Sir - The campaign to save the Phoenix Park Racecourse for posterity received a major setback (though not yet a terminal one) at a Fingal County Council meeting on May 21st. Fine Gael (with the courageous exception of Cllr Joan Maher), Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats voted en bloc - forcing a 13-10 majority in favour of rezoning the lands involved. The margin had been halved from a previous vote.
The long and valiant efforts of the Phoenix Park Racecourse Preservation Association were supported by the Turf Club, the Association of Irish Racehorse Trainers, the Irish National Bookmakers' Association, and the Racing Club of Ireland. In the final analysis, however, when the date for submissions came and went, there was no support from the Irish Horseracing Authority, the breeders and the owners. Indeed, the Fingal County Manager could say (prior to the vote that day) that he had consulted with the IHA which had expressed no interest in restoring the Phoenix Park and was concentrating on developing Leopardstown (owned by the IHA), Fairyhouse and Punchestown. We are led to believe that at least two other councillors would have followed Joan Maher's example had they received any encouragement from the IHA. "The Park" would have been preserved not only for racing but also for other local recreational facilities.
Not for the first time we must now ask - who makes such policy decisions on the Irish Horseracing Authority? Board members, to whom I have spoken, were unaware of such a policy - as, apparently, was the Turf Club.
Moreover, we must now ask if the Taoiseach supports the view that there is no longer room for a racecourse in north Dublin (where once, in my lifetime, there were two). Is this the policy of Fine Gael and/or the Progressive Democrats? These are questions which should be asked in the course of the upcoming local and European elections. - Yours, etc.,
Kevin G. A. Smith, President, The Racing Club of Ireland, Goatstown, Dublin 14,.