Madam, - The proposal to demolish Ballymun flats is even more stupid than the decision to build them in the first place. What the Government should do is refurbish them and let them at low rents to anyone who wants to stay in them, but without any form of means testing. This will change the social composition of the area, and this rather than a change in architecture is what the area needs most.
What makes an area a ghetto is neither the style of building nor the range of amenities but the economic profile of the people in it. If a place has a disproportionate number of households on low incomes, it will also have more than its fair share of other problems.
While putting more facilities and traditional houses in and near Ballymun will undoubtedly help, by far the most effective way to reduce the difficulties is to bring in a large number of households with higher educational and income bases. Low rents without means testing will do just that. - Yours, etc.,
LIAM KIERAN, Blackrock, Co Louth.