Dun Laoghaire

This view is one I have known for most of my life it is what you see when you come out of the ferry port. True it has changed quite a bit over the years especially in the last few years . The low building behind the roundabout used to be the pavilion theatre which they knocked down and built a small shopping centre. One of the greatest changes was St Michael's church it is the spire in the centre of the image. The spire is all that remains of the old church. It has been rebuilt but I have very vivid memories of the old church and more significantly of the fire.

As I am sure many of you who go to church spend a significant amount of time woolgathering and contemplating the place you are in. Or to put it another way I was four years old and not particularly paying attention to the priest, no I was staring at the ceiling. This was just as well because I saw cracks appearing in the plaster, to this day I don't know why my mother listened to me and looked up to see the cracks and by now smoke but she picked up us kids and legged it. I hope she shouted fire or something like that but I have no recollection of her doing anything like that.

We got into the car and drove home which was only a few minutes away up Sallynoggin hill. By time we got home it was already on the tv and we watched it burn to the ground, it seemed to burn down in minutes. I remember my grandmother Grá was terribly worried knowing that we had gone to mass, but no one was hurt.

I kept asking why it burnt down and eventually my mum told me that there was a short circuit. For years I thought that was some kind of creature that started fires of course I know different now. They are called arsonists.

I still lookup at the ceiling when I am in a church.