Sir, - In hosting the opening stages of the Tour de France the City of Dublin lost a very beautiful large tree from the Phoenix Park.
A chestnut several hundred years old, situated along a footpath beside the main road of the park, was cut down during the erection of a temporary steel village. The tree's only crime was that it obstructed the view from the Tour de France entertainment tents to the temporary cycle route on the main road.
The destruction of this tree is unacceptable. The very nature of such a large parkland in the middle of the city is its protection for future generations. - Yours, etc., Stephen W. Doak,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.