Sir, – Making Dublin attractive for those of us who live here and for whom it is our capital city is the key to attracting tourists both domestic and international.
Doing things that we enjoy in places that we create for ourselves is more sustainable than a cast of mind that only says that something is worth doing because “it is good for tourism”.
Tourists are put off by the same things that we find unpleasant and uncomfortable, such as bad value for money, lack of “sit around” and “kick around” public open space in urban areas, and bad public transport infrastructure.
Making and maintaining our urban areas as attractive places in which to live and work takes consistent effort over periods longer than electoral cycles or annual national budgets or the short time-frames of interests based solely on easy-come and easy-go tourists. – Yours, etc,
DONAL O’BROLCHAIN,
Dublin 9.