Madam, - Future students of Irish politics contemplating the chaotic mess this country is now becoming will be able to point to one culprit above all: the innocent-sounding phrase "have regard to".
A great deal of research and resources has gone into producing balanced planning guidelines for the overall benefit of the country.
These are rendered completely ineffective by county councillors invoking the magic spell of "having regard" to them - and then ignoring them in favour of local vested interests, without fear of sanctions from central government.
The phrase "have regard to" has to be purged from the political lexicon. It is like a selective fertiliser and herbicide which allows a culture of hypocrisy, corner-cutting and buck-passing to flourish, and is highly toxic to what many politicians obviously regard as the weed of democratic accountability.
If we continue to allow politicians to pave our roads with good intentions then let us not be surprised if we end up in a badly serviced, traffic-choked, low-density suburban hell of our own making. - Yours, etc.,
CHARLES BAGWELL,
Millbrook,
Straffan,
Co Kildare.