Madam, - I was astonished by the abusive tone adopted by John Waters in his article about An Taisce (Opinion, July 10th). Mr Waters seems to hold some personal grudge as he describes members of the organisation as "chinless wonders" and "sandal-wearing hysterics".
This kind of puerile name-calling does nothing to advance his argument.
Mr Waters must be aware that many farmers and other landowners demand to be allowed to build a house for a son or daughter on some prominent spot in a beautiful area (where it will impinge on the scenery for many years) only to sell the house as a holiday home as soon as it is erected.
Whether these applicants for planning permission should be allowed to deface the countryside, as their God-given right, or whether boundaries should be set to the amount of damage anyone can inflict on the landscape is matter for a debate which cannot be settled by the likes of Mr Waters's offensive attack on An Taisce. - Yours, etc,
M. M. IRELAND, Priory Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
A Chara, - I would like to lend my full support to John Waters's column on An Taisce's negative role in blocking once-off rural housing developments.
People living in rural Ireland should have the right to build a home on their own land. An Taisce's efforts to thwart this process at every turn is denying people the basic right to house their own families.
The people working in An Taisce have no democratic mandate, yet the policies they pursue have a very serious impact on the political direction that local authorities take when it comes to the granting or otherwise of planning permission for once-off houses in our country.
Ireland at present also has an ever-increasing population. We need policies which ensure that we can house our people in both urban and rural parts of Ireland.
If An Taisce has its way, then all progress will be blocked and Irish people who own their own lands will be powerless to build houses for their own families into the future. The power of An Taisce must be reined back.- Is mise,
LIAM AYLWARD MEP, Hugginstown, Co Kilkenny.