Sir, - Frank McDonald painted a euphoric picture of a brave, emerging Dublin, and heaped praise on John Fitzgerald and his colleagues in Dublin Corporation.
He quoted Mr Fitzgerald as saying that "Dublin must be out there competing with Glasgow, Edinburgh and even Vienna." While this is a nice idea, Mr Fitzgerald should pay a visit to Edinburgh to see the extent of his aspirations. It is possible to walk for miles in that beautiful (and predominantly Georgian) city without seeing any hideous pvc forward-tilting windows, which are the norm here. It is also possible to walk on pavements and roadways of set stones and limestone flags which somehow are not dug up and discarded. Compare that with the unlovely cobblelock pavements around Grafton Street, speckled with discarded chewing gum and liberally gapped and covered with tar after repeated excavations. Look also at the pavements around the city which are covered in chipped and broken concrete.
Frank McDonald kept perhaps the most interest point of his article (and a total cop-out) till the last paragraph when he said: "Only the filth created by its people seems fated to stay the same, despite a much-improved effort by the Corporation to keep the streets clean. Dear old dirty Dubbellin, sure where would we be without it?"
So, having somewhat solved the parking problem in the city, it seems that there are no plans to tackle the cancerous problem of Dublin's filth. I certainly don't notice the "much-improved efforts of Dublin Corporation". As for Frank's comment about "dear old dirty Dubbellin", are we just meant to see filth in terms of endearment to this dirty city? With that attitude I think the problem will certainly continue indefinitely.
No, despite the Celtic Tiger and those hardworking people at Wood Quay, Dublin will never be an Edinburgh, let alone a Vienna. - Yours, etc., Matthew Barrett,
Ashley Court, Clyde Road, Dublin 4.