Sir, – There was a time when the powers that be got an idea that it would be good to cover a major canal in Ireland with concrete and create a road. Luckily, good sense prevailed (helped by a massive public campaign). No road was built.
Waterways Ireland does a good job in general, and a huge number of Irish citzens and tourists enjoy the amenity of the canals, no more so than in Dublin city, which is short of “lungs”, natural places where wildlife thrives and people can breathe, walk and enjoy peace and quiet.
But now Waterways Ireland wants the Dublin City Council to renew the license for fast food markets along the canal at Mespil and Wilton Place and Percy Place. These markets are quite unsuitable for their location, and bring noise and disruption of every kind every time they are held.
It is inexplicable how the council, or Waterways Ireland, could imagine that such activity is compatible with good planning. The area in question is already teeming with restaurants and food outlets of every kind, plying their trade on the surrounding streets, so the temporary visiting food markets are completely unnecessary.
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Perhaps the planners will allow this unhappy scheme to go the way of the concrete idea. I hope they will realise that they will only get credit for reversing a mistake and returning this part of our Irish heritage to the ordinary citzens. – Yours, etc,
GEMMA HUSSEY,
Dublin 4.