Taking a life without breaking the law

THE next time somebody with a shotgun freaks out and blows away a stranger (who knows, perhaps it will be a Fine Gael canvasser?), will Michael Ring TD still spout his mantra — “This man never broke the law in his life?”)

Legally, it would be true even of Pádraig Nally.

But going by the jury in this case, and by the peculiar logic of this Mayo West Dáil deputy, Tom Barry was right when he said the Irish people weren’t worth fighting for.