Sir, – My wife and I were at the RDS, Croke Park and the Phoenix Park events for the World Meeting of Families.
All events were superb and well organised.
The only criticism I have is the absence of transport from O’Connell Street to the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park for the Mass on Sunday. There were no buses and no taxis from the city centre.
A nominal Luas service as far as Smithfield was provided for those able to get a seat but the service was a Sunday frequency with waiting times of up to 15 minutes between trains, and when the Luas train arrived in Abbey Street there was only space for a few people on every train, so nearly every one coming from the O’Connell Street direction walked from the city centre and back again to O’Connell Street from the Papal Cross.
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We walked 18km in all.
There is no reason why buses and taxis couldn’t have ferried people to the Phoenix Park gates and the Luas could have provided a more frequent service as far as Heuston Station from the centre of the city.
Many people, both young and old found the walk very tiring, and many others I know had wished to go but did not have the energy to walk this distance and then stand for the ceremony. – Yours, etc,
J BERNARD WALSH,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.