Sir, - "What is its identity? What is it about?" asks the developer Mr Terry Devey, the subject of his rhetorical interrogation being D·n Laoghaire (The Irish Times, August 29th).
The undersigned blew into "the borough" a mere three-and-a-half years ago, attracted by the sense that the place still felt like a village while being within spitting distance of the horrors of Dublin city. The Forum was the most beautiful cinema in Ireland, and the Maritime Museum the most atmospheric institution of its kind anywhere. The local pub, a gracious old establishment with a grandfather clock in the corner, hosted traditional music sessions on a Thursday evening.
From my bedroom window you could catch a glimpse of the sea, reminding you that the East Pier beckoned with its promise of relaxing exercise in pleasant company, and the vague sensation that some of the better aspects of a bygone age still hovered in the sea air. For me, these attractions constituted the borough's "identity", what it was about.
In the meantime, the Forum has closed down as has (for the time being, but permanently if certain powerful people have their way), the Maritime Museum. The pub has been transmogrified into a massive emporium without grandfather clock or traditional music.
The glimpse of the sea has been shut off by the hideous Pavilion development, which for two years deafened everybody with its drills and angle-grinders. Now Mr Devey is proposing to sink "in excess" of £100 million into gracing the seafront with a monstrous hotel, 250 more apartments for the nouveaux riches, and, to cap it all, a "museum of the Irish diaspora".
The latter may well need to keep some space in reserve, as the former Carlisle Pier may yet again become - in Mr Devey's words - "a symbol of those who left". - Yours, etc.,
Raymond Deane, D·n Laoghaire, Co Dublin.