Sir, – Donough Cahill (June 29th) writes that tourists don’t want to come and see “serried ranks of buses” on the Georgian Squares. I, as one of many coach drivers and guides who use these squares, don’t want to see them there either! As a tour guide and also a Dubliner, I love showing visitors our Georgian Dublin. But, let me give an industry’s side to the story.
1. How does Mr Cahill or Frank McDonald (Opinion, June 27th) think we get the tourists (some of them incapacitated) around and to these squares? 2. When tourists want to walk around these squares and take photos over 15 minutes or so, where do the buses go? 3. For a city teeming with tourists in the summer, the parking facilities for coaches are practically zero.
People have to be transported and for that you need a vehicle. It has to stop and park somewhere. The difficulty for me and my colleagues is trying to do all of these things without causing upset to our clients and our fellow citizens of Dublin. We would like nothing better than a massive park and ride facility for coaches, with a designated shuttle service, offering peace all round.
In the meantime, I am the one reading The Irish Timeson Merrion Square most of the summer in a green coach waiting to pick up my clients. – Yours, etc,