Sir, - It never takes too long - a fortnight at the most - before the next carping little letter against the O'Connell Street monument appears in your pages.
The latest (May 11th) calls the monument a "costly pagan symbol" - what's necessarily wrong with that? - and suggests instead a monument to Arthur Griffith.
Could I reprise? There was a competition from which the winner emerged after a rigorous assessment process. The installation was delayed pending deliberation by the courts, a formal environmental assessment and a final decision by the Minister for the Environment after he had considered canvassed submissions.
With the green light at last given, a failed entrant to the competition and initiator of the court proceedings suggested - also in your pages - that the top of the monument might explode and kill someone if struck by lightning. A hint of desperation!
I hope and expect that the monument will enter the affections of Dubliners and others when built. It is of our time, and optimistic. In its apparent simplicity, I believe it will be a thing of great beauty in a space that has been sadly empty since the Nelson Pillar was destroyed by vandals.
The wait will not be too long. And Arthur Griffith has an avenue. - Yours, etc.,
P.D. DOYLE,
Clontarf Road,
Dublin 3.