Sir, - Since July 12th when I read Frank McDonald's excellent summary of the legal success of the Burren Action Group v the Office of Public Works in retaining the purity of the Burren, I have been watching your pages for letters from Irishmen supporting McDonald's recommendation that the BAG debt of £150,000 be written off by the Government. Not one has appeared.
Instead, I read today Australian Geraldine Exton writing of her alarm at the subtle violence being done to the Burren landscape. Because of the unwillingness of fellow citizens to lobby for the elimination of the shortfall, the very people who could now be re-focusing their efforts to prevent this violence (the BAG) must instead concentrate on fund-raising. Unlike Charles Haughey, they will not allow years to pass before they honour their debt. Furthermore, as McDonald wrote of the BAG: ". . . in raising the standard for nature conservation at Mullaghmore, its stalwart members truly have `done the State some service'".
How sad that the rest of the world values the natural treasures of this land more than those who occupy it. - Yours, etc.,
Jeanette F. Huber, Kinsale, Co Cork.