SIR – After the publication of my article on the tourism plans for Dursey Island in The Southern Star, I received many agreeing mails, but none of the writers wanted to read their name in the newspaper.
When people no longer dare to speak freely and openly because they fear being scorned by their neighbours, something goes terribly wrong.
Where has the famous Irish community spirit gone, the social cohesion that characterised rural areas in particular?
Do only jobs and profit count today? And if so, has the pandemic not proved how unwise it is to hope only for the tourist industry?
Some opponents of the project console themselves with the hope that the new cable car will not be realised due to lack of money.
Instead of relying on it, they should remember the Burren Action Group.
It was a collective of concerned people from Co Clare who fought against government’s plans to build a large scale interpretative centre in the Burren area.
One of its members was the priest and poet, John O’Donohue, who described in painfully accurate words what he was protesting: ‘The wheels of greed are rolling.’
With regard to the Dursey cable car project, an extension of time has been requested, so a decision is unlikely to be taken before November.
Time enough to stop the wheels of greed.
Nicole Quint,
Berlin, Germany.
