Sir, – At last the new Liffey Bridge has been named – after Rosie Hackett, who was involved in the 1913 Lockout. You state (Front page, September 3rd) this is the first time any bridge over the river has been called after a woman.
However, this is not quite true. The first bridge over the river to be called after a woman is the Anna Livia Bridge at Chapelizod. After Anna Livia Plurabelle in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. She may have been a woman in Joyce's imagination, but a woman nevertheless. – Yours, etc,
JOE MURRAY,
Beggars Bush Court,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Sir, – I enjoy early and daily delivery of The Irish Times, and I read (September 3rd) that this is the first time that a Liffey Bridge has been named after a woman. But I also see in my old Bartholomew's map of the city that Mellowes Bridge was once called Queen Maev Bridge. – Yours, etc,
MARK GARDNER,
St Catherine’s Rectory,
South Circular Road,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – I fail to see the merits of Dublin City Council’s decision to name the new bridge over the River Liffey after “Rosie Hackett” (September 3rd). Have we not enough individuals, of greater renown, awaiting recognition? I fear the campaign behind the naming of this bridge echoes the tokenistic campaign that saw Jane Austin, instead of Winston Churchill, grace the British £10 note. Surely “Seamus Heaney Bridge” would have been more appropriate given neighbouring James Joyce and Samuel Beckett bridges? – Yours, etc,
BARRY CRUSHELL,
Grange Lodge,
Grange,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – After the sexist behaviour in the Oireachtas in recent months, it was refreshing to see that the burghers of this Fair City did the right thing and named the new Liffey Bridge after unsung heroine Rosie Hackett. Mná na hÉireann abú! – Yours, etc,
MARK LAWLER,
Liberties Heritage
Association,
Carmans Hall,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Traffic crossing the new bridge: the Racket on the Hackett? – Yours, etc,
DAVID ROUSE,
Royal Canal Park,
Dublin 15.