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I lived in Dublin during the war and as Ireland was neutral, Britain wouldn’t do us any favours. The rations we were given were very much the tail ends. We got ½ ounce of tea per week, and had no coal, though we were industrious. I remember peat being used to darken the roads, it being heaped by their sides. Though as it had to be kept moist, you had to be careful not to fall in and drown! People sold peat, as when it was dried out it was also useful as fuel. We received few pieces of fruit and would make our own banana sandwiches by softening the outside of parsnips, stripping them and mixing them up with sugar and flavouring. They didn’t prove to be very popular. Indeed, though there was strict rationing, I remember how during my birthday, my mother would save the rationed sugar and margarine to make me a cake.
As clothing was rationed, garments were cut down to make smaller dresses and given to girls. We also received powdered egg and it was my duty as the eldest daughter to collect rations from the local grocer. I remember, families with no fuel being bussed into the city in armoured lorries. Sometimes I received goods from ‘under the counter’, being a regular customer. Younger children, such as my seven year old sister, were evacuated. She was chosen to live with a family in County Whitlow for over two years.
I also remember at the time, how the British were keen to subdue the vicious black and tans, named after the colour of their uniforms. They were fierce and ruthless and I recall how one day I was sitting at home and a bullet came through the window. Father pushed us all under the table and saved our lives!

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