Madam, - Your recent Editorial on cherishing Dublin Bay was most appropriate. It followed the announcement of a task force to report on the state of the bay.
In my opinion there is one issue that the task force must prioritise: the Bull Island. In your newspaper perhaps 10 years ago I was involved in open correspondence with the late, great Noel Carroll about the silting up of the inlets on either side of the Bull Island causeway.
My concern then was that the channels would eventually fill in completely. Mr Carroll, on behalf of Dublin Corporation, disagreed.
Unfortunately, it is now obvious that I was right and the island status of the Bull Island is at risk. This is a unique amenity for the citizens of Dublin. It is, as I understand it, the only Unesco-recognised wildlife sanctuary within the confines of a capital city in Europe.
The mistake that was made was to build a causeway, rather than a bridge, impairing the natural scouring effect of the tides, particularly the high tide which would come down as a bore from the Sutton end of the Bull Island and completely wash the inner shoreline of island and Clontarf. - Yours, etc,
FRANK McMANUS FRCSI,
Baily,
Co Dublin.