A chara, - As an Englishman who has lived and worked in Dublin since 1968, I have been in the habit in recent years of averting my eyes whenever passing the new British Embassy in Merrion Road. It is not only a blemish on the physical landscape of Dublin (what the Prince of Wales might describe as a carbuncle), but shows a profound incomprehension of Ireland and the Irish people. The British Embassy in Dublin will never be made secure by stone walls and iron railings, but only by the courtesy and hospitality for which the Irish are everywhere renowned, and which I know well from my own experience.
A few nights ago I went down to the British Embassy to see the flowers that now adorn and make beautiful its walls and railings. They were put there by the love and generosity of ordinary Irish people (not so plain, I find). I was not surprised to see such heartfelt expressions of human love, for I have experienced that in great measure here too. But I had not imagined that I should ever see such a sight in all my life.
I hope that the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, advances the day when the deepest longings of Irish people for peace in the whole island of Ireland are given a fit means of expressing themselves. - Is mise,
Trinity College, Dublin 2.