Sir, - Frank McDonald's series about the negative ecological implications of tourism in the Republic fills me with dismay.
For the past three years we have been privileged to have frequently visited the village of Cong in Co Mayo, to fish the great lakes of Corrib, Mask and Carra, and to have walked and enjoyed the lake shores and the unique woodlands in the historic isthmus between Corrib and Mask. The areas of Cong, Clonbur and Lisloughrey hold a mixture of virgin woodland and rare and diverse plantings established by the Guinness family in the early 19th century.
Perhaps one of your readers could tell me what moral and legal status Coillte has in relation to these woodlands? It seems that your semi-State body has "privately" sold 86 acres at Lisloughrey to a developer who intends to build a leisure complex, with American-ranch-style chalets, swimming pool, a golf course and all the usual paraphernalia of exploitative modern tourism. Clear-felling of trees is supposed to occur within a 90-foot shoreline perimeter at Lisloughrey point, but I am uncertain as to who is to be responsible for supervising this process so that "inadvertent" further desecration is avoided. Local people have tried but failed to elicit details of the plans for sewage waste apparently submitted by the developer to Mayo County Council. There are many other concerns about the environmental implications of this project.
Like other "green"-minded tourists I feel baffled and betrayed that such irreversible despoliation of a precious environment should occur, apparently with State sanction. The chain of freshwater lakes in Mayo and Galway, and their surrounds, are singular in Europe and the whole community has a duty to pass them to future generations in as pristine a condition as possible.
What is to be done? - Yours, etc., Fiona Simpson,
Doagh,
Ballyclare,
Co Antrim.