Sir, - Contrary to received opinion I can report that although we are doing very nicely out here in the West, the streets of Galway are not paved with gold. Instead, they are rapidly becoming paved with gum - of the chewing variety, which gives a nasty, dirty, sticky, mottled and virtually permanent coating to our footpaths, even the ones that have been paved recently in a fine, red brick.
If it is to be the case that the polluter pays, isn't it about time that the local councils of Ireland took the manufacturers of chewing gum to court to extract from them the cost of cleaning up our streets? If cigarette makers can be persuaded to pay for the consequences of selling their products to the general public, so too should the manufacturers of chewing gum. - Yours, etc.,
Roscam, Galway.