Sir, – Over the past few days UCD, a taxpayer-funded institution, has unilaterally decided to demolish the athletics track in Belfield without any consultation with its students or with the local community (Sport, November 24th). So a piece of land in the most expensive area in Ireland has had its use changed from sport and recreation to, most likely, a car park.
UCD has cited health and safety concerns for the closure. It did not give its own athletics club or the wider athletics community the time or opportunity to raise the funds needed to improve the track and bring it back up to standard. They promise that they will build a new facility in the future without going into details as to how and when this new athletics track will be built.
UCD is fond of including photos and profiles of its sports stars in their student recruitment literature. Without adequate sports facilities, will we see a future Derval O’Rourke, James Nolan or Dave Matthews emerging? Yours, etc,