It takes a tragedy to make you really appreciate your home

With the Carrickmines Travellers losing their home and loved ones and the migrants fleeing theirs, Elizabeth O’Neill, who hated seeing her family home go on the market, got to thinking about what a home really is.

There’s been a lot of movement in the neighbourhood recently. Sold signs in front yards, and new crops of greying beards, vintage bicycles and house renovations. To me this suggests another attempt at gentrifying Dublin’s south inner city. What had started in the boom and flat-lined in the bust, seems to have picked up momentum again. That in itself highlights the fact that for some the recession is over and there’s money flowing somewhere. What the stalwarts think of the new arrivals is anyone’s guess, but if they can hold onto their hubcaps and antique racers, that means they’re in.

I’ve noticed a young couple across the road, who’ve been making tentative steps towards ownership of their new house. Weekends mean hauling over cleaning equipment and DIY supplies. That’s what happens when you buy your first house. You clean, sweep out the old, the residue of those who went before and begin to slowly make it your own.