Sir, – I was very interested to read in Sylvia Thompson’s Nature Diary (Weekend Review, September 5th) that the None So Hardy forest nursery was forced to shred thousands of oak saplings this year.
This is all the more shocking since this spring my local authority planted oak saplings imported from Holland.
These saplings subsequently had to be chipped and buried by representatives of the Department of Agriculture as they were infested with an invasive species – the oak processionary moth – a species not found in Ireland.
I cannot begin to understand why Irish local authorities are importing diseased trees at the same time as native producers are having to destroy homegrown stock! – Yours, etc,
READ SOME MORE
PATRICIA KELLY,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.