The Pulitzer prize-winning author, Frank McCourt, said yesterday of his native city: "There isn't a decent slum left in Limerick." Speaking at a Marketing Institute function and referring to the filming of his novel Angela's Ashes, he said, "We couldn't find a lane for film purposes. The lane where I lived is gone, all the lanes are gone. The lane was the lowest in the hierarchy of addresses [in Limerick]."
The book has been translated into 21 languages and the author is a consultant to the film's director, Alan Parker, on "authenticity and humour".
"I'm a bit nervous about it, as I don't know how I am going to feel, seeing it on screen." The book was not about Limerick "but about poverty. My mother wouldn't have liked this book. She would have felt the shame of poverty and would never have wanted to return to the lanes."
Of his critics he said: "A few individuals in Limerick took exception to the book" and "help is available to them."