Madam, - While it appears that the fate of Carrickmines is now a fait accompli, it is worth considering some of the glaring anomalies that lead to this current situation.
A little reported fact is that this particular route for the M50 need never have been chosen in the first place. When the motorway was first mooted, there was a simpler and less troublesome alternative route, which went nowhere near the castle, was considered. Inexplicably, this option was never pursued.
In addition to the problem with the castle, the route finally chosen also involved payment of compensation for land acquired to Jackson Way Holdings. This company will be familiar to anyone following the Flood/Mahon Tribunal. We can all draw our own conclusions.
The second issue concerns the undemocratic situation whereby an "emergency" law was passed giving sole responsibility to the Minister for the Environment to decide the fate of any National Monument. This arose on foot of a legal challenge to his decision to proceed with the motorway last year. The Supreme Court found against the Government, so it simply changed the law. It even had the effrontery to include a specific clause in this Act in relation to the M50.
This all amounts to a case of philistines, in thrall solely to profit, committing a gross and despicable act of irreversible State vandalism. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH,
Kenilworth Park,
Dublin 6.