Sir, Once again, the home of one of Dublin's famous sons is at serious risk of demolition and replacement by apartment blocks which highlights the serious gaps in our planning laws. The house in question this time is Holywell Villas, now known as 2 Millbourne Avenue, Drumcondra, where the Joyce family moved in March 1894 the year that John Joyce was forced to sell the remainder of the Cork properties to pay off his debts. The time spent in this house made such a mark on Joyce that, in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus "pushed open the latchless door of the porch and passed through the naked hallway into the kitchen. A group of his brothers and sisters were sitting around the table. Tea was nearly over and only the last of the second watered tea remained in the bottoms of the small glass jars and jam pots which did service for teacups".
Joyce's brother, Freddie, was born and died here.
In France, for example, houses where James and Nora lived for even a short while are looked after with pride and are places of pilgrimage for Joycean fans and scholars, while here they are the prey of property developers and our inadequate planning laws.
Once upon a time. . and what a time it was for the destruction of our precious and irreplaceable heritage. Yours, etc., Dargle Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.