Sir, - I have followed with interest the correspondence on Sandymount Presbyterian Church, which I attended in the 1930s and 1940s. This building has outlived its original purpose and is of no historical or architectural importance. If the Presbyterian Church had wished to capitalise on the site it could have sold it years ago. Some developer would have bought it and you could have a petrol station or a drive-in bank there now!
My family have lived in the vicinity of Sandymount/Merrion for over 100 years (if you doubt it, check the headstones in St Matthew's, Irishtown). How many of the protesters can claim that? How many are Presbyterians or even Protestants? The Presbyterian Church is to be commended for its proposals.
If the protesters are so concerned about this social development and desire something else, let them put their money where their placards are, and that goes for the politicians who have joined in. - Yours, etc.,
T. G. Lockhart, Pine Valley Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.