Sir, - Anyone familiar with the works of Flann O'Brien will recognise his novel The Third Policeman as one of the high points of Irish surrealism.
The novel features the efforts of a rural sergeant to protect the moral character of his charges by stealing their bicycles, thereby counteracting the unsavoury influence of the bicycle upon their moleculear constitution.
Imagine my amazement, then, at seeing the bizarre episodes described in the book being played out in real life by garda∅ on the principal street of the capital on European Car Free Day.
The sight of garda∅ throwing up to 50 bicycles into the backs of police vans for removal to the safety of Store Street Garda Station will stay with me for many years.
As I heard a garda telling their owners the bicycles would be returned after the lapse of a suitable interval, I began to suspect I was suffering from hallucinations caused by the excess of diesel fumes from the lines of trucks which perpetually move up and down the city's quays.
It is indeed reassuring to know that so many years after Flann O'Brien earned his daily crust working at Dublin's Custom House, the present occupants of that building, the Department of the Environment, are continuing to honour the fine tradition of Irish surrealism. - Yours, etc.,
James Reynolds, New Ireland Road, Rialto, Dublin 8.