Madam, – Of course Two-Mile-Borris will be a success and will out-Vegas Vegas. The punters will come in their millions, because the world now knows that in Ireland we repay the losses of the most outrageous gamblers. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a former national chairman and local planning officer for An Taisce, I have had little reason in the past to doubt an Bord Pleanála’s impartiality and credibility – but not so now.
How could the board agree to a clearly unrealistic and unsustainable development of a large-scale casino, 500-bed hotel, associated dog and horse tracks and a golf course adjacent to a small village in Tipperary? The decision of an Bord was made against the advice of its own planning inspector who presided over the lengthy oral hearing and recommended refusal.
Are we going back to the period when unsustainable developments were permitted in the “boom times” and are now derelict and a scar on the landscape? How many idle hotels, ghost estates and loss-making enterprises do we need to illustrate the legacy of the so-called boom? But are we still facilitating the “high rollers”? Do we need a Las Vegas-style casino when so many of our people are out of work and trying desperately to meet their mortgage repayments and feed their children?
As for the White House, we are Irish, not American, and we should preserve our unique Irish identity and heritage for ourselves and for future generations. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Judging by the Letters page (June 14th), the casino permission has vexed all others outside of Tipperary. Not one correspondent from the area! Do they not read your publication? Do they not understand that The Irish Times be the arbiter of good taste, decency and fine planning? Are you worried? – Is mise,
Madam, – At this time of year I like to remember the trials in the exam hall all those years ago. The fantastical plans for Two-Mile Borris brings to mind Shelley’s great masterpiece Ozymandias. “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: ‘Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away”.
Do we not have enough monuments to our Celtic Tiger folly? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Is a new phrase about to enter Irish society? “What happens in Two-Mile-Borris stays in Two-Mile-Borris”? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Under the heading “Las Vegas meets Two-Mile-Borris” two of your correspondents use an unusual word, “carbuncle” (June 15th). Is this an unusual coincidence and, if so, which meaning did they intend to apply? My dictionary lists two: a severe abscess in the skin; or a bright red gem cut in a knob-like shape. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I once stood on the strip in Las Vegas and gazed in bemusement at their three-quarter scale model of the Eiffel Tower. I chuckled at this crass folly that is emblematic of Las Vegas’ tacky charm. To follow gaming parlance, a Tipperary “White House” would trump that folly in spades. A parody of a parody is about as useless as you can get. Ephemera is best left to the Americans. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The recent debate on the new casino in North Tipperary has focused on two principal issues. First, opponents of the project rightly highlight the social ills that tend to be associated with gambling/entertainment venues of this kind and argue that any conceived economic benefits are outweighed by the social costs that will most likely arise.
Second, supporters of the scheme point to the considerable tax revenues that will be generated by the casino and to the spill-over economic benefits that will be created for Two-Mile-Borris. There is, however, a third issue that merits attention. In a time of low demand and capital scarcity in Ireland, policy-makers should surely focus their efforts on encouraging private spending on areas with the most widespread economic knock-on effects.
It must surely be the case that private spending on gambling must be one of the most economically unproductive forms of output. In terms of economic welfare, gambling is surely a dead loss. At this time of constrained private demand, why is the Government facilitating such a large extraction of capital from the private economy (and into the pocket of Mr Quirke) when this money could be put to much better economic use? – Yours, etc,
A chara, – I fancy a little flutter – what are the odds of the casino in Tipperary ever actually being built? – Is mise,