Sir, - I find Olivia Mitchell TD's assertion (November 3rd) that I displayed an extraordinary level of ignorance of the Dublin Transportation Initiative very disingenuous.
Ms Mitchell contends that I apologised for "the Minister for Public Enterprise's decision to postpone the Luas project." This is a wholly inaccurate and fundamentally false accusation in its entirety.
Firstly, the decision to suspend the Luas tribunal was taken at the end of September by Judge O'Leary, who is the independent judicial chairman of the Luas tribunal itself. He was left with the unenviable task of deciding whether or not to proceed with the Luas tribunal while consultants would be analysing the underground option for the Luas project. He said that it was a very difficult decision that he had to make.
Ultimately he decided, albeit reluctantly, that on balance the Luas tribunal should be temporarily suspended.
For Ms Mitchell, who is the Fine Gael spokesperson on Dublin transport, to suggest that Mary O'Rourke suspended the Luas tribunal and that I apologised for her decision is primarily an insult to the judicial independence of the Luas tribunal chairman, Judge O'Leary.
Secondly, it shows that she clearly lacks understanding of the basic "separation of powers" principle in our State between Government and the judiciary.
For a deputy of Dail Eireann, notwithstanding being the Opposition spokesperson on Dublin transport, to try to impute that a decision of an impartial member of the Irish judiciary given last September was in fact a decision of a Cabinet Minister is extremely bad form indeed. - Yours, etc.,
European Parliament Office, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.