Sandra Harris Writes

DUBLIN’S BURNING… BY SANDRA HARRIS. © I want to tell you about the day I had yesterday, the twenty-third of November, 2023. It was Thanksgiving, and I was thinking about all my American Facebook friends and hoping they were all having a great day, although computer trouble prevented me from going online to wish them many happy returns of the day in person, worse luck. I had an appointment in Smithfield, one of my favourite areas of Dublin, and at about half past three, I’m strolling happily homewards along the quays when I get a text from my daughter, who’s at home for the day with her brother. There’s been a mass stabbing outside a school on Parnell Square in town, at the top of Dublin’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street.   A man whom we later learn is Algerian and in his fifties has stabbed three children under ten and a teacher who came to their aid. Then he was brought down himself by a very brave passerby, a Brazilian Deliveroo driver who whipped off his helmet and w...

  C'MON DUBLIN... CLEAN UP YOUR ACT! BY SANDRA HARRIS. © Don't get me wrong. I love Dublin. I love it more than anywhere else in the world. I can't ever imagine wanting to live somewhere different. It's the exact right city for me. But we're a year into the Covid-19 pandemic now, and there are a few things about our glorious capital that are niggling at me. School's back- for now!- and so yesterday, after doing my usual Mammy-errands, I decided to go for a walk, just for the sake of it. Not to go anywhere in particular or buy anything, but because I thought it would be 'nice' just to reconnect with my gorgeous neighbourhood. My wander took me into the area of Dublin known as the Liberties and, then, on up the hill to Christchurch and the surrounding environs. The first thing I noticed was that the streets are destroyed with dog muck. It's everywhere. If you took five steps with your eyes shut, you'd be nearly guaranteed to walk into a bi...