Madam - I write in support to the wonderful letter from Mrs Joan Litster, about St Anne's Park, Raheny (February 2nd). Our parks and open spaces are the lungs of the city. Together with the rivers and canals they purify the air and clean our environment.
Santry Woods fell to development and now the riparian woodlands of the former Belcamp College are under threat from developers and the possible realignment of Malahide Road. The increasing loss to development of institutional lands, golf courses, sports grounds, private garden space, together with tree-felling on private lands, should also be of public concern.
We should be protecting and enlarging our public open spaces, and doubling the tree cover from the present 7 per cent to about 20 per cent, within a reasonable time scale. The existence of public parks and public open spaces give us the opportunity to do that. Their permeable soils absorb water and in the event of heavy rainfall can better cope with the run-off.
We would like to raise awareness of the effect of the clear felling of forests in the Dublin Wicklow Mountains as outlined in Coillte's felling plans for 2007. Some of the areas in that concern us are Three Rock, Lead Mines, and Cloon.
These forests, although planted for timber, are currently being used by hundreds of people every weekend all year long for recreation and their recreational benefit far surpasses their commercial value.
We should be encouraging people to be more physically active, not taking away accessible amenities.- Yours, etc,
JOHN HAUGHTON, Chairman, Forest Friends Ireland/Cáirde na Coille, Bayside Park, Dublin 13.