Madam, - In his television review last Saturday, headed "The Only Show In Town", Shane Hegarty paints a hilarious imaginary picture of Eileen Dunne as the only person left in the RTÉ building "minding the house while everyone else is on holiday".
But fair's fair, Mr Hegarty, and for a start there's the small matter of the Fair City cast sweating over a hot soap four nights a week - with audience figures soaring to match the ambient temperature.
Shane does give due credit to The Rod Squad and somewhat grudging acknowledgement to the Townlands documentary series which has been on RTÉ screens throughout the summer. But not a word about Cabin Fever or The Restaurant - both Irish productions and new formats which (whether Mr Hegarty liked them or not) contributed to a 6.4 per cent increase in RTÉ Television's peak-time audience ratings for July 2003 year on year in the multi-channel area.
Earlier in this long hot summer RTÉ's television audience viewed in large numbers the documentary series Cracking Crime, tracing forensic investigations into Irish murder cases.
Coulter & Company, filmed in the University Concert Hall, Limerick has proved a huge summer hit. And the RTÉ Farmleigh Proms, also on screen these past weeks, have been another pleasant musical treat for those coming home to shelter from the sun's relentless rays.
Yes, people do go out and about in the fine summer weather. Some of them go to Croke Park and other sporting venues. But many thousands more have been able to watch these thrilling encounters on their television screens, courtesy of those hard-working folk in RTÉ Sport.
And admirable though Eileen Dunne is (and we fully share Mr Hegarty's high esteem) it hardly needs to be said that RTÉ News and Current Affairs, covering as they do events around the country and the world (and August is a wicked month) are not a one-woman operation.
Holidays? What holidays? - Yours, etc.,
CATHRIONA EDWARDS, Communications Manager, RTÉ Television, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.