Sir, - Martyn Turner's cartoon (November 21st) raised a wry smile from the residents of Strand Road, Sutton, who have been fighting a two-year battle with Fingal County Council over the local beach. The Council has now granted planning permission to the local sailing club to build on it to expand a commercially run sailing school.
Martyn Turner is right in predicting that "soon there will be no beaches left", certainly not in north Dublin, where the local authority sees nothing wrong with handing them over to private interests for commercial development.
The real threat to our coastal zone is not from global warming or pollution; it's from the appalling attitude of the Irish authorities to environmental matters that will lead to their demise. It's no wonder Europe is getting fed up with us in this context. - Yours etc.,
Pat Cody, Strand Road, Sutton, Co Dublin.