Sir, - My two-year-old daughter cried, saying "Roisin's church is broken", as we watched the vandalistic manner in which the Presbyterian Church was demolished on Wednesday. She may forget the scene of devastation and then again she may not. But it was her heritage as much as the heritage of every one in the Sandymount/Irishtown area.
It brought home to me that no property can be truly said to be private. It is shared by everyone who sees it. And those who see it daily and incorporate it into their association with their home area must surely have a rightful claim on a property's existence. And it was very clear that the community wanted to keep this important streetscape.
The Presbyterian Residential Trust claims to have "spent seven years in detailed consideration of many proposals including adapting the disused church" (The Irish Times, September 22nd). It is most regrettable that it didn't do so in conjunction with the local community. And all the more so in the past few weeks when the residents' heritage group put proposals to the Trust for adapting the building.
Dublin Corporation has failed us in this instance. It failed to list the building. The planning department failed to bring the intended demolition to the notice of the councillors. The councillors failed to pay attention to the planning application. The residents' association also failed to oppose the plan in time.
With more churches lying idle, and the "Celtic Tiger" roaring, how much more of our heritage must meet the same fate? - Yours, etc.,
Tom O'Connor, Farney Park, Dublin 4.