Madam, - Your edition of September 3rd carries an aerial photograph of the new Sligo relief road - the latest example of panic development to meet what is only a temporary problem, and the by product of which is the destruction of good farmland.
Our national prosperity is indeed based on our change from an agricultural to an industrial economy. But industry prospers only while it is favoured by global political and economic conditions. To rely on this for long-term prosperity is like building a skyscraper on quicksand.
The present transport gridlock will solve itself before the end of this century with the exhaustion of fossil fuel supplies - which will change radically the transport picture. Every acre of our farmland buried under concrete is lost virtually for ever - Roman roads in England are still there 1,500 years later.
Meanwhile one permanent necessity is food, of which Ireland's potential production is almost unlimited. We should follow the example of a country such as Denmark. "Development" should concentrate not on industry, but on agriculture.
As in so many other ways, we are scurrying to meet an existing problem with no consideration for the future. - Yours, etc,
PETER A. GREHAN, Caherdaniel, Co Kerry.