Sir, – David McWilliams’ (“Weekend, July 17th) reflection on the power of public relations is quite fascinating.
He is indeed the first victim of it as he quotes data on pedestrianisation released by Dublin City Council. He seems to take at face value these North Korean-style statistics.
The reality is much more nuanced. Dublin Can Be Heaven (a group of businesses, mostly owner-run, around Grafton Street) conducted a pedestrianisation survey that shows, for starters, that DCC’s surveys seem to be designed to justify decisions that have already been made by council officials.
Calling for the closure of a car park in the city centre may sound good in a world where one values one’s image so much as to sacrifice other people’s livelihood for it.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Yet it would not bestow an Italian-style weather on the Irish capital, it would just hammer the final nail in the coffin of those unique boutique businesses which depend on car borne shoppers and that have barely survived the Covid crisis.
– Yours, etc,
JEAN MARTIN DENIAU,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Can someone explain to me why telling drivers to turn right instead of left on to South William Street when they exit the Brown Thomas car park to facilitate a pedestrian area is being talked about as if they’re being banned from driving entirely?
One might be forgiven for thinking that the so-called fundamentalists are the drivers themselves, not other road users. – Yours, etc,
COLIN McGOVERN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.