Sir, - Some hours before the North and East Wall residents community "No High Rise" protest to the Planning Appeals Offices, the Spencer Dock Neighbourhood Newsletter (SDNN), Access, was pushed through our letter-boxes.
The "Docklands not Shadowlands" placards carried by the local protesters encapsulated their fears and concerns about the proposed high rise development but the SDNN rather cynically and patronisingly ignored these concerns. The slick PR document contained several pieces of misinformation. Principal among these are the misleading computer generated graphics. Without any reference to scale and clever use of perspective and angles the effect of the images is to minimise the dominance of the proposed structures. Instead, heavy emphasis is given to topics such as "fresh air", "improve(d) house values", and "easy access". This latter point refers to residents' ability to walk through the completed development. The newsletter also included a confidential jobs register.
I personally object to the Spencer Dock Development Group delivering misleading and expensive PR material through my letterbox and suggest its interest in the local community, if genuine, would be better served through an honest response to local concerns about overshadowing, rather than empty hype.
It is interesting to note that all political parties, except Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, were represented at the protest. - Yours, etc., Ger Philpott,
East Wall, Dublin 3.