Sir, – It was startling, but perhaps unsurprising, to read the observations of the Irish Business Against Litter that somehow a "them and us" attitude was created by "the development of large areas of social housing" and this, in turn, is the cause of the litter black spots the group has uncovered ("Disadvantaged areas dirtiest, anti-litter business group says", News, January 7th).
Given the deplorable levels of homelessness at present one can only shudder at the thought of what things would be like had previous governments not developed those houses.
That aside, Irish Business Against Litter never seems to comment on the real culprits.
The first is the amount of packaging that is shovelled unto citizens by companies, supermarkets in particular; and the second is the exorbitant charges levied by private waste collectors which are now so high that many households simply cannot afford them anymore. May I suggest that Irish Business Against Litter would achieve far more if it focused on causes, rather than effects, and campaigned for the obvious solutions. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.