Alcohol in society - Hypocrisy ruins too many lives

A YOUNG Clareman, John McGovern, yesterday began a six-year jail sentence for the manslaughter of Michael Doherty who, at 14 years of age, was little more than a child when he was stabbed to death outside a chip shop on a June evening in 2007.

As long as he is in jail McGovern will spend 23 hours a day in protective custody because his father is a garda.

The fatal confrontation took place on the night McGovern — then just 16 — celebrated his leaving certificate results. He, like all of our children do, was taking part in a rite of passage.