Madam, - It is disturbing to read in Michael Viney's column of March 19th of the difficulties the botany department in NUI Galway is facing because of inadequate staffing levels. Just as NUIG, because of its geographical location, has special responsibilities and opportunities in connection with the Gaeltacht, so it is uniquely situated with regard to two terrains of the greatest botanical interest, the Burren and Connemara - not to mention the rich and varied western coastline.
In the 42 years since the Department was founded by Máirín de Valera, generations of students and researchers have done their field-work in these world-famous areas, many of them working out of the Connemara National Park, with which the Department has a productive and long-standing relationship.
Palaeo-ecology, and in particular the reconstitution of the environments of past ages through the study of pollen grains and other materials preserved in bogs and lake sediments, has become a speciality of the Department, giving it an international reputation not just among botanists but in archaeology.
The department also has much to contribute to NUIG's Environmental Change Institute and the Martin Ryan Marine Institute. It is to be hoped that the university will cherish and facilitate one of its most valuable components and not let its work be compromised by over-stretching its human resources. - Yours, etc.,
TIM ROBINSON, Roundstone, Co Galway.