Sir, - The recent property boom was more than welcome when one considers how much our economy was in the doldrums in the 1980s. However, as I look out over the skyline of Dublin 7 from my office window I cannot help being dismayed.
Within a half-mile radius of my office in the Four Courts thousands (yes, thousands) of new apartments have been constructed. Many of these are occupied by people with young children or with babies. Of course, the planners will say that they were designed with single occupancy in mind. The only addition to the social amenities are one tennis court in a complex on North Brunswick Street.
I worked in the Children's Court during the 1970s and became familiar with the youngsters who were to become the top players on the Irish crime scene in the late 1980s and 1990s. The social conditions which may have paved their way into crime then are being replicated by today's planners.
There was a time when I would look at a development and wonder how planning permission could be given for it. I used to wonder over the past few years how apartment block could follow apartment block with no allowance for community welfare and recreational needs. The Flood Tribunal has sorted out all these mysteries for me.
Planners and developers should spend a year working in the Dublin Children's Court before they are allowed to create our city's living conditions. Maybe then some allowance would be made for the provision of community facilities. - Yours, etc., Bernard Neary,
Croaghpatrick Road, Navan Road, Dublin 7.