Sir, – I was delighted to read that the proposal for a whitewater rafting centre at St George's Dock in Dublin has been knocked back (News, March 22nd). This was never anything more than a Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan vanity project that would offer precisely nothing to the local people.
North Wall and Sheriff Street remains one of the most deprived areas of our city. Surely some decent facilities that local people could use would be a far better use of taxpayers’ money than a €25 million white elephant. Dublin City Council is out of touch and Dubliners deserve better than hare-brained ideas dreamt up in coffee shops by highly paid, unelected bureaucrats. Try providing some bins and cleaning the streets for starters, or is that too mundane for the council? – Yours, etc,
SIMON LYSAGHT,
Sandymount,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – As we are an island, haven’t we enough water all around us without rafting on it in the middle of Dublin city? – Yours, etc,
BOB O’CONNOR.
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Congratulations to the Minister for Local Government for applying a good dose of common sense and refusing funding for this project.
From the outset, this project by Dublin City Council was steeped in vanity and foolishness. It was highly inappropriate at a time when such funding could be used for so many other more worthy projects. – Yours, etc,
DENIS O’SHAUGHNESSY,
Kilbride,
Co Meath.