Pope well received in the city

Former Greystones mayor Kathleen Kelleher was among those to travel to Dublin at the weekend to see Pope Francis.

She travelled to Dublin to see the Pontif make his way around the city in the ‘popemobile’.

‘I got to Dame Street at about 1.30 p.m. and stuck to my place on the barrier. The pope arrive at around 4.30 so it was a long wait.’

Kathleen said that the atmosphere in Town on Saturday afternoon was great. She said that the organising and the garda operation were excellent.

‘People were delighted to be there to see the Pope,’ she said. ‘One half of Dame Street was blocked off by barriers, so it was very narrow and we all had a good view.

‘Two ladies beside me started to cry, they were so overwhelmed!’

Kathleen said that she had deliberated about going in to Dublin for the day, but wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

‘The Pope coming to Ireland will never happen again in my lifetime, so it was a now or never trip,’ said Kathleen.

‘I would never have been able to do the walking to get to the park,’ she said.

‘I think now is the time for a public debate on making the park more accessible to people. There are 700 hectares there, not all of them available, but enough to make room for attendance. This would apply to all park events, not just the Pope.’

Attendence was lower than expected at Phoenix Park on Sunday, with an estimated 130,000 there.

‘Many of my friends had tickets for the park, but just couldn’t do the trip,’ said Kathleen. ‘It was most unfortunate. I am sure difficult travelling arrangements had something to do with attendance figures in the park.’