Madam, - "World-class infrastructure" for Dublin, as demanded by Tony Boyle of North Dublin Chamber of Commerce (April 23rd), would certainly be desirable. I take it he means an adequate level of mobility for the inhabitants and good access to a full range of local services and amenities.
Let's take the Munich region, with a similar population to Dublin's, as an example. There we find six underground and eight Dart-like railway lines, all crossing the city; an airport, relocated in good time to a site outside the well-defined city limits and linked to the national high-speed rail network; carefully planned, medium-density neighbourhoods; everyday shopping and ample green spaces within easy walking distance of just about everyone; a complete ring of compact satellite towns with open countryside in between.
If the business community shares this vision, it is greatly to be welcomed. It's just a few decades too late - after decades of chaotic development, driven largely by businesses too short-sighted to recognise even their own longer-term interests.
Who could blame a national government for investing the limited funds available in the smaller urban regions, where there are still prospects of rescuing something, rather than shovelling them into the bottomless pit of Dublin's irreparable planning disaster?
Why should the North Dublin Chamber of Commerce be rescued from the consequences of its own past ignorance? - Yours, etc,
BEN HEMMENS,
Graz,
Austria.