Sir, - I, for one, am glad that there is an election in the offing. Perhaps now, with votes and seats uppermost in the minds of politicians, the people might be able to get answers to questions which have, to date, been evaded. I hope, for example, that the Minister for the Environment, Mr Brendan Howlin, and his Dublin South Labour Party colleague and Minister of State, Ms. Eithne Fitzgerald, might tell us why almost £1 million of tax-payers' money is being spent on a halting site development in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, which has been described by members of the travelling community as "a ghetto"?
What is baffling is why the Ministers are determined to proceed despite the negative findings of the High Court in July 1996 that the proposed development:
1. Will endanger an Area of Scientific Interest (which is supposed to have the protection of the State);
2. Will create a significant risk to road-users (although road-safety is the responsibility of the Minister for the Environment);
3. Would not have been granted planning permission if sought by a private developer (double standards in public life yet again!);
4. Goes against the planning history of the area where planning applications made by local residents (for such minor developments as a single gate, single water-connection) have been consistently refused over the past 10 years!
I look forward to Ms Eithne Fitzgerald's visit to my doorstep when seeking my vote and to her explanation of the workings of democracy in Ireland when citizens are told that the Minister for the Environment "does not meet groups", and when all requests for such a meeting made by both residents and our elected TDs are turned down by the Minister!
Yes, I'm really looking forward to the next general election! - Yours, etc.,
144 Blackglen Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18.