Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label visit

Strange Times In Ireland...

Barack Obama and the Queen to visit Ireland during its time of despair... The financial rescue package for Ireland has been a national shame – so why are there no barricades on the streets of Dublin? Strange times in Ireland; a British queen and an American president staging back-to-back visits this week and next. But what is everybody talking about? It's the economy, stupid. Yes, the economy is really the only topic on the front pages, on the TV, on the lips of the subdued window-shoppers up and down Dublin's Grafton Street in turbulent May sunshine and showers. The Queen, who is said to love facts and figures, may or may not learn on her visit that Ireland has 14% unemployment, that its economy will grow by only 0.6% this year, that house prices have fallen 12% this year and 40% since the 2007 peak, with the decline accelerating. She may or may not discover that Ireland has suffered the biggest decline in educational standards of any developed nation in the last deca

In Dublin's Fair City...

Drugs, drink and the stench of urine are alive, alive oh... Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama are on their way to Dublin, but we won't be be in a hurry to show them sections of the city centre where drug dealers, drunks and beggars rule the roost... It is a gloriously sunny May morning in Dublin and there's considerable drama happening outside Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey. A crowd of vagrants -- their faces ravaged by years of drug addiction -- roar obscenities at each other. They seem to be arguing over the final dregs of cider in a large plastic bottle. One of them -- a woman who looks like she's in her 40s but is probably much younger -- swings a punch at an especially emaciated man and keels over in the effort. The commotion lasts for five minutes until they split into two groups -- the smaller bunch making their way unsteadily towards Eden Quay, the other along Marlborough Street in a northbound direction. They leave behind a trail of litter -- includ

Durty Nelly's Pub Sells For €12m...Slainte!

The famous pub Durty Nelly's in Bunratty, Co Clare has sold for €12m... Durty Nelly's Pub is a favourite of mine when visiting Bunratty. This super pub has also inspired thousands of "Irish" theme pubs all over the world! Slainte!