Madam, - "Suburbs? They're more like glorified car parks." This comment, by an Australian visitor as she was being driven through one of our grey, concrete deserts came to mind as I read the "Goodbye Gardens" article in your Property supplement of January 26th.
We are allowing the so-called housing crisis to destroy even the smallest green spaces. Greed and crassness are the hallmarks of the building boom.
A walk through some of our older suburbs used to be a pleasant exercise, particularly in the days before the car became king. But now the open spaces, the greenery, the flowers, the trees and shrubs are falling to the concrete and cobble-lock juggernaut. Will no one shout stop?
As for the new, cramped, grey, garden-free housing estates, the monotony broken only by big shopping centres, I leave the last word to my Australian friend: "Do Irish people actually like living in such ugliness?" - Yours, etc,
MARK CARROLL,
Ardlee Road,
Artane,
Dublin 5.