Putting Wilde behind bars again in Paris

DID you hear the latest nonsense from cloud cuckoo land by the Minister of Public Works, Brian Hayes?

He wants to put restraining bars around Oscar’s tomb at Père Lachaise in the City of Light to stop his admirers leaving lipstick traces, flowers or mementos.

Fancy wanting to put Oscar behind bars again — didn’t he suffer enough behind bars in his life without his soul being incarcerated? And what makes him think that Monsieur, the Mayor of Paris and the Parisians would allow his ragamuffins from the Office of Public Works to run wild in their Paradise?

They are right to help clean the monument but that should be the limit of their involvement.

Oscar’s grandson Merlin Holland is the real guardian of the tomb, not the Office of Public Works, so it’s really his decision what has to be done. Previous cleanings were paid for by him and from donations.

They should ask all of those who kiss the tomb for donations to help with the cleaning as I’m doing with a percentage from the sale of my novel Oh! Père Lachaise: Oscar’s Wilde Purgatory.

It sums up Ireland’s attitude to Oscar that we have a national monument to him in Paris but not here in Dublin.

Will Ireland ever get anything right concerning their most gifted of sons?

Jim Yates

Old Bawn

Dublin 24