Sir, - Many thousands of sheep will die of starvation on the mountains of the West of Ireland this winter. The farm organisations have - quite properly - drawn attention to the plight of the owners of these sheep. Having been encouraged by the EU-funded headage system to increase stock size, they now find that the bottom has fallen out of the market.
The sheep themselves should also be spared a thought. The mountains have been overgrazed to the bone: where there was heather and grass ten years ago is now bare rock or peat sludge. After the cold wet summer there is little fodder available to supplement their grazing.
The Fine Gael and Labour agriculture spokesmen are reported as advising the doubling of headage for hill sheep. But this will only increase the environmental destruction to be faced by sheep farmers in future years. The solution is surely to provide generous compensation for de-stocking. - Yours, etc., Fergus Kelly,
Palmerston Road, Dublin 6.