First the good news. I was complaining here recently about a tourist map in Dublin's Nassau Street, which had an arrow saying "you are here" while pointing to a place half a mile away on the other side of the city. And about a second arrow that gave directions to the Dublin Tourism offices in O'Connell Street, from which the Dublin Tourism Office moved during the early days of the Rainbow Coalition.
Happily, this situation has now been rectified, at least in part. The sign, which is accompanied by Dublin Corporation's motto ("Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas", meaning literally: "Pay your refuse charges or else - we know where you live"), has since been amended by the complete removal of the first arrow and the "you are here" message. This means that, for the moment anyway, tourists don't know where they are, but at least it's an improvement on a situation in which they thought they were somewhere else.
A new, geographically correct "you are here" sign may require a two-thirds majority of the city council, for all I know. The important thing is that a start has been made.
The second arrow, however, continues to insist that the tourist office is in O'Connell Street. Now I happen to know for a fact that the Dublin Tourism Centre is in a converted church in Suffolk Street - a short walk from the map - to which it moved, amid criticism from O'Connell Street traders, in 1995. But as I checked the sign again midweek, the confidence of the corporation's street-map maintenance department had me rattled. Could it be, I wondered, that there was a new tourist office in O'Connell Street I didn't know about?
Sure enough, it could. It was opened earlier this year by a Northsider, the then mayor Maurice Ahern. And while essentially an outreach project from the tourist headquarters on the southside, as a contribution to the rejuvenation of the city's main thoroughfare, it has everything a visitor needs. This means that tourists making the long trek from Nassau Street to the end of the arrow will no longer travel in vain; although some people will say that a joke's a joke, and we really should tell them about the other place.
One could also quibble about the fact that, for five years apparently, the arrow was pointing to a non-existent tourist facility. But the important thing is that history vindicated it in the end. Personally, I applaud the faith of the Dublin Corporation people, who stuck with their belief in the reality of the O'Connell Street office, through the lean times.
The O'Connell Street rejuvenation plan got another boost this week, by the way, with a compulsory purchase order for the old Carlton cinema and the long-derelict site beside it. The latter used to hold a religious goods shop until, in a cruel metaphor for the street's bad luck over the years, it burned down on the weekend of the Pope's visit in 1979. The other good news for the area is that the Anna Livia fountain has disappeared without trace, removed to a new site beside the Liffey (not in the Liffey, which was the option preferred by some critics). And the street will soon have its crowning glory: a 120-metre-high spire, pointing at the sky. Surely the corporation can't miss that.
The bad news this week is that, with maybe six months to go to a general election, politicians are already exchanging verbal abuse. If Labour leader Ruair∅ Quinn is calling Fianna Fβil "bastards" now, when the Christmas spirit is in the air, you have to wonder what the parties will be saying about each other by polling day. Admittedly, "bastard" is not the worst thing you can call someone. It's a term of affection in Australia (although there was controversy there too a few years ago, when the prime minister called the opposition "scumbags", albeit during a parliamentary debate).
Even so. Fianna Fβil has been taunted for its sensitivity about the remarks, but I think there are double standards here. It's all right for suave Ruair∅ Quinn to make ribald remarks - it makes him more interesting, and rugged. But if Bertie Ahern said the same thing with his accent, he'd sound like a corner boy. There'd probably be editorials written about the vulgarisation of public discourse.
Having said all that, I do think it was an over- reaction on the Government's part to send Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, out to debate the issue in the media. Quinn said a bad word, sure. But to have him censured by the minister responsible for air quality and toxic waste seemed over the top. If we're going to clean up Ireland, I think we should start with the litter. Speaking of which, I must pay my refuse charges.
fmcnally@irish-times.ie
