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Celtic Tiger and Dublin Ireland, Dublin house of euro notes, house from 1.4 billion shredded euro notes, Irish artist Frank Buckley, Jacobellis v. Ohio, John Pentland Mahaffy, pint of Guinness and St. Patrick’s Day, Potter Stewart on pornography
When I mentioned to my bride that my Blog would sometimes include “Life’s Quirky Bits”, she furrowed her Teutonic brown and queried: “Whatever does that mean?”
I resisted temptation. I had an urge to quote the late Mr. Justice Potter Stewart ‘s Opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case about “…hard-core pornography. I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it… [Emphasis mine.]
So it is with Life’s Quirky Bits. I know ‘em when I see ‘em!
This example of “Only in Ireland!” is likely enhanced with a very large measure of either Irish whisky or a pint of Guinness in hand!
Irishman makes “billion-euro home” of shredded notes
(Reuters) – An unemployed Irish artist has built a home from the shredded remains of 1.4 billion euros ($1.82-bil, £1.17-bil), a monument to the “madness” he says has been wrought on Ireland by the single currency, from a spectacular construction boom to a wrenching bust.
Frank Buckley built the apartment in the lobby of a Dublin office building that has lain vacant since its completion four years ago at the peak of an ill-fated construction boom, using bricks of shredded euro notes he borrowed from Ireland’s national mint.
“It’s a reflection of the whole madness that gripped us,” Buckley said of what he calls his “billion-euro home.”
“People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing,” he said. “I wanted to create something from nothing.”
A wave of cheap credit flowed into Ireland in the early 2000s after Ireland joined the currency zone fuelling a huge property bubble that transformed the country.
The bubble’s collapse since 2007 plunged Ireland into the deepest recession in the industrialized world, forcing the former “Celtic Tiger” to accept a humiliating bailout from the EU and the IMF.
Buckley was given a 100 percent mortgage at the peak of the boom to buy a 365,000 euro (say, $479,475, £305,394) home on the far reaches of Dublin’s commuter belt, despite the fact he had no steady income.
He has separated from his wife who lives in the home, which has since lost at least one-third of its value.
Living in his “billion euro home” since the start of December, Buckley is working on adding a kitchen to the living room and hall.
The walls and floor are covered in euro shreddings and the house is so warm Buckley sleeps without a blanket.
Pictures made from notes and coins decorate the walls, including one of a house, made from Irish 5 pence pieces.
“There are houses in Ireland worth less than that,” Buckley quips.
Buckley said he wants Europe’s politicians to solve the eurozone debt crisis without destroying its currency. But if the currency ultimately fails, he will happily use the euro zone’s defunct notes as fodder for future projects.
“Whatever you say about the euro, it’s a great insulator.”
A six-photo slideshow of the structure and bricks made of decommissioned euro notes can be seen here: Irish euros house
(If for some reason this does not open, my apologies. Please click here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/us-ireland-art-euro-idUSTRE80O0PY20120125)
The innovative if idiosyncratic Mr. Buckley vividly illustrates Sir John Pentland Mahaffy’s wry observation:
“In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.”
Here’s to beating the chill! Sláinte! To any Irish readers, have a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!