Sir, – In "Michael Harding on a happy fortnight of Cill Rialaig calm" (June 7th), your columnist writes of how he enjoyed two weeks in Co Kerry before it was then ruined by a female garda refusing to sign a simple legal document. His story makes me think that Harding is like the heroine in the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea". In that story the Princess went black and blue because of one little pea hidden under 20 mattresses.
Mr Harding and the Princess people who are sensitive to the underlying wrongs of society pay a high price and often lose their peace of mind. How tempting it would be just to always sail through life with a calm and easy mind rather than expose the big problems of the world before they have grown from the small size of a pea! – Yours, etc,
SEAN O’BRIEN,
Kilrush,
Co Clare.