Madam, - I read with dismay (January 7th) the judge's ruling against Mr Michael Mulcreevy's objections to the building of a roundabout over important medieval remains on the M50 extension at Carrickmines Castle.
That Mr Mulcreevy should be facing a legal bill of up to €100,000 and that costs were awarded against him in favour of the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government also fills me with dismay.
Mr Mulcreevy displayed the courage to embrace a cause of national and public importance, and one can only wonder at the justice of the financial penalty levied against him for doing so.
The ruling highlights two issues: both a cavalier attitude towards Ireland's heritage by a Government Department established to protect it (or so the inclusion of "heritage" in its title suggests) and, whether one agrees with Mr Mulcreevy's campaign or not, the financially repressive stranglehold that the legal system exercises over the supposed democratic right of an individual to raise issues in the public interest.
What price freedom of speech and the privilege of being heard? - Yours, etc.,
Dr SARAH ALYN STACEY, French Department, Trinity College,
Dublin 2.