Sir, - In response to Father Iggy O'Donovan's attempt to inject a bit of humour into the debate over Bertie's Bowl (May 14th) I make the following point. Maybe, when we have learnt to respect and value the monuments that we already have in Ireland, we will have earned the right to spend vast amounts of money on more monuments. Every day our built and our natural heritage are being desecrated. The Heritage Council gets a hundred calls a week on this subject.
Health, education and social provisions are obviously the top priorities for financial outlay, but once our physical heritage is gone, it cannot be brought back. Better education, both formal and informal, might help, as one of the causes of the desecration is ignorance. However, the major cause appears to be rotting, stinking, corrupting greed. - Yours, etc.,
Jennifer Wann, Viking Road, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.