Sir, - Travelling into and out of town on the DART, one cannot but notice the appalling state of the Booterstown Marsh nature reserve which has been so badly mismanaged for months now that it more resembles a cess-pit than an area of amenity and ecological conservation.
For some reason, and there must be a reason, the water level has been kept at an artificially high level in order to kill off grasses and other plants which normally covered it all except for the pond area. Controlled drainage of such an area is so simple and self-operating that there must be a hidden agenda for this institutional vandalism; and recent further mention of the proposed east-link motorway prompts the question as to whether the destruction of the marsh is designed so as to be able to maintain that it is no longer ecologically viable and can therefore be used as an exit point for the motorway.
No doubt we will be assured that this is in our best interests as the marsh was becoming a health hazard, or some such contrived excuse. An Taisce and others take care and note that this could not have happened naturally. It had to be done on purpose - by whom and for what real reason? - Yours, etc., M. W. Walker,
Killiney Road, Killiney, Co Dublin.