Madam, - Bridge strikes by lorries against railway overbridges can cause catastrophic accidents. Already this year there have been 30 strikes at Portlaoise because drivers ignored repeated warnings on the approach to two overbridges.
Over the years the political and bureaucratic establishment has been irresponsible in its indulgence of the road haulage interests and their indisciplined operators. At the same time rail freight has been allowed by successive Ministers of Transport to decay to near invisibility. Now not a kilogram of freight is carried out of Dublin by rail and not one railborne container passes over the vulnerable bridges at Portlaoise.
When is Ireland to be allowed to have an inland freight transport policy worthy of the name, and when is the Government going to appoint a Minister of Transport with a modicum of intelligence and foresight? - Yours, etc,
Prof GL HUXLEY, Church Enstone, Oxfordshire, England.