It was not so long ago that hotels in Dublin were vanishing almost as quickly as distilleries in Teheran. Even the Russell in St Stephen's Green, grand and gracious and much favoured by Fianna Fail Tacatypes, was nonetheless felled in as cute as piece of meretricious vandalism this city had seen in a while.
But the Russell was unusual. It was a victim of economic success. Other hotels simply perished in the city centre because the centre itself was dying. Jury's (in those days located in College Street), the Dolphin, the Royal Hibernian were substantial places with proud traditions. But the Dublin bombings 25 years ago, and the general flight to the suburbs, spread a blight across the capitals' hostelries. The Gresham hung on by moving downmarket; the Shelbourne remained the one gracious hotel in the entire city centre, a Parthenon amid apparently irreversible decay.
City centre hotels
And now all changed, changed beyond recognition or belief: hotels are arriving all over the city centre as if they were being parachuted in from the skies. Nor are they arriving just in the traditional areas of prosperity, the formerly unionist wards of Pembroke and Ballsbridge, but right across the city, with Dublin 1 and 7 thudding as much as anywhere under the impact of arriving concrete and steel girders. The greatest redevelopment of the capital in 200 years is under way, and one of the greatest measures of these changes is Georgina Campbell's Tipperary Water guide, Ireland's Finest Places To Eat, Drink & Stay."
A few years ago the section on Dublin featured maybe three hotels and a couple of restaurants - one of them the irreplaceable and tragically moribund Snaffles; a moment's silence, if you please - and the odd B & B; yet now, opening these pages is rather like examining a hotel and restaurant guide to Seattle - Morrison, The Morgan, Nancy Hands, One Pico Restaurant, Poppadom, Mange Tout, Langkawi, Jacob's Ladder, The Harbourmaster, Saagar, Nude Food. Never heard of any them before, never mind visiting them; and they are all new restaurants which have been tested by Georgina's indefatigable volunteers.
At this point I must declare: I nearly was that soldier. Of course, the guide is not just to the restaurants, hotels and guest houses of Dublin, but of Ireland, and Georgina asked me to write a report on Joe Olive's in Naas. I assured her I would. But I am a journalist, not a German watchmaker. Punctuality for me is a tendency to get flat tyres; and I didn't file in time. So Georgian got somebody else to write the report, which is just a little restrained for my taste.
For Joe Olive's is a quite splendid restaurant, its fish unexpectedly superb, but it specialises in game and exotic meats as well. Well and truly recommended.
Smithfield
Thus the restaurants, now the hotels. Chief O'Neills in Smithfield to start with. A hotel in Smithfield, once the home of cattle-dealers and seed merchants and corn factors and farriers, now home to a hotel which charges - I read, rubbing my eyes disbelievingly - £125 a night. What is happening? The Clarence, not far away but on the salubriously southern shore of the Liffey, charges £195 a night to park your toothbrush there. Brooks in Drury Street - which I have never even heard of - charges £92.50 each if you want to bunk with a chum, and an extra £32.50 if no chum will put up with your socks. We even have a Hilton - news to me, yet again - and to curl your toes up there costs £95 per person sharing.
So who are all these people who can afford these prices? Where do they get their money? Is it possible I might have some? And at what point does Dublin become over-hotelled? Is our future to be like that of Singapore, with building projects going on 24 hours a day as skyscraper hotels shoot up like bamboo canes fresh each morning?
And of course this astonishing growth is going on across the country, as this guide will show you; it is as much a document for future historians to chart the soaring rate of prosperity as it is a directory of where to eat and where to stay. With so many places to choose from, a guide is essential for natives, never mind for foreigners.
Culinary growth
But it is reassuring to see how inexpensive country hotels and restaurants still are. At random I find Woodhill House in Ardara, Co Donegal, formerly home to Ireland's last whalers. B &B in this fine country house, £25 per person sharing. Set dinner £20. House wine £10.
It is good to see so much culinary growth and sophistication spreading through the community; but not all is well. Firstly, our licensing laws are archaic and barbaric, and that the Garda Siochana still crashes through doors to see who is having a glass of wine with their dinner at 3 a.m. is not merely ludicrous - it is a wicked waste of State money. Have they not got computers to go to?
Secondly, the fraud of the service charge must be ended. One should be charged the price on the menu; and all gratuities are voluntary expressions of thanks for good service. Georgina's book is marked £9.99. That is the price you pay. Bookshops will not add 10 per cent for service; why should restaurants?