Out with the old, in with the new

As many people know, the Republic of Ireland has undergone a massive transition in the last 15 years from Europe's economically depressed periphery to Europe's economically booming periphery. Today's Irish Times carries two stories that are perhaps symptomatic of the rapidly disappearing old Ireland and the emerging priorities of the new one. First, in a theft not quite up there with the Baghdad looting (at least as the latter was originally reported) someone has stolen the capstones (link may require subs.) from the church used for some outdoor scenes in The Quiet Man, the 1951 John Wayne -- Maureen O'Hara film that underlies many older Americans' image of what the west of Ireland is like. The church was already in severe disrepair but the disappearance of the stones is considered the final insult. Indeed, the facts about the church show that traditional rural Irish society was more complicated than the stylised images of Catholic peasanty would suggest: it was a Protestant church. Dwindling congregations have made these churches very difficult to maintain.

But if it's Goodbye John and Maureen, it might be Hello to Kurs, Billy, and Plonkt (OK, I made up the last one) because Ikea wants to open a store in Ireland (link may require subs.). The problem is that they want a 300,000 square feet store, and Irish planning regulations cap store size at 65,000 square feet. But the government is anxious to oblige Ikea, as they are in the midst of a fit of outrage about high retail prices in the Republic, many Irish shoppers are taking their furniture business to Ikea stores in Glasgow and Chester anyway, and most of all -- Ikea has the option of setting up across the border if Dublin doesn't play nice with them. There's no word on whether there'll be parking spaces for horses and carts, which of course we all still use in Ireland.