Madam, - In his article defending Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council's plans to put an eight-story private apartment and shopping complex on the site of Dún Laoghaire Baths, Frank McDonald (May 12th) claims the Save Our Seafront group is "simplistic" to describe the plan as privatisation of the seafront.
However, this "simplistic slogan" has the advantage that it describes the truth while his article for the most part does nothing more than parrot council propaganda.
This enormous private apartment block (bigger than the B&Q warehouse on the M50!) will be built on what is currently 100 per cent publicly owned property. Only those able to purchase the exclusive apartments, which will certainly cost between half a million and a million euro each, will have access to a large section of that space. That's privatisation by any definition.
A major part of the beautiful view of Scotsman's Bay from the Coast Road, currently accessible to every single member of the public who wants to enjoy it, will also be obscured by this enormous high-rise development. That is privatization and heritage vandalism to boot.
The baths development will also create a precedent for more high-rise private development along the seafront from the West Pier to Bulloch Harbour. We know this from the hugely unpopular plan already in place for a 12-storey apartment block on the nearby Carlisle Pier. We know also from the new county development plan that removed height and scale restrictions and changed zonings for key sites on the seafront.
Bit by bit more of the sea-view and more of the seafront will be accessible only to those who can pay. This is what the council mean by a "Golden mile" - a chance for developers to make a fortune destroying the public seafront.
Another "simplistic" fact Frank McDonald and the council officials, who drew up these plans, might consider is that the overwhelming majority of local residents oppose the council plans. Save Our Seafront knows this because last Sunday we organised a protest against the proposal attended by over 1,200 people - the biggest demonstration seen in Dún Laoghaire on any issue in living memory. We know it also because, unlike the council, over recent years we have knocked on thousands of doors, collected thousands of signatures and organised dozens of meetings calling for the restoration of Dún Laoghaire Baths as a fully public amenity with no apartment or office blocks. The Sandycove and Glasthule Residents' Association has now also rejected the plans and is fully supporting the Save Our Seafront campaign.
I think Frank McDonald and the council officials (when the latter gets back from Bilbao) should knock on a few random doors in Dún Laoghaire, Sandycove and Glasthule and ask people what they think of the plans. It might make them think again. Unless, of course, they think they know better than locals what is best for Dún Laoghaire seafront.
Everyone wants something to replace the current dereliction of Dún Laoghaire Baths. The difference is that locals want a fully public amenity which won't destroy the seafront and turn part of it into an exclusive area. You shouldn't have to sell your home to get the roof fixed, which is what this so-called "public-private partnership" proposal amounts to. If the council could afford to run state-of-the-art public amenities at Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire baths in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, they can certainly afford to after ten years of unprecedented economic prosperity.
I wonder how many people would turn up if Frank McDonald and the council organised a protest in favour of high-rise apartments on the seafront? - Yours etc,
RICHARD BOYD BARRETT,
Convener, Save Our Seafront,
Station Road,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.