Madam, - I am encouraged by the support from Prof Ged Martin (April 30th) for my proposal to make Athlone Ireland's new capital city. (the Irish Times, April 26th).
Support also comes from the Government's own National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020, whose stated is "to achieve a better balance of social, economic and physical balance across Ireland. . .through a network of gateways and hubs". It identified "the Midland towns of Athlone/Tullamore/Mullingar" as linked gateways, and forming an equilateral triangle about 20 miles apart, they are right in "the hub" of the country.
There are many other arguments in favour of the proposal, but just take one: the tourism potential. The Grand and Royal canals pass westwards from Dublin to the river Shannon where there are many early Christian and medieval sites such as Clonmacnoise. One can imagine hordes of tourists arriving in Dublin and Shannon airports, then taking boats across the country or up the Shannon to visit the new capital and these nearby historic sites.
My proposal is a logical practical extension of the Government's National Spatial Strategy in terms of decentralisation, demographic balance and commercial development and tourism. With a Midlands Taoiseach and a Green Minister for the Environment, it surely must happen!
- Is mise,
C. T. Ó DUBHGHAILL, An Gleanntán, Corcaigh.
Madam, - I read with interest Prof Ged Martin's proposal for Ireland to build a new "Canberra-style" capital city in Co Clare to stem the unrelenting growth of Dublin . Canberra has now been the capital of Australia for over 80 years, but only about 1.5 per cent of the Australian population lives there. To put this in context, the proportion of the Irish population living in Co Clare is substantially higher than the proportion of the Australian population living in Canberra. On the other hand, 40 per cent of the Australian population is crammed into Sydney and Melbourne, and both cities are still growing rapidly.
Canberra was already the capital before the majority of Australian residents ever set foot here, so it's clear it was of little importance to most of them when deciding where to live. What leads anyone to believe that Dublin's growth would be significantly impeded if it ceased to be the capital of Ireland?
- Yours, etc,
PAT DIGNAM, Marcus Beach, Queensland, Australia.