Sir, - Summer is nigh! it's official. The two indisputable signs have been recorded the call of the cuckoo (The Irish Times, April 21st) and the first slurry spill of the season (The Irish Times April 19th).
The cuckoo lifts our hearts with the promise of an abundant summer. The other is a warning of, a different kind that we are witnessing the death of rural Ireland. Will the purpose of future visits to the countryside be to mourn the loss of our wild life? Unless somebody has the courage to grasp the nettle and tackle the issue of intensive pig farming, I'm afraid this will be the case.
Must we wait until the only sound left in the countryside is, not the cuckoo, but the churning sound of the slurry tank - as it vomits out its contents to blacken the green grass - before effective action is taken?
Please, Minister, act before it is too late - Yours, etc.,
Ballyglasson Environmental
Action Group,
Ballyglasson,
Carrickboy, Co Longford.