Will we use Meath’s new stations as a way to honour Irish women and create local pride?
Sir, – Co Meath is due to see four new stations built at Dunshaughlin, Kilmessan, Navan town centre and to the north of the town. Fifteen stations across Ireland are eponymous of historical figures, all male and executed republican commanders of the Easter Rising . Are we to leave the new stations with the neutered and bland names of Navan “Central” and “North” lacking character and pride? Or are we to use this as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate the lives of Irish people, particularly Irish women, who have contributed to science, art, medicine, engineering, political life and much more? Navan town is changing beyond recognition due to new developments in infrastructure. I am both excited and concerned at these possibilities. Excited at the potential for these investments to improve the quality of life for the people but also concerned at the risk the changes may lead to a homogenised urban environment indistinct from any other lacking any character and degrading our local identity. I wonder what other readers particularly those in the communities where the proposed new stations will be built feel about this? I think people should be asked if they were to commemorate the life of a historical Irish figure by naming a new station after them who would it be and why? ERIC MCDONNELL, Proudstown Road, Navan.