Madam, – Diarmuid Ó Gráda’s argument that trees deter people from entering St Stephen’s Green would suggest that he has never set foot there. I sometimes have to leave, it is so crowded. It is crowded because it is surrounded by trees, which makes it a place apart from the city. That is what parks are for.
That is what human beings want. To cut the trees down would be barbarism. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Dr Diarmuid Ó Gráda (Opinion, August 6th) suggests that St Stephen’s Green should be returned to its Georgian condition as the “continuous high greenery, concealing the marvellous public space” sequesters the Green from the public.
Dr Ó Gráda fails to understand the public use of St Stephen’s Green in its current configuration. Far from sequestering the public from the Green, the trees and shrubbery sequester the traffic from the public. St Stephen’s Green is a pedestrian oasis of calm in the middle of some of the busiest car traffic in the city. Removing the greenery and exposing the square would kill our Green as we currently know it.
However, Merrion Square, only recently actually open to the public, would stand to benefit from some opening up. Merrion Square suffers by having small inadequate and scarce entrances that make this public space less accessible than it should be. I say for Merrion Square: get rid of the fence, but keep the greenery. – Yours, etc,