JACK WHELAN,
Sir, - State building projects should be decided on the basis of real need and full use. Clearly, buildings which will be used day and night all the year round should come first. They include dwelling houses, hospitals and mental homes. A building that is not really needed and rarely fully used should come lower down, if not last, on the list.
If one takes the proposed Stadium Ireland with its 65,000 to 80,000 spectators, one must ask: is it really needed and how often would it be fully occupied? Certainly it is not vitally needed; and on my reckoning it would be fully occupied for about three hours on five days a year, i.e. 15 hours in all. Admittedly it might be used on other occasions, but by a fewer spectators.
So for a maximum of 15 hours full occupancy in the year, an enormous amount of expenditure would be incurred. This would be wasteful and a national folly.
Then there is the question of fairness and equality. It seems unfair not to distribute the expenditure over the country as a whole rather than on one big project in Dublin. Also, probably 90 per cent of the spectators would be male; most women would not be interested. It seems unjust that so much money should be spent for the delectation of males while women are left out in the cold.
So, males should get only half of the proposed cost, with women getting the other half. What activities this other half would cover could be spelled out by our women TDs, women journalists and various women's organisations such as the National Women's Council. It is surprising that they have not already taken up this point. - Yours, etc.
JACK WHELAN,
Claremont Road,
Dublin 4.