Sir, - Nero is at it again; or not at it at all, depending on how you look at things.
But first, I would like to say how saddened I was to learn of the death, just before Christmas, of Sean Mullarney. Sean was the backbone of a concerned group of people who had come together to protest at the threatened destruction of Riversdale House, the last home of the poet W. B. Yeats. He sent correspondence around the world as part of his fight to give the house protected status.
Last May, he responded privately to a letter (The Irish Times, May 17th 2000) in which I gave my support to his cause, while mentioning our own problem with regard to Sile de Valera's absurd objection to a plaque in honour of the Irish soldiers who were killed in the Great War.
His followers continued their campaign and were rewarded recently with the news, hailed as a landmark ruling, that finally a ban had been placed on the proposed development at Riversdale House. A pity Sean did not live to see his dream fulfilled.
With one battle for heritage won, another has now started. The latest assault on our historic origins comes in the form of a plan to build three six-tier office blocks on the old Rowntree site, virtually on the doorstep of Kilmainham Jail. The fact that the jail, now a museum, attracts 160,000 tourists annually or that it is a designated national monument has apparently not even been considered. This development will also, if it goes ahead, eclipse the entrance to the Royal Hospital (IMMA) and dwarf a street of well-preserved Victorian houses. Angry residents have banded together with local politicians and councillors, notably Fine Gael's new rising star, Cllr Catherine Byrne. But where is our elusive Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage? She is nowhere to be seen.
One fancies, however, that one can hear the strains of Nero's lyre wafted on the air from the distant balcony of Leinster House. - Yours, etc.,
Liam O'Meara, Chairman, The Inchicore Ledwidge Society, Ballyfermot Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10.