Sir, – As a parent, I am devastated; as an architect, I am appalled; as an urbanist, I am incredulous; above all, as a citizen, I am enraged.

When will the common good take precedence over sectoral interests? – Yours, etc,

Sir, – The refusal of the planning application for the new children’s hospital at the Mater site will come as a great shock and disappointment to the many members of the public and the project proposers, who have invested such considerable time, effort and cost. It will not, however, come as much of a surprise to many professional planners, who will see this as the right decision and the only logical, planning outcome. While the location is arguably good from a city-planning perspective, there is an unbridgeable gap between the capacity of the site and the sheer size and scale of the proposed development.

So, what lessons can be learned and how can we progress as quickly as possible with a new proposal? The first must be to include planning concerns, and involve professional planners, at the earliest stage of the project. The second, is to give planning concerns appropriate weight alongside medical, operational and design concerns – after all, the project will ultimately pass through our open development management process. The third is to set about a proper process of site selection – one which is based on a balanced set of criteria and one which can isolate a suitably large site, with good access for patients and visitors and workers (particularly from public transport), with potential to benefit from, and contribute to, the fabric, life and economy of the city.

Finally, it could be argued that proposals of this scale and importance should not emerge in the development management process, prior to an open and consultative, city-wide study as part of a review or variation of the city development plan. This would “frontload” the planning decision- making process, reduce the risk of refusal of the planning application and, very importantly, avoid the squandering of time, effort and money. We must remember that the children’s hospital is not just a hospital but a major and important piece of the fabric, life and economy of our city. – Yours, etc,

PAUL DORAN,

Monastery Walk,

Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

A chara, – Are we seriously expected to believe that nobody in any interested part of the entire public service had a Plan B for a new children’s hospital in case An Bord Pleanála said no? If not, why not? – Is mise,

SEÁN O KIERSEY,

Kill Abbey,

Deansgrange,

Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Sir, – What’s wrong with the old Irish Glass Bottle site at Ringsend? It’s very large, available and close to St Vincent’s Hospital. And access from the west and north of Dublin, and indeed everywhere else in the country, would be easy via the M50, the tunnel and the toll bridge. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – An Bord Pleanála has done the ordinary citizen, from city or countryside, a great service and not just for aesthetic reasons. Before another site is selected (there is no scarcity of half-developed eyesores available), let all those who thought that the Mater site was fine be forced to rush seriously ill children to the Eccles Street area without Garda escort privileges. They will find that access is almost impossible due traffic congestion; parking is a joke and when they eventually return to their cars to add to their worry and misery, they will find the windows on their car smashed. This was our experience on two occasions.

Thank you again Bord Pleanála, increasingly. Politicians don’t seem to be constrained by the rights or needs of ordinary citizens. It is good to see that at least one part of our administrative system has not become corrupted. – Yours, etc,

HUGH DOYLE,

Lagore Road,

Dunshaughlin

Co Meath.

Sir, – By sheer chance, I decided to Google my father’s name, John Longmore, as I am tracing my family tree.  To my surprise after years of no success your story came up (“Names of boys burned out of care home released”, Home News, February 20th) and my father’s name was there.

We know 11 of the boys’ names listed and your story confirms for the first time from an Irish source what happened to these young boys.  I can inform you that the benefactor’s name was Andrew Reid who arranged for these boys to go to Burnside Homes at Parramatta, NSW, Australia.  Mr Reid sponsored these boys throughout their life at Burnside, with my father telling me that they often stayed on Mr Reid’s property at Yass, NSW, Australia.  The boys said they had a happy life at Burnside.  Miss White (a matron who you reported had accompanied the boys from England) was with them at Burnside also.  I remember meeting Miss White when I was a young child.  When she left Burnside she resided in Toongabbie (not far from Parramatta) and the boys as they grew older used to visit her.  She was like a mother to them.

Our family attended the Burnside Reunion on October 15th, 2011 where they had the homes open for inspection and they have been kept in excellent order.  The home Mr Reid had built for these boys was of a very high standard.

As the men married and had families they tried to trace their own parents – some were successful, some were not.  My father was one of the unsuccessful ones – there was always this brick wall we would come up against.   My sister even tried when she was in Ireland in 1990.

My father told us he remembered the boat being fired at as they sailed out of the harbour and he  always said his religion was the Church of Ireland before he came to Australia.  He was employed over the years as a gardener, waterside worker and transport driver. He enlisted in the Australian army during the second World War with Thomas Metcalf.  John Longmore died on June 6th, 1987 and is survived by his wife, Doreen, daughters Maureen and Kathleen, two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

These men were like brothers to each other, always looking out for each other and they kept in contact with each other until they died.  Our families still keep in contact with most of them nowadays.

We will be sending copies of your article to their families:  Metcalf, Farrell and Shaw.

My family are very grateful for your article today and thank God for guiding my fingers to Google today. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – In response to Barry Dowling’s letter (February 23rd) concerning “an international soccer crowd”, I agree there is some truth in the suggestion that the rugby supporters possess the high moral ground with regard to some aspects of crowd behaviour.

Yet would it be too much to request for this superiority to be translated into something resembling an atmosphere at these rugby games? Never-ending renditions of the Fields of Athenryand “Ireland – Ireland” following the outrageous double anthem to include the horrific Ireland’s Callin the interest of political correctness, are becoming quite tedious.

Maybe this is to be expected in a stadium with its naming rights sold and its national team playing with its jerseys adorned by a corporate sponsor.

If we wish to learn from our soccer team or our Welsh conquerors, perhaps we could start by trying to compete with their singing in the hope that the performance on the pitch and atmosphere catches up. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – In my days playing schoolboy rugby, alas long, long ago at this stage, I recall being told that soccer was a gentleman’s game played by ruffians and rugby was a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen. – Yours, etc,

Sir – Both Declan Bannon (February 21st) and Barry Dowling (February 23rd) are in danger of starting a completely unnecessary row about whether Irish rugby or soccer fans are better behaved. In this country we have a national fault that seems incapable of giving ourselves credit where it is due. Our international reputation in many areas is far higher than you would believe if all you could see was Irish media coverage.

In fact Irish fans of both soccer and rugby enjoy a deserved reputation for being extremely sporting, passionate and impeccably behaved. This was proved by both sets of fans in the same Paris stadium in the past few years. Whether our teams do well or badly our supporters represent us superbly. This is something that we can all be proud of. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – It was with considerable dismay and sadness that I learned of the death of Sunday Timesjournalist, Marie Colvin and her French photographer colleague, Remi Ochlik during the Syrian government’s bombardment of the beleaguered city of Homs.

She died doing what she loved and what she firmly believed in: bringing the reality of  life for ordinary people caught in a conflict to international attention. This is what she was doing in Homs, and is why she paid the ultimate price.

Over the years, she had covered conflicts in Bosnia, Zimbabwe, Chechnya and in Sri Lanka, where she lost an eye after stepping on a land mine. Despite this incredibly debilitating injury, she resolved to go on reporting from the world’s most dangerous conflicts.

Her most recent dispatches about what was happening to ordinary Syrians were among the most harrowing I have ever heard and put paid to the claim disseminated by the Syrian government that it is fighting a war against “terrorists”.

I had the good fortune to meet Marie Colvin several times in East Timor in 1999 as the Indonesian military and its hired militias set about systematically destroying the impoverished island and deporting its population following the overwhelming vote for independence.

What impressed me most was utter determination to stay on and defy the Indonesian military, which like the Syrian government now, didn’t want its violence against civilians exposed to world attention. Indeed it was her resolute determination to stay on in the besieged UN compound and report on the plight of the 1,500 Timorese seeking refuge there that galvanised other journalists into staying.

Colvin’s dispatches from Dili, played a considerable role in pressuring the international community into action, thereby helping to save the lives of the trapped Timorese in the UN compound.

Let us hope that her death helps galvanise the international community into a more united, concerted effort to pressure the Assad regime to stop slaughtering its own citizens, thereby saving the lives of thousands of Syrians.

I cannot think of a more fitting tribute to her life and work. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – 342. It is clear that Irish Timesreaders will never be short of excuses for the state of the country. – Yours, etc,