Madam, - Mairi Robertson (December 17th) is spot on with her remarks that plans for Greystones Harbour involve "effectively privatising large tracts of public land" and "could be the blueprint for the sale of Ireland's foreshores". Plans for a 230-berth marina and 375 residential units, four storeys high, are justified as the essential quid-pro-quo for "saving the harbour". The harbour is currently a neglected, but public amenity, the north beach part of which will be "removed forever" from the public, if these plans go ahead.
Where have we heard this before? In Dún Laoghaire, as it happens, where the council tried to push through a high-rise private apartment-block as a necessary condition for "saving" the derelict public baths. The plans involved the end of the baths as a public amenity and the privatising of the foreshore.
However, such plans can be defeated by mobilising public opinion. The Save Our Seafront group has recently forced Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to abandon the plan for a large apartment complex in favour of restoring the baths as a public amenity with no privatisation of the foreshore. A like outcome is achievable at Greystones and at other locations on the east coast, where similar campaigns are ongoing. What is needed is co-operation between campaigning groups determined to put the amenities of people before profit. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD BOYD BARRETT, Chairperson, Save Our Seafront Campaign, Brigadoon, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Contrary to Mairi Robertson's opinions regarding the intended developments at Greystones harbour, my opinion is that the great majority of the populace of the area favour such developments. The fact that we have been disappointed so many times over the past 20 years with the non-appearance of long promised marina schemes may have blunted our show of enthusiasm, but hope lives on.
Greystones is a beautiful and pleasant place to live in; every prospect pleases - only the present decrepit harbour is vile. The harbour as it is now hardly deserves the name. It does not provide shelter to boats in stormy conditions. It is deep in silt. It is an ugly heap of rocks attached to a crumbling Victorian structure. I see it as a septic sore on an otherwise beautiful face.
The public display of a large model of the development, and the openness of the question and answers meeting by the developers was a fine example of how such things should be done. Some anti-development activists, who were in attendance whilst I was there, did annoy me with their whispered suggestions of wilful deceit by the presenters. They are still trying to cause alarm by spreading exaggerated forecasts of loss of views, disruption, influx of drug runners, loss of amenities.
Without a doubt some people on the seafront will lose sea views, for some their views will be enhanced. For the vast majority, their visits to the harbour area will be made more pleasant and interesting.
Just a few years ago, some neighbours were bemoaning the changes planned for the road through the Glen of the Downs. Now all acclaim the convenience and scenic benefits of the M11 and M50. I expect that the new harbour developments will similarly win accolades in the near future. - Yours, etc,
JOSEPH HACKETT, Victoria Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow.