One councillor quickly called for the palace to be gifted to the city as a resource for vulnerable citizens.

Regarding the proposed pastoral centre, the falling numbers of priests is symptomatic of a general decline in religious practice. 

This week, for instance, the Irish Examiner Rural Ireland Thinks poll showed that there is just a slight majority (58%) of people in rural Ireland who consider themselves to be religious. 

On that basis, the feasibility of constructing a new training centre for assistants looks dubious.

The reasons for that decline in religious practice are various, but there is no doubt the damage to the reputation of the Catholic Church is a factor.

That reputation has been severely damaged by revelations such as those in the recent scoping inquiry, the latest in a long list of horrifying instances of abuse of children involving religious orders, and it would be no surprise to hear calls for the proceeds of the sale of the bishop’s palace to be allocated to a redress scheme for victims of abuse.

The announcement coincided with An Bord Pleanála’s refusal of planning permission for a €40m apartment scheme on the grounds of the former Bessborough mother and baby home.

That refusal related to issues most notably the potential presence of human remains associated with the home at the proposed site. 

We are enduring a piercing accommodation crisis, but that does not mean it is acceptable to build apartments while unanswered questions remain about the unmarked graves of children and infants who died in an institution synonymous with cruelty.

This is the background to the decision to sell the bishop’s palace. 

Such decisions must be taken with regard to that background, which has often been a shameful one.

Veterinary training: New vet schools a positive move

We learned this week that two new veterinary schools are to be developed outside Dublin. 

New “state-of-the-art” facilities are to be located at South East Technological University in Kilkenny and at Atlantic Technological University at the Donegal and Galway campuses.

In announcing the news at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska — where else? — Further Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan pointed out that too often “students with aspirations of becoming veterinarians have had to look overseas to pursue their studies”.

This is true. University College Dublin (UCD) has been the sole Irish college offering veterinary training, with 135 to 140 places on the course each year. 

But only 82 of those places come through the CAO system — the rest are for international students and graduates. 

Unsurprisingly, only 80 of the vets who registered with the Veterinary Council of Ireland last year received their qualifications from UCD.

This system simply cannot be allowed to continue.

Other complications include the malign influence of the accommodation crisis, and the sheer cost of attending college in Dublin for those who are not natives of the capital.

Rent levels for everyone in Dublin are prohibitively high, and students are no exception. 

There is a real danger that, for many, the only way to afford third-level education in the capital is to live at home, if home is close enough to commute.

This issue has the potential to tilt the intake into many professions, not just veterinary science, towards those living in Dublin and its immediate hinterland. 

Clearly such a development would be the very opposite of the balanced regional development which is needed.

For those reasons, this decision marks a good week for Irish agriculture and for the economy as a whole. 

The sooner qualified vets are emerging from Kilkenny, Galway, and Donegal, the better.

Showbiz sensation: ‘Hamilton’ arrives

The fastest-selling show in the history of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin opens on Friday, when Irish audiences will finally see Hamilton, the Broadway show which has collected 11 Tony awards, a Grammy, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Hamilton is one of the most unlikely musical hits of all time, an account of the life of Alexander Hamilton, America’s first secretary of the Treasury which is told, or sung, largely in rap format.

Famously, writer Lin-Manuel Miranda read Ron Chernow’s doorstep-sized biography of Hamilton and somehow made out a narrative which took in Hamilton’s humble beginnings, service in the American Revolutionary War, political success, and eventual death in a duel with his one-time friend Aaron Burr.

Hamilton must certainly be the only musical to feature a lengthy rap battle on the pros and cons of assuming the individual debts of states and establishing a national bank.

Unpromising though that may sound, Hamilton has been a sensation all over the world. 

In Ireland, when tickets were announced, over 90,000 tickets were sold on its first day at the box office. 

When it closes in November, almost 145,000 people will have seen the show — expect a warm welcome for the Irish-American character Hercules Mulligan in particular, a real-life figure who spied for the Americans.

Expect to hear plenty of Hamilton quotes in the coming weeks, too, from “I am not throwing away my shot” to “immigrants, we get the job done”.

Timely.