Sir, – As an outside observer of the ongoing Strand Road cycle track trial saga, it has been amusing to note the logical contortions and contradictions objectors have notched up.
Dublin City Council was accused initially of not addressing knock-on effects in neighbouring streets, only to then be denounced for making it up as it went along ("Why is Dublin City Council so determined to ruin Sandymount?", Opinion & Analysis, December 17th) when it updated the plan to allow for this.
My favourite was the claim in the same article that there are very few cyclists at present, therefore a cycle track is not warranted. I’m looking forward to the next proposal of a bridge over the Liffey. I can point out that very few people are swimming across the river, so why do we need a bridge?
There were the assertions that an environmental impact assessment should be carried out, accompanied by the suggestions that an alternative route through a Unesco biosphere should be constructed instead (Letters, December 16th).
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The latest correspondence (Letters, January 16th) – which says that there's no point in doing a trial now because there's not enough traffic – appears to negate all the predictions that the effect on traffic will be catastrophic.
However, the choice of metaphor, “like testing the Sandymount flood defences during a drought”, seems horrifically apt. If we don’t do more to combat climate change, like reducing motor traffic, Strand Road and much of the Dublin coast will be completely flooded in a few decades – drought or no drought! – Yours, etc,
BRIAN McARDLE,
Leixlip, Co Kildare.