Irish inadequacy
The escape of nineteen IRA terrorists from Port Laoise jail, said to be the most secure in the Republic of Ireland, highlights yet again the inadequate measures taken in both the North and the South for the detention of murderers and their allies. The government in Dublin has never been lacking in goodwill towards the security forces in the North, but their steady and recurring excuse for their own security failures, and the weakness of measures hitherto taken against the gunmen, has been that they can scarcely be expected to act more ferociously in these matters than do the British authorities in Ulster. Though this is a sophist's argument, it still has some political force; and the Port Laoise break-out should remind both the Dublin and London governments that, however steady the deterioration of political affairs in Northern Ireland, however close we march towards a withdrawal of British troops, nonetheless the governments of the Republic and of the United Kingdom must use every ounce of force in their power to detain and punish terrorists. And the first step could be taken by Mr Cosgrave's government, through the making of at least one of his country's prisons really secure.
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