres for arms amnesties have been provided in Sweden and France, and recently in Northern Ireland for a knife amnesty.

FG has not proposed ‘drunk tanks’. The party wants supervised rooms where people presenting drunk at A&E can, after being medically examined, sleep it off in safety.

FG has not proposed a ban on hoodies. Michael Noonan said shopkeepers should be given the right to make wearers take them down rather like the wearing of crash helmets is prohibited in most supermarkets.

The Government set up a taxi drivers’ compensation scheme after the last election. What would have been wrong with compensating eircom shareholders? Most were ordinary citizens who were conned into buying the shares by the Government. Surely no minister could have written such a factually incorrect letter. Like Bertie, somebody must be out to get him.

Maurice Curtin

‘St Clare’s’

Barrington’s Ave

Ballintemple

Cork