Sir, - Lest readers may think the litter problem is confined to cities, towns and main roads, I would like to stress that the plague is indeed country-wide. Recently I travelled to Cork by train and as we approached each station the grass edges were covered in rubbish, the hedgerows in plastic bags. The approaches to Portarlington were particularly disgusting.
To escape into our much-vaunted rural environment with a group of friends I set out recently to walk to Art O'Neill's grave in the mountains of west Wicklow. Proceeding down the cul-de-sac road (off the Glendalough/Hollywood road) to reach the starting point we counted over 30 wrecked cars in farms by the road, and two by the roadside. Heaps of black agricultural plastic, some obviously very old, decorated the roadside, and as we proceeded to climb up towards the grave we passed even more heaps of black, blue and green plastic.
Perhaps there is no environment officer for west Wicklow - or indeed in Iarnrod Eireann? - Yours, etc.,
Edward Gillman, Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6.