Madam, - Patrick Shaffrey (an authority on such matters) notes the negligence of governments to guide or provide for development (September 25th).
Thirty-four years ago, when I returned to Bolton Street to study, there was constant criticism in the media of the lack of planning - estates without shops, schools, playgrounds, churches, etc. I remember a woman from Tallaght saying that her greatest difficulty was getting around locally. She could get a bus to town but not around Tallaght. So what has changed with this wonderful Celtic White Elephant?
I don't mean to insult Mr Shaffrey, but I am amazed by the number of people who write to your page wondering why the "Government" doesn't act on various problems. They all suffer from the same illusion - that the "Government" actually cares. Let's all grow up, folks! - Yours, etc,
A.J. QUINN, Architect, Fort Mary Park, Limerick.
Madam, - When I was heading for a swim at Seapoint last Sunday afternoon, my attention was drawn to a prominently positioned planning notice attached to railings on the coast road. The content of this notice was attracting a lot of attention and causing agitation among both local residents and visitors.
Apparently, what was being advanced by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was planning permission for the reclamation of land from the sea at Merrion Strand, South Bull and Sandymount Strand collectively, in order to provide for a housing scheme, dual carriageway and aerodrome, no less! Luckily, it turns out this appalling vista was an elaborate hoax.
The interesting aspect of all of this is the ease with which the public were prepared to believe such an incredible travesty could actually be contemplated. Truly, a depressing reflection of the all-too-real questionable and dishonest planning decisions we have witnessed in this country during this last decade, when unprecedented prosperity has been coupled with naked greed. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6w.
Madam, - Further to Patrick Shaffrey's call for more effort to plan the growth of our communities, surely the most exasperating feature of the absence of such planning and the ignoring of the spatial strategy is that the Taoiseach himself is perfectly well aware of the resultant damage.
Mr Ahern never loses an opportunity to tell of how he has read Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, a study which is precisely about how a lack of planning, particularly when it leads to long-distance commuting by car, is taking away the time for volunteerism and destroying people's opportunity to participate in a community.
It really is high time the Taoiseach stopped telling us about this book and started implementing good long-term planning. - Yours, etc,
JONATHAN NEWMAN, Victoria Street, Dublin 8.