Madam, - The fundamental question the Irish people need to ask themselves about the Mayo gas field is this: Which end of the European gas pipeline do they want to be on - the producing end or the consuming end?
Without the Mayo gas, Irish supplies will be indirectly controlled by a Russian government that has an increasingly toxic relationship with its neighbours and a demonstrated willingness to use interruption of gas supplies as a political and economic weapon. Ireland's position at the end of the distribution chain means it will inevitably suffer if any of the countries between us and the Kremlin annoy Mr Putin.
A two-week cut in natural gas supplies in the middle of winter would lead to a national crisis and a wave of deaths among the old and infirm that would eclipse the worst-case scenarios for an industrial accident at the gas facility in Mayo. - Yours, etc,
DAVID ROLFE, Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6.