A Guardian story discusses the possibility that the tax-free status for artists might be dropped because it is being ‘taken advantage of’ by millionaire writers and pop-stars. Among the high-profile artists availing of the tax exemption by living (at least part of the year) in Ireland are DBC Pierre, Michel Houellebecq, Alan Warner, Elvis Costello and…”Irvine Welsh: The Scottish author of Trainspotting lives in the fashionable Dublin suburb of Ranelagh while his partner studies at University College Dublin. He has vowed to live a more “bourgeois” and “pipe and slippers” life in Ireland.”I’m disappointed I left the ‘neighbourhood’ before we had a chance to meet in say, Morton’s supermarket. I dream that had I stayed I could have edged up to him while he dallied over whether to indulge and go for the Venison sausages. I would have hissed something really cutting, like…er…’Maribou Stork Nightmares? You were coasting even then, no?’By the way, in the quote above for the adjective ‘fashionable’ read ‘massively overpriced.’ Then again, that could be applied to almost all of the capital’s suburbs, fashionable or otherwise.