Sir, - By way of reflection on the current economic boom, permit me to quote the following: "A stranger arriving in Dublin in spring will be struck even less by the architectural beauty of the city than by other kinds of splendour: I allude to the indulgences of luxury, and the proofs of wealth that are everywhere thrust upon the eye - the numerous private vehicles that fill the streets, and even blockade many of them; the magnificent shops in Grafton Street for the sale of articles of luxury and taste. But a little closer observation will in some measure correct these impressions; and will bring to mind the well-known proverb that `it is not all gold that glitters'.
"Walking through the streets, strange and striking contrasts are presented between grandeur and poverty. In St. Stephen's Green, the ragged wretches that are sitting on the steps contrast strongly with the grandeur of the houses. Pass from Grafton Street into the Liberties and you might easily fancy yourself in another, and distant part of Europe".
The above was, perhaps surprisingly, written not in 1998, but 164 years earlier, by Henry Inglis, in his Ireland in 1834. It seems that, in spite of the endless media hype concerning a strange species of Hibernian big cat, supposedly marauding over the land, plus ca change. - Yours, etc.,
From Colin Rothery
Ashfield Road, Dublin 6.