Sir, - Your correspondent Thomas Downey highlights the need to capitalise on the coming Tour de France to Ireland in the interests of cycling. The Dun Laoghaire 1500 company, which has been charged with the job of marking Dun Laoghaire's 1,500th birthday during 1998, has made a number of submissions to those organising Le Tour en Irlande. Our submission proposes "that we commence a cycling event over our town and harbour roads shortly after the Tour's visit to Ireland so as to take advantage of the great interest generated by the visit of the Tour de France. We envisage the cycling event to be held as an integral part of the Dun Laoghaire 1500 celebrations and like all new events planned for the 1500 celebrations we would continue to hold the event in following years."
For several years up to the 1960s a cycling event was a highlight of summer in Dun Laoghaire, but the increasing number of cars and the attitude of the "powers that be" forced it off the road.
With the new progressive attitude to such events, we can see no reason why Dun Laoghaire cannot capitalise in the interests of cycling as suggested by your wellinformed correspondent. - Yours, etc.,
Dun Laoghaire 1500 Ltd, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.