Madam, - Snapshot: 3.30pm, Sunday July 10th, Dublin. Bright sunshine. Look up and notice that the street-name sign has most of its letters missing. Below it, throngs of people are making their way through bottles and wrappings overflowing from two litter bins at the end of the street.
Underfoot, cheap red bricks are loose, with heavy deposits of chewing-gum covering them. On the adjoining street the yellow lines and street markings are perhaps 20 per cent visible and a public phone kiosk is heavily defaced.
Welcome to Grafton Street - Dublin's most fashionable and one of the most expensive in the world. - Yours, etc,
DERMOT BARRETT, Clyde Road, Dublin 4.