The Sustainable Republic of Ireland - 2029

France Culture phoned last week and said to me, Gerry, in what kind of dwellings will Irish people be living in 2029?

I had a think about this and the result of these thoughts were broadcast on Station Meteo the other night in French.

Basically, I believe that by 2015 Ireland will go bankrupt. Foreign capital all fled, nothing for revenue but tourism, of the green, responsible variety, naturlich.

No more cars by 2020

Citizens encouraged to travel by traditional means.

No more electricity by 2022. First Zero Emission nation applauded by the world,

2025 - citizens live in underground bunkers so as not to the spoil the sumptuous views of our nation's majestic lakes and enchanting mountains for ethical tourists.

They will eats spuds grown in public allotments and boiled in rainwater collected in big tanks.

Pigs and cattle in the living room provide adequate heat after the Home Fire ban of 2019.

A true symbiosis of man and nature and complete respect for the environment.

Viva the Sustainable Republic of Ireland.

Sean O'Casey in Dijon

The Theatre Dijon Bourgogne is a doing a production of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars (or rather La charrue et les etoiles in French) and this Monday 16th February I'm in Burgundy taking part in a discussion about Irish literature and Irish nationalism with the play's director, Irene Bonnaud.

This is interesting, as I might well air my new theory that Ireland ceased to exist at some point in the 1990's, the exact date of which I have so far failed to identify. So that the great poet O'Casey was a writer that in fact belonged to a lost civilisation like that of the Etruscans or the citizens of Atlantis.