JOHN M. SIMMIE,
Madam, - The whole sorry saga of the Corrib gas field drags on with probably the biggest ever project in the West of Ireland mired in objections, appeals, etc., to the location of the treatment plant.
It was all so unnecessary. The use of this massive resource was badly planned by the Government which ensured by its actions that there was little or no economic benefit to the people of Mayo and precious little to the rest of the West.
Why was not the plan to bring the gas ashore, piped to an existing underused powerstation, treated there and used to generate electricity from which the whole country would have benefited? After all we already have a functioning national electricity grid which could be further improved by the money flowing from the Corrib field so that when wind and wave power generation become feasible a better infrastructure will be there.
Perhaps too, at that stage, any remaining natural gas could have been converted into higher value products and not burnt inefficiently in thousands of domestic boilers in the suburbs.
I presume that the array of objectors, including overseas "experts", made it to Ballina without consuming any fossil fuels? - Yours, etc.,
JOHN M. SIMMIE, Aill an phréacháin, Furbo, Co. Galway.