Madam, - However noble her intentions, Cllr Ann Marie Martin (January 28th) needs to realise what folly even the suggestion of a Dublin Olympic bid sounds like.
By 2016 (her estimated year for hosting of the Games), if the farcical construction of the Luas is anything to go by, Dublin's metro system will still be under construction.
That key transport connection, along with the essential rail link to Dublin Airport, would simply have to be in place before even a provisional bid could even be submitted.
And has Cllr Martin considered that the holding of such an event in this country would involve the construction of a brand new stadium with an athletics track, which is not envisaged in the Lansdowne Road plan? Thanks to the ludicrous, ego-driven Stadium Ireland aspirations of the Taoiseach, we still remain without proper facilities for international soccer and rugby, though the FAI have hardly helped themselves in that particular respect.
How we could ever hope to see such a facility constructed in this country given all that has gone on in the past five years? And what about the various other sporting centres, such as a cycling velodrome, a gymnastics arena and a rowing course?
Cllr Martin says "we have a lot of growing up to do". She's right. Let's see Lansdowne Road redeveloped as proposed, let's see a decent health system in place, and decent road and rail links between all our cities - and let's stop this silly talk about Dublin hosting the Olympic Games. Now that's called growing up. - Yours, etc.,
DERMOT KEYES,
Brown Street,
Portlaw,
Co Waterford.
Madam, - Cllr Ann Marie Martin scolds Tom Humphries for not being "man enough" to go on radio and debate with Gay Mitchell about his Olympic aspirations for Dublin. Well, we're not all as glib, or as comfortable in front of a microphone or camera, as Mr Mitchell. But if a showdown will resolve the matter for Ms Martin, I would suggest Mr Mitchell pick up a pen and write 1,000 words in support of his case, based on the kind of nuts and bolts investigative approach Tom Humphries uses in his reporting.
As we know all too well in this country, you can commission a study to support any scheme, however outlandish. And, judging from Cllr Martin's letter, Dublin's Olympic boosters seem to have these in spades. What we need, however, are more people like Tom Humphries, who are dreamers in their own way, but who refuse to build castles (or Olympic villages and stadiums) in the sky before the first foundation brick has been laid. - Yours, etc.,
STEVE CORONELLA,
Shankill,
Co Dublin.