Sir, - Well done, Mary Harney. She is a courageous person to open out the water controversy. We, in Ireland, have no longer got the free and easy amounts of water to which we have been accustomed. In recent years our climate appears to have changed, and we no longer have months of winter rain. We have hard dry winters with plenty of harsh drying winds. We also waste water at an alarming rate, because we take it for granted.
Some severe measures will have to be taken if we and our agriculture are to survive the summer months, judging by the levels to be seen in the reservoirs in Dublin and Wicklow. All this trouble over water would not have arisen if the rates had not been abolished some years ago.
That was a sad day for the country, and the sooner rateable valuation returns, the better. You cannot run a country without rates being collected. We are a nation of grabbers - everything for free - and it is time we woke up to the true situation, particularly as regards water. -Yours, etc.,
Green Road,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.