Sir, - I write concerning the planned facelift for O'Connell Street (Dublin Supplement, May 5th). The creation of a new square outside the GPO is to be welcomed. Now is the time, surely, to erect a fitting memorial to the signatories of the Proclamation in such a location. Indeed, I am informed that this was first mooted as far back as 1966 and a work by the sculptor Yann Goulet was agreed to by the City Council of the time but was later shelved for some reason.
You also report that the Corporation intends planting yet more trees in the area. Why? This city is festooned with inappropriately located trees whose only function seems to be to obscure our few architectural gems and public monuments. Witness the Grattan and Moore monuments at College Green, or the view of Trinity College looking from Dame Street, or the Bank of Ireland portico from Pearse Street. If anything, a tree-culling programme is urgently required to release our urban heritage to the public gaze!
The idea of the urban vista, such as those of Rome, Paris and other major cities of Europe, seems never to penetrate the minds of our visually illiterate urban planners! - Yours, etc., James Connolly Heron,
Oxford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.