There was an insightful and extremely convincing article in yesterday's Sunday Times (Irish edition presumably) based on an interview with Bean Uí Chroibín, which makes it quite clear that she is not somebody whose voice would have carried any weight on this case (dirty, smelly and a fruitcake were the descriptions, I seem to remember).
The mother in question is obviously somebody with her own problems, alcoholism not being the largest of them.
The social services and the courts have obviously let the affair slip through their nets.
It has to be asked why the local authorities, the church, the police nor the neighbours did not take up something that has been going on for so long.
There is a frightening tendency for some people to knee-jerk when something like what today's Irish Times describes as an extremely complicated case hits the fan. Before people start throwing the rope over the branch and dragging the prisoner out of the jailhouse, perhaps it might be wiser to wait until we know the full facts.
Going half-arsed at this in order to find a scapegoat is not only unjust, it leaves it open for the same thing to happen again.
Jim Carroll