Madam, - I am confused by the recent controversy concerning Mr Cullen's decision to lift restrictions on one-off housing. He is a democratically elected representative and a duly appointed Minister for the Environment. It is his right and duty to make decisions on issues pertaining to the environment.
It strikes me that too many voters are ignorant of what actually constitutes a democracy. The democratic process is not about ideology or philosophy. It is at best a process of discovering an aggregate of opinion, and thus policy, that offends the least amount of voters possible.
The decision to allow unfettered building of anything anywhere, while possibly immoral, certainly disastrous, is more importantly popular with voters. That is democracy. It is the price we pay for freedom. Those who now choose to attack Mr Cullen are guilty of pious ignorance. Their only option is to convince the people who matter, i.e., the voters, that destroying the environment is in fact a bad thing. Everything else is undemocratic and pointless. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL BOWLER,
Charvey Court,
Rathnew,
Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Bertie Ahern said at the Fianna Fáil ardfheis, with reference to the reversal of policy on one-off housing: "We believe that people who are born in an area, who live in an area, and who contribute to an area should be entitled to build their homes in that area. That is Fianna Fáil policy, that is government policy, that is our philosophy".
I moved to Cork city two years ago because I could not afford to buy or build in South Dublin, where I was born and reared. Could he please arrange a home for me in Rathfarnham, if that's his philosophy? - Yours, etc.,
PATRICIA BURNS, Semenery Villas, Blackpool, Cork.