Sir, - The Glen of the Downs, regarded as one of the scenic gems of Co Wicklow, is now doomed to destruction. Wicklow County Council proposes to widen the N11 motorway for the benefit of fast cars. The lovely glen will be no more. Thousands of trees will have to be cut down and the habitats of innumerable birds, mammals, insects and many forms of plant life will be exterminated. It is a tragedy.
Excessive speed is regarded as the major cause of road accidents in Ireland today. Why, then, are greater efforts not made to induce or force motorists to drive at moderate and controllable speeds? Instead, roads are everywhere being widened and straightened. This has the effect of encouraging many road users to drive faster and faster, to the point of recklessness.
The relatively narrow road through the Glen of the Downs acts as a natural check on vehicles as they race along the N11. Motorists should not be outraged if they have to slow down.
Due to the faulty educational system that has prevailed in this country for many years, there is a widespread indifference to the natural environment. That great Ulsterman Richard Hayward once wrote of "the bounty of nature upon which man is turning his back in this atomic age, to his own spiritual and physical destruction . . ." He was right.
Soon we shall be lamenting the end of the Glen of the Downs, as it has been known and loved by countless generations. We can then identify with the sadness of the poet William Cowper when he wrote. "The poplars are fell'd; farewell to the shade
And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade." - Yours, etc., Ernan Morris,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.