Sir, - Following the successful lobbying by the Minister for Arts and Gaeltacht, Riversdale seems to have been given a reprieve and South Dublin County Council is unlikely to grant planning permission for its demolition. While many people will welcome this decision to issue a "stay of execution" on the former abode of W. B. Yeats, it should be noted that the poet's residence there was a relatively short one - from 1932 until 1938.
His Galway tower-house, Thor Ballylee, has been restored as a place of pilgrimage and the annual summer school in Sligo further commemorates his literary memory, but Coole Park in Co Galway still remains a stunted ruin. When Lady Gregory sold the property to the Irish Land Commission in 1927 it was on the understanding that the house would not be razed to the ground. And the demolition of Bowen's Court in Co Cork - the former home of Elizabeth Bowen - is another case of shameful neglect of the home of a famous writer and woman of letters.
Now that Ireland is a more affluent place and has many creative architects experienced in the restoration of old houses, might it be possible to reconstruct Coole Park and Bowen's Court? Poland faithfully rebuilt the historic buildings which Hitler had blitzed in the second World War. In fact, an Irish architect has worked on such reconstruction projects. - Yours, etc.,
Brendan O'Grady, Sao Paulo, Brazil.