Madam, - Last Sunday we decided to watch the All-Ireland hurling final in a pub in Dublin city, have a drink or two and enjoy the atmosphere. This proved more difficult than expected. We visited six pubs between Dame Street and Nassau Street and only one was showing the game. All the others were showing soccer matches.
These are pubs that pride themselves on being Irish - or should that read "Oirish"? On the biggest day of the year for one of our national sports, many of the capital's city centre pubs are showing English Premier League soccer matches.
Are we becoming more English than the English themselves, or is Dublin slowly becoming part of the United Kingdom? We did eventually get to watch the match in a good pub, but once the game was over the soccer came on. - Yours, etc,
DAITHI O'TROITHIGH,
South Circular Road,
Dublin 8.