Sir, – It is with some dismay that I read of Dublin City Council’s plans to restore Mountjoy Square to its “original Georgian design”. Mountjoy Square is part of a dense inner city neighbourhood, a neighbourhood with a distinct lack of accessible recreation spaces.It is a travesty to spend €8.1m to remove active spaces to restore a “beautiful and refined garden with formal planting and defined paths”. It won’t be long before the “keep off the grass” signs are up and people will be expected to wear top hats and carry walking canes. It is a shame that the elitist conservation lobby gets to dictate how inner city public spaces should be. These public spaces should be the lifeblood of their communities, not fossilsed relics of an imagined past. – Yours, etc,
WILLIAM COOGAN,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16