Madam, – St Stephen’s Green is a valuable amenity for any person lucky enough to spend a sunny afternoon in Dublin city.
In recent weeks, however, it has had a somewhat cramped atmosphere due to the construction surveys being carried out in relation to the proposed underground station.
We have been assured that the reduction in area of this valuable national asset is necessary. This is a result of the need to locate the site centrally and the high cost of any such site.
It strikes me, however, that recently our Government spent a vast sum of money acquiring a far less valuable asset which fulfils the necessary criteria. The headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank is only a couple of hundred metres from the proposed site. Development at this location would surely be preferable for a number of reasons.
First, the building is an eyesore in need of a facelift. Second, there are presumably extensive basement levels existing which could reduce building costs. Third, placing the station closer to the commuter offices of Baggot Street and Stephen’s Green East would dilute somewhat the crowds that might threaten Grafton Street’s charm.
Making O’Connell Street a bus depot diminished its importance as a shopping street.
Kildare Street, on the other hand, is eerily quiet, with several buildings in disrepair and would benefit from a shift in the focus of such a service.
Finally, it is fitting that an institution which provided loans for the projects which turned so much of our countryside into building sites be developed in order to save one of the few remaining green spaces in the city. – Yours, etc,
SÉAMUS Ó COIGLIGH,
Mornington,
Co Meath.