Sir, – In relation to the naming of the new Liffey Bridge, it should be recognised that while James Connolly was an iconic hero to both myself and my late brother, Tony Gregory, he already has a railway station, a hospital and a monument dedicated to his memory in Dublin. Personally, I regard WB Yeats as the greatest poet of the 20th century, and a literary immortal. Nevertheless, I believe we should dedicate this new bridge to the memory of an ordinary Dubliner, a local hero, Tony Gregory.
This would be most fitting as I always regarded Tony as a bridge between the industrial working class on the Marlborough Street side of the Liffey and the State bureaucracy on the other side. In life, for party political reasons, Tony was always excluded from being lord mayor of his native city. I fear that in death, this opportunity to perpetuate his memory and legacy will be lost due to the preponderance of Labour Party councillors who will champion their founder James Connolly. That is the way the cookie crumbles in politics.
I propose that on this occasion party politics be set aside and that a local hero be honoured. – Yours, etc,