Sir, – The launch of the new pothole repair website, fixyourstreet.ie, is yet another calculated insult to the intelligence and tolerance of the people of Dublin (Home News, August 2nd). The idea that anyone would need a website to find the potholes that litter the capital is totally ridiculous.
From the back roads of Rajasthan to the lanes in the peublos blancos of Andalucia, by way of Cape Tribulation in Australia, I have never driven on any road as poorly surfaced, sloppily maintained and cack-handedly repaired as the route along Lower Mount Street and Northumberland Road to Ballsbridge.
You don’t need digital technology to measure the massive gash that crosses the main road outside the American embassy. All it takes is a bicycle, an unanaesthetised posterior and pair of functioning eyes to see that Dublin has been appallingly served by its road menders and road minders for generations.
What is needed is an enforceable law, requiring that anyone who digs up the road will make it right again properly afterwards, instead of dropping a lick of tar and running away, as is commonly done.
The proposed website is a case of virtual road mending and, as such, it is virtually useless. – Yours, etc,