Sir, - The ESB's current, rather jolly advertisement accompanying our latest bill makes much of its caring attitude to the environment.
Recycling is important. "Buy reusable shopping bags." Make compost. Save water. "Leave the car at home from time to time."
The ESB exhorts us all to save energy and, before we buy new washing machines, to check they are energy efficient. The ESB commands us not to litter - "and don't tolerate those who do."
Not a word, however, about the mighty pylons with which the ESB itself plans to litter the unspoiled landscape west of the Shannon. The ESB is perfectly happy to industrialise a significant part of the countryside from Carrick-on-Shannon to the Yeats County of Sligo, against the opposition of farms, villages and towns along the way.
The north-west needs power. But it needs it underground. - Yours, etc.,
Brigid O'Hara, Coopershill, Riverstown, Co Sligo.