'Top-10 uni' is out of our reach
Get some perspective
Sir -- Peter Sutherland is certainly ambitious for his Alma Mater and would like to see UCD and Trinity merge "to create a top-10 uni" (Sunday Independent, January 24, 2010). But at whose expense? Obviously at the expense of the other five regional universities.
The criteria for a small country like Ireland (population five million) to join the "top 10" is unrealistically high. Of the top 10 universities, six belong to the US (population 303 million) and four are in Britain (60 million).
One of the best things to happen in Ireland in the past 20 years has been the expansion of Irish regional universities and the setting up of the University of Limerick.
Let the seven universities get on with what they do best.
Bernard O'Grady,
Muswell Hill, London
Sir -- Rape, assault, attempted murder, theft, robbery, stabbing, distributing of illegal substances. No, not just an ordinary run-of-the-mill week in the Fair City, but just a few meagre examples of the chilling offences defendants have been arrested for while out enjoying the liberty and freedom of bail.
You do not need to leaf through books by crime journalists to make the assumption that our cities and towns harbour menacing thugs who have little in the way of compassion, conscience or moral fibre. Today if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, becoming a casualty of an unlawful act is sadly a real possibility.
So what can be done to minimise the threat of becoming a victim of mindless brutality? Answer: very little if judges persist in granting bail bonds to individuals whom the gardai have highlighted as being dangerously violent serial criminals. The aftermath of releasing an unbalanced offender is self-evident when an innocent person becomes national headline news.
Vincent O'Connell,
New Ross, Co Wexford
Sir -- The statement by Munster rugby player Paul O'Connell that losing a vital match was "like a death in the family" was almost too pathetic and absurd for words.
Please, Mr O'Connell get a life!
Jerry Daly,
Tralee, Co Kerry
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