Sir, - According to The Irish Times (January 17th) An Bord Pleanala backed up An Taisce's sabotage of the National Gallery's plans for extension. An Taisce's action is not surprising, and is just another example of its negative ethos.
Another example is its continuous opposition to the Castlegregory Golf Links. The site was not a breeding ground of the natterjack toad before its establishment as a links course. Now, the golf links is one of the major breeding grounds of the natterjack toad in Ireland.
In addition, with last year's dry spring, the major breeding ponds of the toads in the Maharees, outside the links course, were dried up during the breeding season, resulting in few or no new toads. Yet spawn proliferated in the deeper ponds of the Castlegregory links.
At last year's annual meeting of An Taisce in Kerry, I made the following motion: "An Taisce congratulates the Castlegregory Golf Club for its work preserving the natterjack toad."
Needless to say, the motion went down like a lead balloon, and even failed to get a seconder!
An Taisce is a prescribed organisation. Considering its present state of negativism, I believe that that status should cease. - Yours, etc.,
The Maharees, Castlegregory, Co Kerry.