Sir, - Congratulations to Eileen Battersby on her Irishwoman's Diary (March 13th) in which she wrote painfully and honestly about the casual cruelty inflicted on dogs by unthinking and/or uncaring humans, and called for a reappraisal of the treatment of these beautiful, enthusiastic, courageous and loving animals by humankind.
But how revoltingly sad to read (March 14th) of the "Art Show" in Limerick in which curator Rosa Martinez and artist Xu Bing have conspired to exhibit, as art, live pigs whose skins have been scrubbed clean to enable the artist to write political messages on their bodies before urging them to copulate. The idea, writes your reporter Aidan Dunne, "is that when East meets West one or other gets screwed." How original! How clever! How subtle! How debased. This "art" should immediately be rejected for the arrogance, insensitivity and stupidity it is. - Yours, etc.,
Marie MacSweeney, Trim, Co Meath.