Madam, - We welcome Cllr Oisín Quinn's article (Opinion, October 13th) arguing that the green spaces in Dublin should be retained and not developed in an ad hoc way for housing or other such developments. He was responding to an earlier article by W.K. Nowlan (October 4th).
The open lands within Dublin city, whether they belong to institutions, public bodies or attached to private dwellings, are very precious assets indeed. In visual and environmental terms they are a vital part of the city's structure. In recent years we have lost too many of these open lands to ad hoc and un-integrated developments. Generally their retention will provide greater options for future generations.
There are still large areas of brownfield development, buildings that are are empty or obsolete and whose creative development will add more to the sustainable development of the city.
It is encouraging to see a city councillor taking the long and, in our opinion, correct view regarding one of the major planning challenges the city now faces. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICK SHAFFREY, GRÁINNE SHAFFREY, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1.