Recent events have caused many of us to look more contemplatively and speculatively on those ugly, traffic-obstructing shelters in our Dublin streets. The day may come when their padlocked doors may have to be unlocked and when their walls may have to withstand more than the pasting which bill-posters have applied to them.
In gloomy speculation of such a possibility I regarded one of these structures with a new interest, and pictured myself foregathering with many fellow-citizens within its narrow confines. It then occurred to me that there appeared to be little provision for one essential.
Although I think, like Mr A. A. Milne's king, that nobody can call me a fussy man, I do like a little bit of oxygen to breathe. Are the authorities satisfied that the existing tiny slots would provide sufficient ventilation?
I am neither a fresh-air faddist nor an authority on the problems of Lebensraum, but it would surprise me to learn that a shelter could remain occupied for any length of time with the present provision for the escape and replacement of vitiated air.
The Irish Times, January 11th, 1941.