Irish Examiner view: Quality and quantity of mercy much strained

Civil disorder and crime have turned attention to the application of justice and politicians may play the law and order card as voting nears. But then comes the complex question of delivery

Politicians may find it advantageous to play the law and order card but delivery is a complex issue. Picture: iStock

There are many things politicians would like to place on their list of achievements. Balancing the budget. Building more houses. Improving education. Increasing the number of hospital beds. Ameliorating climate change.

But putting more people in prison? Building more jails? Not so much. It’s a claim to fame that would play quite well in the regime of, say, Nicolae Ceausescu, alongside boasts of increasing the country’s stock of tractors and wheat yields in the five-year plan, but not to voters in liberal democracies with other preoccupations.