Sir, - What caught my eye right away in your picture of an environmentalist occupying a tree in the Glen of the Downs, Co Wicklow (January 15th) was not so much the presence of the Garda, but the huge ivy vines climbing up the trunk and branches of that same tree. I don't know how many others would have noticed this, but it is something that I am deeply dismayed at in my occasional travels through the country.
These ivy parasites are far more damaging to our trees and forests than the felling of trees from time to time to accommodate the building of roadways or housing estates. Not only do they take away from the beauty of the trees themselves, but they also stunt the healthy growth of the tree, suck up its sap and energy and eventually smother it and bring it to an early death.
Yet people seem to have developed a blind spot for this blemish on the landscape, rather like the blind spot they have developed for the litter that defaces our streets and countryside and beaches, to the great disgust of tourists.
Why should it not be possible to have a clean-up scheme put into place by Coillte and the different county councils, to rid our trees and forests of this pest? Councils themselves could be responsible for the trees along the highways and byways; farmers could be made responsible for trees on their land, while Coillte could tackle the problem in the forests under its jurisdiction. - Yours, etc.,
Holy Cross Priory, Tralee, Co Kerry.