Waiting For The Miracle To Come

Junkies and judges, eh? Pests, the lot of ’em … unless, of course, the ex-junkie in question is Shay Byrne, now a teacher in Germany and author of The Miracle of Fatima Mansions, ‘a brutally honest memoir by a former Dublin heroin addict … challenging preconceptions about the origins and development of Ireland’s drug culture,’ if the blurb elves over at Maverick House are to be believed. Once an addict and dealer, Byrne narrowly escaped death in an attack at Dublin’s Fatima Mansions, a place now synonymous with deprivation, decay and drug-blighted lives and the location for the epiphany that would change Byrne’s life. Launched last week by Mr Justice Paul Carney of the Irish High Court, The Miracle of Fatima Mansions offers a unique and compelling insight into the evolution of the Irish heroin scene. Or so we’re told, because Lennie 'Laughing Boy' Cohen isn’t the only one still waiting for his Miracle to come. Oi, Gert – what’s the story?