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Blog
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28 Nov 2009
Penny and I often walk through the park at Merrion Square. It's lovely, and Penny likes to visit Oscar Wilde. But everytime we walk in the gates we have to swallow a little bit of sick, because although most people refer to it as Merrion Square, a large sign at the entrance reminds us that it's actually called Archbishop Ryan Park, after the bishop who "gifted" the land to the state. The park was originally bought by his nefarious predecessor Archbishop John Charles McQuaid who planned to build a cathedral there, but thankfully that plan never came to pass. (Some sources say that DeValera scuppered the plan, in a rare example of him standing up to McQuaid, but it's not clear)
However, now that Ryan has been shown to have been a dreadful man who facilitated and allowed the rape and abuse of children, and then covered up and lied about his crimes, it seems even more horribly inappropriate. Especially when you see the adorable, nattily dressed kids from the pre-school on the square regularly playing there. I suggest renaming it Oscar Wilde Park, after the urbane sodomite who lived on the square and whose statue lounges in one corner of the park. He, after all, reared a couple of well loved children, rather than allow people abuse them.
And wouldn't the schadenfreude be delicious!
religion poisons everything
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