Sir, - Barely two weeks into the New Year and Dermot Lacey is once again using your columns for a bout of Green-bashing (January 12th and 20th). While I have no problem with your newspaper facilitating his obsession, I do hope you will extend the same latitude to those of us whom he seeks to denigrate.
He takes Earthwatch to task for its uncritical attitude toward my use of 94D 1 while I was Lord Mayor of Dublin. I cannot speak for Earthwatch, but I have always found its members supportive, particularly during my year as Lord Mayor. This is probably because I promoted public transport and cycling through the Lord Mayor's Commission on Cycling. I also tried to encourage less polluting forms of car transport by my use of the Ecomatic car, run on bio-diesel, which Cllr Lacey conveniently failed to mention.
He sets out to misconstrue Green Party transport policy. We have always favoured port access for HGVs, and the east-west Liffey Tunnel would, in our view, have made more sense and cost far less than his extravagant port access proposals. The money saved could have been more wisely invested in proper public transport and truck management systems. He seems to be at pains to ally himself to Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, parties which are most definitely part of the roads lobby. Indeed it would be interesting to establish, once and for all, if the views articulated by Dermot Lacey are his own or if they represent Labour Party policy.
As a resident of Irishtown, I am only too aware of the problem of trucks trundling through the area. My fellow residents remember the promises made by politicians when the East Link Bridge was built. They were told it would mean fewer trucks passing through Irishtown and Ringsend and alleviate the overall traffic problem. Many years later, the truck problem is worse than ever and Dermot Lacey and his fellow pro-roads politicians are still making promises that they cannot keep.
The political gamesmanship that he clearly revels in offers very little comfort to the residents of Strand Road, Beach Road, Irishtown and Ringsend. The Green Party has advocated the diversion of port-bound trucks around the city once the C-Ring and the Port Access Tunnel are completed (see Eamon Ryan's letter, December 8th, 1998), together with a ban on HGVs at the Merrion Gates. Such a proposal offers the most effective and quickest solution for the beleaguered residents, who will wait a long time before Dermot Lacey's Eastern Bypass is complete. I hope that at least some of them see his U-turn for what it is - a cynical and opportunistic gesture in a local election year. - Yours, etc., John Gormley, TD,
Stella Gardens, Irishtown, Dublin 4.