BENCHMARKS continued
Attempts to change our drinking 'culture' to something more like that of our Continental cousins, take one step forward and two steps back.
A few years ago the pub opening hours were 'liberalized' in what was believed would lead to a reduction in the practice of cramming in one (or several) more just before closing time. The result: - even more drunkenness and its accompanying violence.
Plans for something called 'cafe bars' ran into the sand.
It appears that it was similar thinking that lead to the Dublin City Council erecting the boardwalks that now festoon parts of the banks of the Liffey. While it was perhaps thought that these would turn the Liffeyside into something similar to the embankments that adorn the Seine in Paris - where people stroll, loll, converse, sunbathe, etc - they are instead something of a haunt for ne'er-do-wells, druggies, phone snatchers etc, and something of a no-go area for respectable citizens in the know.
Benchmarker witnessed a small sample of this activity recently on a visit to Eden Quay, where a group of suspicious youths exercised themselves by scampering along the boardwalk, calling out to each other while playing hide and seek with a couple of gardai who appeared alert to the possibility of illegal activity.
Dublin can indeed be heaven; or hell!
Below: The 'mark on the Liffey Wall on Eden Quay.
Above: Eden Quay looking towards O'Connell Bridge. The 'mark is difficult to see but is well to the left of the pole in the centre of the picture.