Sir, As a resident of the Trendy/Alternative/Non-Establishment/Rive Gauche area of Dublin (Colm Flannery's letter of September 30th), I felt compelled to write in defence of my neighbourhood. Sesame Street that popular children's programme, has a song which goes "The Postman is a person in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood..."
Unfortunately, as well as a postman in my neighbourhood I also have gangs drinking in the streets and stag parties roaming the area, shouting and screaming until the small hours of the morning. I feel that I can only walk around safely in the late evening, knowing that there is a large Garda presence and security cameras in my neighbourhood, in my neighbourhood...
As for a 20 foot high, barbed security fence (Cian Byrne's letter, September 30th) to make it difficult to get into the area, sometimes we residents of Temple Bar have such an obstacle to overcome. No a high security fence, but Garda checkpoints, roads cordoned off and detours around the very streets where I live, when Dublin plays host to visiting dignitaries or becomes a living breathing film set.
Having said all that, I love living in the heart of the city in Temple Bar. Yet I do get a little tired of people dismissing it as trendy, cultural, Left Bank etc., while ignoring the fact that people alive in the area and are trying to encourage a sense of community.
By all means, let Temple Bar be used as a cultural carrot to attract visitors to Dublin, but such large numbers bring their own problems and there must be processes in place to cope with all these visitors. Let Temple Bar be talked about for positive rather than negative reasons let those visiting it and living there feel secure. Not too much to ask, is it? Yours, etc.,
Parliament Buildings, Dublin 2