A chara, – There has been a recent spate of letters to your paper complaining about “unelected representatives” making decisions that affect urban and rural centres, most notably the Poolbeg incinerator. I, for one, am thankful that important decisions are taken out of the hands of part-time politicians with unproven qualifications in whichever respective arena they are commenting on, playing party politics with important decisions that will affect citizens now and in the future. – Is mise,
GARETH T CLIFFORD,
Priory Grove,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Far be it from me to defend a Fianna Fáil minister but my good friend Cllr Victor Boyhan (September 11th) is really blaming the wrong man. It was Martin Cullen who transferred responsibility for waste policy to county managers not Noel Dempsey. While Mr Cullen and Phil Hogan would be close contestants in a "worst minister for the environment and local government ever competition", Mr Dempsey, along with Brendan Howlin and John Gormley, actually tried to bring in real reforms. The only common denominators were the permanent senior officials in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
I hope the new Minister will be the first in a long time to stand up and remind them that they are there to serve the people and not perpetuate the power of the Irish “Sir Humphreys”. – Yours, etc,
Cllr DERMOT LACEY,
Beech Hill Drive,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.