Sir, – The choice of items for "Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks" (Weekend, October 15th) is thought-provoking, and like all such lists gives ample scope for debate regarding what was included and what was not.
In this regard, a glaring omission has to be any representation from cinema, given it is arguably the dominant artistic medium of the 20th century, having been born and come to maturity during the period of your survey.
Is this a testament to the paucity of choices from this field, the difficulty in determining what is an “Irish” film, or some bias on the part of the compiler regarding the medium itself or film directors as “artists”? If you can include a play by an Irishman written in a foreign country in a foreign language, surely the exclusion of even a single example of the best work from Neil Jordan, Thaddeus O’Sullivan, Jim Sheridan, Bob Quinn, John Boorman or Lenny Abrahamson is curious!
An enjoyable exercise all the same. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT CHESTER,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – May I offer a correction to the Busáras caption reference in Fintan O’Toole’s excellent piece in Weekend Review (October 15th)?
The bus terminal element of Michael Scott’s iconic building became operational on Tuesday, October 20th, 1953, having been officially opened on the previous day. The photograph published was most likely taken either on that day or in the few days following, but not in 1948 as suggested.
It was as far back as October 1933 that proposals first emerged for a central bus station in Dublin for country bus services; it was initially planned for Aston’s Quay, where for many years buses departed and arrived on the side of the street in front of what was then McBirney’s department store.
The Busáras site was acquired by the Great Southern Railways (GSR) from the Dublin Port & Docks Board in 1944, but construction did not start until 1946, by which time the GSR had been amalgamated with the Dublin United Transport Company to form CIÉ. The project was beset by a series of delays and difficulties, not least of which was government ambivalence and indecision on public transport policy. The office accommodation was originally intended to house all CIÉ’s administrative staff, who were dispersed among several railway stations and other premises throughout the city. It was just one of the visionary modernisation schemes proposed by CIÉ’s first chairman, Percy Reynolds, which became victims of political expediency and lack of foresight. – Yours, etc,
CYRIL McINTYRE,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.