Sir, - The City Manager, John Fitzgerald, maintains that the new pedestrian bridge linking Eustace Street with Ormond Quay is a vital project - prompting the question: vital for whom? It is certainly vital if increasing the value of Eustace Street and Jervis Street properties, which have already benefited massively from State hype and subsidy, is the goal. Mr Fitzgerald says it is a modern symbol: £1.5 million for a symbolic bridge, just 100 yards either side of which are two other perfectly good bridges.
Imagine for a moment a bridge which both symbolised modern Dublin and served to open up the city, alleviating congestion and spreading the public purse beyond the dozen acres of the spoilt and petulant Shirley Temple Bar. Such a bridge would be a true test of engineering and design skill and would connect the currently remote lower north and south quays. A lifting, lower Liffey pedestrian bridge would, at five times the price, be of infinitely greater value to the city than Mr Fitzgerald's "symbol". - Yours, etc., Richard Callanan,
Mount Pleasant Avenue Upper, Dublin 6.