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SEPTEMBER 22ND, 1941:Facing into the third winter of the second World War in 1941, a government minister, Seán MacEntee, warned people to expect greater hardship because of growing shortages of materials that were outside the country’s ability to produce, chiefly oil and coal. The extent of those hardships could be gauged from the existing difficulties catalogued in the same newspaper in a letter from Mary Frances Keating, later a columnist with the paper, listing the conditions of some people in the Portobello and North Frederick Street areas of Dublin.

Mrs B, seven children, husband out of work, new baby coming, gets relief, free milk et cet. No gas in house, no fuel, as she cannot afford to buy turf at 8d. per stone. Cannot wash or do any cleaning, as she needs every penny for food. Never has any light, since she has no oil, and cannot afford candles at 4½d. Local builder’s wife gives her wood to cook when she has any. Sometimes the neighbours cook a dinner for her on Sundays if she can buy a little turf to add to theirs.