BRIDGET CARLIN,
Sir, - A report in your edition of February 16th may have given readers a mistaken impression of the Irish Seed Savers Association. The ISSA is an apolitical organisation and would give support to any government that fulfilled its obligations to environmental improvement under national and international agreements. We have offered Mr Bertie Ahern a gift of the extremely rare "Aherne Beauty" apple tree in an attempt to impress on him the vulnerability of our national agricultural heritage. The gift is not in any way dependent on the success or otherwise of Fianna Fáil in the forthcoming election.
Irish Seed Savers is the only organisation working on the conservation of our agricultural biodiversity. The level of funding we receive in no way reflects the importance of the work we do. We have created a native apple and a native grain collection. We also have a collection of endangered vegetable seeds. We make all our seed available to everyone in Ireland who becomes a member of ISSA.
We appreciate the publicity that The Irish Times has given to our work over the past 10 years. - Yours, etc.,
BRIDGET CARLIN,
Administrator,
ISSA,
Capparoe,
Scariff,
Co Clare.