Stringman, I have no axe to grind in all this. I don't care if Comhaltas is a democracy or not; I know that it's not and indeed cannot be. I agree that the human cost is staggering. But I still think there is culpability on both sides. That's all I'm saying.

My other responses are mainly to the people who keep stating that Comhaltas is not a democracy, and seems not to be accountable to anyone, and that therefore they've broken some law. I'm just trying to explain that this is probably not the case, and that I will be very surprised if they are found to have broken any law or even any of their own bylaws.   Time will tell, of course.