Street violence - Government must honour election vow

BATTLE-ZONE Ireland is the disturbing picture to emerge from the latest statistics showing the extent of casual violence on the streets of our cities, towns and villages.

By any yardstick, despite reflecting a downward trend, the figures collated under Operation Encounter, an exercise set up in 2002 to combat alcohol-fuelled violence on our streets, are absolutely mind boggling.

Chilling numbers that could not be more graphic show that during the last two years more than 17,000 people have been assaulted.