Madam, - Once again Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has voiced the Government's contempt for democracy and the rule of law. It is the duty of citizens to contest bad planning as well as sleazy, illegal and possibly corrupt decisions, using all the resources that the law provides.
If the Minister wishes to avoid infrastructural development being held up by legal action he should ensure that his Ministry, local authorities and agencies plan their projects to take full account of Irish, European and international law.
The last section of the M50 was not delayed by environmental protesters.
The delay was the direct result of a fundamentally poor planning decision by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which knowingly directed a road through a National Monument, thus releasing adjacent land for hugely profitable private development.
The Government has apparently learnt nothing from this experience.
The mistaken decision to drive a road through the most symbol-laden landscape in Ireland will ensure that the M3 will take many more years to complete. Responsible citizens will use democratic procedure to contest this latest expression of Fianna Fáil's PD-driven yahooism.
Mr Cullen, please stop wasting taxpayers' money by your stubborn refusal to admit that a mistake has been made. - Yours, etc,
GORDON DAVIES, Bray, Co Wicklow.