Madam, - Thanks to Alice Hanratty (September 3rd), I now see what separates us ordinary "Joe Soaps" from the artistic class who make up such esteemed bodies as Aosdána.
As someone who works along the River Liffey in the city centre most days, I had been labouring under the illusion that the Liffey boardwalk was a well-planned and highly popular addition to the city centre. If nothing else, it is about the only place apart from the parks where one can sit and rest weary limbs for a while. It was also the installation of the boardwalk which forced the city authorities to clean up the river, and consign the "whiffy Liffey" to the past.
All of these are positives, I thought. But, of course, the artist sees things that us mere plebeians cannot, and thanks to Ms Hanratty's missive I now know the truth: the boardwalk "serves to further clutter the river space and is ill-conceived and out of sympathy with the other architectural elements of the river such as the walls and bridges".
Why stop there, Alice Hanrarry, member of Aosdána? Start a campaign: the boardwalk must go! I'm sure all other right-thinking, artistically gifted people will happily join in. - Yours, etc,
GERRY KELLY (humble tour guide), Orwell Gardens, Rathgar, Dublin 6.