I was strolling through Dublins City Centre recently, along the main thoroughfare of O' Connell Street when it struck me how absolutely awful it is..when you consider that this is the site on which the GPO proudly stands you would think that the powers that be would make some sort of effort in maintaining the area around this magnificent landmark but, no. Instead, what you have are cheap bag and camera shops in amongst the fast food chain outlets and bargain shoe shops.. This is one of
our most historical streets in Dublin, where Padraig Pearse shared the Proclamation Of Independance 
A building which suffered heavy and ceaseless attacks from the British. A pivotal point in Irelands fight against British rule and instead of giving this monumental building the attention and credit it deserves, we treat it as an everyday post office, as do the beggars who reside their. Now i have never been to Pennsylvania where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address but i do know of the memorial park dedicated to him and the history of the civil war built around where he stood and the pride the locals have for it...Nor have i been to the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King gave his famous "i have a dream ".. speech..but when i visit i wont expect to find a budget shoe shop on one side and a Mcdonalds on the other side and a tired alcoholic havin a nap between cans of Druids. Its not my intention to come across as snobby here, its my intention to make people aware of the pride we should have for what this building represents. The Garden Of Remembrance claims to be a memorial for all those who lives were lost in the fight for a united Ireland yet bizarrely ,the main statue is of a mythical story about The Children of Lir..maybe because the idea of a United Ireland is about as mythical as children turning into swans. 
Daniel O Connell , or "The Liberator" as he is known, once addressed a quarter of a million Irish people at the Hill Of Tara,the biggest of a series of "monster meetings" to campaign for the re-creation of an independant Kingdom of Ireland to govern itself...This in itself should be a worthy reason to celebrate this other landmark but instead there is an ongoing battle with the Irish government who want to bulldoze through it for yet another motorway. It beggars belief. It seems as if we live in a country which celebrates mediocrity and are willing to forget about the real heroes of Ireland. O' Connell once said Dublin had a "beggarly corporation" , a statement which was met with uproar from all officials at the time. He must be looking down on the city and the street that bares his name from his perch on O' Connell Street and thinking to himself-he was surely right.
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