A colder Ireland: Don’t be afraid to be friendly

The writer Alice Taylor may not wish to be recognised as a prophet in her own land but her warning that a wave of unfriendliness is descending on Irish people has an undeniable, and sad, ring of truth about it.

She warns that this once friendly country, often so friendly that visitors imagined us insane or intrusive — or occasionally both — is less engaging, more remote, and far colder than it once was.