Lost and Found

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The above sign is at the junction of the N11 and the Wyattville Road at Loughlinstown.

It does not point to the end of the rainbow, where, these days, one might expect to find a crock of euro. Nor does it point to the euro lost property office, where the upright denizens of Ballybrack, unlike those of Hadleyburg, might be expected to have surrendered loose euro found along the roadside.

It does point to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, formerly the residence of the Catholic Goodmans, and subsequently the Protestant Domvilles, and now this EU institution. Like every other body nowadays it has to have a pithy familiar title, hence Eurofound.

There is only one thing wrong with the sign.

The European insignia is upside down. The stars should be pointing up, not down.

An upside down flag is an internationally recognised sign of distress, and who can deny the current distress in which the euro finds itself. A distress which infects the living and working conditions of almost everone in the State at this moment.

So perhaps the sign, while not exactly telling us something we don't know, is an attempt to empathise with our plight.

It is the eighth incidence I have come across of such a breach of EU protocol, the others being: the French and Hungarian embassies and the EU Commission Office in Dublin, the European Parliament, Sinn Féin, TG4, and the hoopla stall at the Sásta Festival in Wexford Town.

My thanks to the ever vigilant Niall O'Donoghue for spotting this one and for the above photos.

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Update 27/8/2013
This is turning into a plague. Two more turned up in the month of August. The first in the online edition of the Irish Times on the 13th and the other, spotted and photographed by my worthy apprentice, Vivion, at Kylemore Abbey on the 22nd. The Abbey is forgiven, as I understand they expressed firm purpose of amendment when their sin was pointed out to them.

That makes ten and counting.

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Update 9/7/2015
My loyal and ever diligent apprentice informs me that, following an inspection last week, he can report the Kylemore EU flag is now flying correctly. Full marks to the Abbey.

However, the way the EU and Eurozone are going they may have to reverse this in the near future to reflect the current distress.