The streets are indeed closed, even to pedestrians. We've been notified about this repeatedly, well in advance. I walked through the city centre last night from the music school I teach in (on one of the south quays) to the north of the river where I had a lift waiting. Even though the streets weren't yet blocked off (except that you were not allowed to park anywhere) it was like the Marie Celeste! Everybody thought there would be massive traffic congestion so they all just avoided the city centre - including my lift, who usually picks me up at school, which is how I came to be walking through town.

You really can't judge things by photos showing the streets: there are a lot of restricted access rules in place. This is the biggest security operation in the entire history of the State, involving the armed forces as well as the gardai. I've just had a harp student leave my house in east County Cork (I'm teaching privately at home today) who travelled up from the city, and she said everything was "grand". (Mind you, they had to come around the ring road, the only open through route, which avoids the centre. But they do live there.)

Like it or hate it, the fact this royal visit can take place at all tells you something about the progress that's been made in relations between the two nations. The current state of affairs is an improvement on the past one, and people's attitudes by and large reflect this. The only way the present is going to be better than the past is if people LET IT.