Aug_Sept2013newsfour by News Four

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August / September 2013

IN YOUR FAVOURITE LOCAL PAPER…

Enjoying the good weather at Grand Canal Basin

EQUAL PLAY FOR ALL CHILDREN T

By Eric Hillis he playground is an essential part of a child’s development and should be accessible to all children. Unfortunately, children with special needs are currently unable to enjoy most of Dublin’s playgrounds, due to a lack of suitable equipment. Aiming to reverse this inequality is a group of transition year students from Alexandra College in Milltown. They’ve undertaken a project titled Paraplay, as part of the Young Social Innovators Programme, with the aim of raising funds to install a roundabout, accessible to children with physical disabilities, in a Dublin playground, to be identiﬁed at a later date.

Bernie Byrne, of Home Instead who are sponsoring the project says “Playground equipment suitable for disabled children is almost non-existent in public playgrounds and the girls hope that this initiative will not only provide equipment but also highlight the lack of facilities for disabled children.” The initiative is welcomed by Enable Ireland, which provides free services to children and adults with disabilities. Theresa Compagno, a director of Enable Ireland, tells NewsFour; “Any such amenity is to be welcomed as these facilities are additional recreational facilities for children that enhance leisure, physical and mental development. All playgrounds should

have adapted elements in their design which enable both ablebodied children and those with disabilities to play alongside one another. This is in line with our practice of promoting inclusion for all children, whether at home, at school or in the playground.” Barbara Ennis, principal of Alexandra College, tells NewsFour her students hope to raise a sum in the region of €20,000. Depending on the amount raised, one or more pieces of play equipment will be purchased and installed. To highlight their cause, the

students took part in the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon in June, wearing their specially designed Paraplay t-shirts. Anyone interested in making a donation to Paraplay, or providing other assistance, should contact Barbara Ennis at barba raennis@alexandracollege.ie Photo, above, provided by GL Jones Playgrounds and Exeter Mencap. Below: Home Instead’s Managing Director Karl Schuttee presents Alexandra College students with their Paraplay t-shirts.

Top photographer Kim Haughton is interviewed on page 25

Sacha Bistany of St Matthew’s School performs. See page 27

Wanderers Rugby grounds is a softball haven. See page 37

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NewsFour Editor Karen Keegan Assistant Editor Caomhán Keane Staff Eimear Murphy Liam Cahill Eric Hillis Eric Murphy Ruairi Conneely Emma Dwyer Contributors Kirstin Smith Jim O’Doherty Noel Twamley Nicky Flood Ruth Kennedy Gemma Byrne Shan Kelly David Carroll Design and Layout Eugene Carolan Web Designer/Ad Design Karen Madsen Photographer Ross Waldron (All photos by Ross Waldron unless otherwise stated)

Sandymount Community Services, RICC, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4. Telephone: (01)6673317 E-mail: newsfour@gmail.com Website: www.newsfour.ie

NewsFour Newspaper is part of a FÁS Community Employment Programme. Opinions expressed in News Four do not necessarily represent the views of Sandymount Community Services. Printed by Datascope Ltd, Wexford

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

The Letterbox

Hey Karen, My name is Jimmy Maher. I have helped run one of our local teams The Cambridge Boys for the last ten years, from U7 right through to U18. I just wanted to write a little note to say thank you to all who have helped run the team with me and a big thanks to all the guys and girls who have been on the team over the years. I did not get to do this on the day of the recent awards for Cambridge Boys as I had to pick up the cup that our team had won this year. Finally, I would like to dedicate all my time at Cambridge Boys to Rory Sheils, who played for us for a number of years but very sadly has passed on. Yours Jimmy Maher Hi Karen, Once again you have opened the old memory bank and so in respect of pg 2, NewsFour Around The World. Will you please advise if that’s the Tommy Cullen who used to live on Bath Avenue? In the early 1950’s Tommy’s first step into England was when he joined Pat Lambert, Tommy Kiernan of Stella Gardens and Paddy Irwan of Sandymount who were working at Barton’s Marine Engineering Co. in Runcorn Cheshire. Your paper is a MASSIVE treat to us oldies who sadly are no longer where our roots were sown. Kindest regards to one and all. Donal McKenna Dear Readers, R.I.C.C. Radio are seeking volunteers to work as radio presenters, contribute programme ideas, radio sound personnel and I.T. Support personnel to partake in the development of the station. Contact Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, visit our website www.ricc.ie or phone: 01-6604789. Regards, Cecil Dear Editor, Would any of your readers know who the man standing on the left is? My brother Sean Pepper RIP is in the centre and Christy Nolan RIP is on the right. The picture was taken on O’Connell Street in the late 50s. Thank you Joe and Margaret Pepper Dear Karen, As a reader of NewsFour I was very disappointed with the phrases used by your assistant editor Caomhan Keane in his piece ‘The World Turns Gay on its Axis’. The issues politicians have to consider when granting rights are impacts on other traditional rights and will any group entitled to the new right be satisfied with the new right or is it a staging post further changes to marriage status. I have the same week read an article by a leader of the Lesbian tradition (tradition, not bent) where she said recognising marriage is the first step to changing marriage. She sees marriage as being a bond between five adults with no more than 3 children per new style family. That would be the traditional institution of marriage well and truly spinning on a crazy axis. As for the government constitutional study on the issue? They had highly paid expert groups looking after the banking industry which resulted in us now being a colony and broke. But undeterred they now occupy the chairs of constitutional reform. I think Caomhan is confusing superstitions with rights and being pulled by misguided sympathy and looking to politicians to do what’s right, well that’s really old fashioned. Fran Reid Bath Avenue Gardens

The Editor’s Corner

he Sean Moore Awards for ordinary people who have done extraordinary things for their community are back having secured a new sponsor. The awards for exceptional community service are open to anyone of any age from the Dublin 2, 4 and 6 areas so get your thinking caps on because further nomination details will be circulated in our next issue. NewsFour is delighted to be covering this event.

We have two great competitions for you in this issue. The Discover Ireland Horseshow in the RDS wants to give your family the chance to celebrate Ireland’s afﬁnity with the horse by answering a simple question on page 34 and the generous people of Dublinia want to give two families an unforgettable experience in the historical heart of Dublin City with Viking and Medieval mayhem on page 35. It’s with great sadness that we have to say goodbye to yet another valued member of staff due to CE term restrictions. Sandymount native Gemma Byrne worked with NewsFour for three years and always arrived into the ofﬁce with a smile on her face. Gemma gave 200% commitment to NewsFour, going above and beyond what was expected of her. All your friends at NewsFour wish you huge success in your new job Gemma and we miss you already. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and visit our new site www.newsfour.ie Karen

Are you serious about losing weight?

Have you tried all the fad diets but didn’t lose a pound or gained it back with interest? Well NewsFour are here to help. We are offering two volunteers, one female and one male the chance to shift the pounds with the help of local hypnotherapist Aidan Sloan, with €400 worth of weight loss hypnotherapy, for FREE. If you genuinely want to lose the pounds and don’t mind having your involvement documented by your friendly local community newspaper, then this might be your chance to attain the body you want. If you really want to get slim and are willing to make the necessary changes to do it then email your application to info@aidansloan.ie The application should include the following: Email Subject – NewsFour weight loss 1. Male/Female and your name 2. Age 3. How much weight you want to lose. 4. A very brief explanation of what you think the cause of your weight problem is and why you want to lose weight. All applications will be treated in the strictest conﬁdence and the closing date for applications is 20th September.

NEWS FOUR AROUND THE WORLD

Our very own Lord of the Prance, assistant editor Caomhan Keane prayed to the gayest of saints to bring the good weather back with him from his recent trip to San Sebastien. So you can thank him for this summer being such a ﬁne thing.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

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GOOD NEWS WALL A HIT AT FAIR PLAY CAFÉ

By Shan Kelly he Fair Play Café on York Road in Ringsend has teamed up with newspapers across Ireland to battle recession fatigue by creating a wall of good news stories to cheer customers up. Joe Donnelly, pictured, who runs the Fair Play Café, got the idea to create the Good News Wall from the lead story of this newspaper back in August 2011. Our story Three men on a bike raise €13,000, about three local lads who cycled around Ireland on a trandem for charity inspired Joe to ﬁnd more feel good stories like it. “We felt that bad news had gone viral during this recession. We wanted to remind people that it’s not all bad news; to create a sense of balance. We had a blank wall in the café, so I began thinking of how we could ﬁll one wall of the café with good news,” Joe explains. The Fair Play Café is part of the

Anchorage Project, which was opened with a view to making a positive contribution to life in Ringsend. It provides jobs, a garden centre, a place for people to eat and meet and to have children looked after. “The whole idea behind this place is that ﬂowers are still blooming, kids are still laughing and food is still gorgeous. All of that helps us to contextualise bad news,” says Joe. “That NewsFour front page was stuck on the Fair Play Café wall for ages to remind me not to give up on the idea,” says Joe. At ﬁrst he just wanted to create a single row of front pages with positive lead stories. An article in The Irish Times by columnist Roisín Ingle helped Joe develop the idea. He wrote to newspapers around Ireland in January asking them to supply seven of their favourite positive front page stories since the recession began in 2008. Some papers responded by say-

ing it was too difficult for them to find seven front pages with good news since the recession began. NewsFour, being a specific good news newspaper, found it difficult to be limited to just seven. “We’re not trying to deny the bad news. We’re just saying that

we have to get some sense of balance if we are going to survive this recession. For 15 years we were living in a bubble. Now we need to learn how to re-enter the stratosphere,” says Joe. Today Joe’s former blank wall is covered in 84 lead stories from

regional papers like The Sligo Champion, The Irish News, The Anglo Celt, The Belfast Telegraph and The Connacht Tribune. Local news sits alongside pages from national papers like The Sun, The Irish Independent and The Irish Examiner. One front page that grabbed me instantly was a picture story highlighting Queen Elizabeth paying her respects to our war dead at the garden of remembrance on her historic visit to Dublin. Another photo lead showed the face of a child rescued from rubble after being buried in the Haitian earthquake. The Belfast Telegraph story of how it created 100 jobs in 100 days stood out for Joe. Some of the funniest are from The Sun, which has its own way with words. It’s hard not to smile if you spend a few minutes at Fair Play focussed on that wall. You don’t need to be a mental health professional to agree that a bit of good news can put a real spring in your step. Lots of it can have huge beneﬁts. Yet this project showed that some serious news organisations lacked a good news focus. The Fair Play Café hopes to invite the media to cover the launch of its good news wall later this year.

PAGE 4

NEW

SCHOOL FOR

By Eric Hillis ack in June of 2011, the Department of Education announced plans to build 40 new primary schools, including one to service the Ringsend and Sandymount area. In May of this year, it was confirmed that a school would open in

the area in September 2014. Applications for patronage, i.e. the day-to-day administration and overseeing of the school’s ethos, were sent to the Department of Education in mid-June, and an announcement will be made this Autumn as to who will take over the running

of the school. Factors taken into account for the awarding of the patronage include: the proximity of schools of similar ethos, parental demand for the school, and the extent to which the needs of all pupils in the area can be met by the school. D4 Educate Together has been involved in the process since November 2011, when a number of enthusiastic local parents formed the group. Amy Swearingen is one such parent, who now acts as Communications Of-

SOME

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 ficer for D4ET. “Since starting our pre-enrolment campaign in May 2012, we’ve had over 600 pre-enrolments and we’re receiving more on a daily basis,” she tells NewsFour, highlighting the demand for a new school in the locale. Local TD Kevin Humphreys confirms this need for classrooms. He tells us that, after being contacted by D4ET, he was keen to bring the process forward quickly. “The results of the 2011 census, showing increased population growth in the area, confirmed this need.” Swearingen tells us that parents are wasting no time, with children already preenrolled who won’t actually be old enough to enter the school until 2017. We ask her why she thinks an Educate Together school is a good fit for the area. “It’s all about choice,” she answers. “It’s great that the area has existing national schools, some associated with the Catholic Church, some with the Church of Ireland, but it’s important to give parents the choice of a multi-denominational environment for their children.” The Educate Together system is inclusive of any child from any type of background. “This is a very diverse area,” she says, “and to serve the

needs of such a population, you need a school which is as inclusive as possible.” This philosophy is shared by An Foras Pátrúnactha, who have also applied for patronage, in order to establish a Gaelscoil. Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, General Secretary of the organisation, tells us of the growing demand for the Gaelscoil model of education. “By next year, we will have 67 schools open, with the newest opening in Firhouse, Stepaside and Kildare Town,” he says. “The three nearest Gaelscoils to the Ringsend/Sandymount area have over 600 applications for 2014.” Under the model, all subjects are taught as gaeilge from the very first day. Ó hEaghra tells us that no prior understanding of the language is necessary for the child, and that “96% of our pupils’ parents lack a fluent knowledge of Irish.” TD Humphreys is happy to be able to tell us that sufficient classrooms will be in place for September 2014 and that the process for acquiring a site is well underway. “In the past we’ve had too many pre-fabs,” he says, “but this new school will have proper, modern accommodation.” Picture, above, courtesy of Educate Together.

NEW SPECIAL DELIVERIES

By Eric Murphy n May, Minister for Health James Reilly announced the relocation of the country’s National Maternity Hospital from Holles Street to the

Elm Park campus in Dublin 4. The move is expected to be completed by 2018 to a site close to St Vincent’s University Hospital and is seen as a welcome move by the Holles Street staff and

the public in general. Since 1894, the building at Holles Street has housed the maternity hospital, which delivers an estimated 9,500 new babies each year and is now becoming increasingly dilapidated. The approximate €150 million investment into the new Dublin 4 site is expected to boost employment in the region. Part of the new building will include a parent respite accommodation wing, a facility which is sadly lacking at the current Dublin 2 building. Also in recent years, redevelopments at the Elm Park campus have included a multistorey car parking facility which can be extended to cater for a greater expected traffic, facilitating the new hospital.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

By Ruairi Conneely arch of this year brought a dramatic turn of events to the River Dodder when a mass die-off of fish was discovered near the Old Bawn area of Tallaght. A prevailing rumour among concerned fishermen and wildlife lovers the length of the River was that fly-tipping was the reason for the deaths. Fly-tipping is the accidental or deliberate disposal of industrial waste by dumping into rivers. The matter of the specific cause remains uncertain, but within a month, on Saturday April 6th, a happier set of circumstances arose when the Dodder Action Group launched its Dodder Day clean-up. The Dodder Day, originally scheduled for March 23rd as part of An Taisce’s National Spring Clean initiative, was a co-ordinated effort intended to tackle the entire length of the river at once. Volunteer groups were deployed from Tallaght to Rathfarnham, to Milltown, and on to Donnybrook, Irishtown and Ringsend. Dodder Action was initiated in 2010 by Dublin South Green Party member Kevin Dennehy. He decided early on that the group should not operate exclusively under the umbrella of a political party but

KEEPING IT CLEAN

should be a volunteer-based grassroots endeavour in order to be truly effective. He was gradually joined by friends, neighbours and other concerned parties, until eventually it was suggested that a whole river clean-up be organised. Facebook proved critical in raising awareness of the group and its aims. In 2012, journalist Victoria White was enlisted as a spokesperson and publicity consultant. Her contacts in print media brought word of the group and the planned Dodder Day to an older, less webliterate cross-section of the public. Speaking to NewsFour by phone, Victoria explained the larger intent

behind Dodder Action. “The river is an amazing resource for Dubliners. It’s one of the most beautiful and unique natural features that a European city could have and people love it. The catalyst for the big clean-up in April was really the high waters that occurred in October 2011. A huge amount of refuse was swept down toward the Irishtown and Ringsend areas for all to see. And in Milltown, a car which had ﬂoated out of the Dropping Well’s car park had to be hoisted out of the river by crane. Rust and engine oil could have done terrible damage to the ecology near the mouth of the river.”

PAGE 5 Dodder Action is an on-going concern, the aims of which have developed over time. “The plan is to establish a Dodder Partnership between members of the public who volunteer and the City Council. The nearer the clean-ups get to the Docklands, the more complicated circumstances become due to the impracticality of reaching certain parts of the river.” An example of this difficulty might be reaching the river from Fitzwilliam Quay. The only direct access point would be from the headquarters of the Dodder Sea Scouts, who were not involved in the April clean-up. Geraldine Smith, Scout leader, explained to NewsFour that the Dodder Scouts were originally intended to participate but the initial date was postponed due to bad weather. The rescheduled clean-up conflicted with a camping expedition which had been pre-arranged. Victoria White continued, “Those are obstacles but there’s also a need for infrastructure. There are almost no bins along the riverbanks, even for dog mess.” The other leading concern is, ironically, also infrastructural. The Council have recently completed installation of flood alleviation measures between New Bridge and Ringsend Bridge. Further measures,

like ﬂood embankments further upstream, could be implemented in a heavy-handed fashion which could be deleterious to the river’s ecology, for instance by depleting foliage or affecting the water’s pH levels. Signs are hopeful, however, as Dublin Council’s Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study (CFRAMS) was launched in March of this year by Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes. The study strategy includes protocols for assessing environmental risk factors in both the short and long term. Dodder Action can be found online at the Dodder Action community page on Facebook. Below: Rubbish collected at Firhouse. Photo: Dodder Action Group.

PAGE 6

STAYCATION ON THE CANAL

By Ruth Kennedy en years ago, when the country was going mad for buying houses in rural France and snapping up apartments in Bulgaria, Michael Rankin bought himself a 20-year old barge for a fraction of the cost. It was a simple, practical decision – with four children, foreign holidays were not just expensive, they just weren’t doable. Leaving ﬂights aside, rental cars on the continent didn’t cater

for the needs of a bigger family, so a barge that slept everyone was the solution. Over the years, Michael has lovingly renovated the boat and brought his family to some of the most beautiful parts of the island, introducing them to a lifestyle that no other holiday can offer. For a few months of the year, the barge is kept in Grand Canal Dock in Dublin, and then at various locations around the country.

The barge he bought was built in the 80s, and so it qualiﬁes as a heritage barge. According to The Heritage Boat Association, that’s any boat of historical signiﬁcance more than 25 years old. Michael had just bought the barge when he was approached in Shannon Harbour by a fellow barge owner who complimented him on how he had renovated the craft. This turned out to be Jean, a woman in her 70s, who, with her now-deceased partner, had

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 actually built Michael’s barge back in 1981. She told him how the barges were built upsidedown, suspended by a crane, and the tricky job of turning the boat upright was only done when it was close to completion. Jean described how she would down a stiff brandy every time, before operating the crane and singlehandedly ﬂipping the barge upright in one go. Jean, now in her 80s, lives full time on her own 80-foot barge in Shannon Harbour. One of the things Michael loves most about having a barge is the community aspect. You are at once welcome and part of the family, and at the same time, nobody needs to know who or what you are in real life. Barges, especially the heritage ones, take a lot of maintenance. According to Michael, all youhave to do if you have a technical issue you can’t ﬁx, is stand up

UCD

JOINS

By Shan Kelly CD joined the TEDx club in June by organising a day of TED-style inspirational talks by former students. TED is a non-proﬁt organisation devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading’, which started as a conference in California 26 years ago. It created the TEDx programme to bring people together to share TED experiences through local, self-organised events. TEDxUCD combined live speakers with TED Talks on video. The theme was foresight and UCD wheeled out some of its best and brightest alumni. Each had to pick just one word to describe their talk. UCD Economist Karl Whelan talked about Default, while Dr Rhona Mahony talked about Courage. As the ﬁrst woman master of our national maternity hospital, Dr Mahony needed buckets of courage when she faced Dáil hearings recently into the thorny issues surrounding the termination of pregnancy when a woman’s life

on the deck of your boat with a piece of machinery in the air and straight away, you’ll get a flood of helpful suggestions, parts, tools and labour offered for free. Everyone helps out everyone else – no questions asked. If you want to find out more about what it’s like to own a barge, there are two sites you should visit: www.heritageboatassociation.ie, which celebrates the floating heritage on Ireland’s inland waterways. Another great site to check out is www.bargehawthorn.info, run by Giles Byford and Jill Parkinson. They live all year round on their 60-foot barge and have an upholstery and canvas boat cover business. They also write a barging blog, complete with an online art gallery of Jill’s art and her gorgeous, barge-friendly recipes. Picture: Ross Waldron.

TED X C LUB

is threatened by it. “As a UCD graduate, I am delighted to be involved in the first ever TEDxUCD event,” she said. “It’s a great platform for people to share ideas and it offers me an opportunity to meet the UCD community and to listen to the reflections of other guest speakers.” Another speaker was UCD Elite athlete Claire Lambe, who had just finished her final exams in engineering. Lambe was thrilled to speak about her ambition to make the Irish rowing squad for the Rio 2016 Olympics. “It is a great way to finish off my last year as an undergraduate engineering student at UCD,” she said. UCD Psychology Lecturer Gary O’Reilly from Temple Street Children’s hospital spoke about Generosity. Lauren Shinkwin, a UCD postgraduate student, spoke about her passion for animal conservation. This was the third TEDx event to be held in Ireland following TEDx events at the Science Gallery and IT Tallaght.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

CASTING A WIDE NET WITH JOBCARE

By Ruairi Conneely stoical attitude is a must in today’s jobs market. Employment figures are low, wages are falling, and the uttering of bleak catchphrases like ‘the Forgotten Generation’ are routine, enforcing a sense that what’s bad can only get worse. Where people on welfare have taken advantage of training and qualification courses, or schoolleavers have been afforded the opportunity to go on to university, both groups find themselves presented with unpromising prospects at the end of their learning. Within that context, in 2011, Peter Johnson launched the Jobnet programme, an initiative aimed at graduates and professionals who are finding it a challenge to secure work. Peter is the Training Manager for the Jobcare organisation. Based at 28a Pearse Street, Jobcare was founded in 1994 by Paul Mooney, with the intent of developing the employment prospects of underprivileged or under-resourced inner city areas. The ethos of the organisation is that work is en-

PAGE 7 nobling and promotes well-being and self-respect, or in tagline form: Working Matters. Jobcare make no secret of the fact that they are a faith-based organisation and that the work of the organisation is an extension of a Christian ethic. They are also, emphatically, an Equal Opportunities employer. The organisation also runs a Jobclub, incorporating an Employment Preparation Course (EPC) which is a FETAC-accredited job-hunting programme, and also runs Trasna, a FÁS-funded work programme for ex-offenders, aimed at providing them with the tools to prevent re-offending by entering the workforce on a solid footing. The learning has a dual focus. As well as work-shopping practicalities – interview technique, developing and maintaining a social media proﬁle, optimising a CV – participants (‘clients’) are coached in motivation, selfbelief and ambition. “We teach a mix of hard and soft skills, so people can ﬁnd the work which is right for them as individuals.” The Jobnet programme has netted Peter a place on the shortlist for this year’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year award.

“Our location is superb. We’re very central. Also, we get referrals from Social Welfare offices, from people who drop in or are led here by word of mouth. And we have a recruiter who will visit libraries and employment exchanges. The other incentives we offer people are strong ties with local business.” Certain features of the course utilise these strong ties, for instance the mock interview, which is comparable to a final exam. “A client chooses a job and tailors a CV to target that job. We send it to a company in the area who provide a mock interview and give feedback on the client’s performance. This could be an interview for a job the company does not really provide but it provides a more objective assessment than working solely with our team.” In summation, Peter adds, “The secret is finding creative ways to introduce clients to recruiters, companies and business persons.” Jobcare is sited at 28a Pearse Street and online at www.jobcare.ie Pictured, left to right: Peter Johnson, Paul Mooney and Niamh Curtis.

PAGE 8

IS WATER FLUORIDATION A HEALTH RISK?

By Shan Kelly and NewsFour Reporters ost mothers would be horrified at the thought of their daughters stripping for attention. Not Martha Fitzgibbon. She encouraged her daughter Aisling to strip in public to emphasize how they believe the Irish Government’s forced fluoridation policy puts their health at risk. In stripping off she is highlighting their belief that the Government is stripping them of their right to drink unmedicated water. Martha, a teacher, suggested the approach after previous attempts to highlight the cause were largely ignored. Aisling, a 26 year old nutritionist from Tralee, is taking the Government to court to end this mandatory fluoridation of the public water supplies. She has more than 8,000 support-

ers including musicians Paddy Casey and Christy Moore and is working with activists from across Ireland and abroad, including the Fluoride Action Network and veteran Northern Ireland campaigner Walter Graham. He united Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley against the UK Government plans to fluoridate Northern Ireland water in the 90s. Graham has been advising Sinn Féin Environment Spokesman Brian Stanley, who presented his bill to ban fluorides to the Dáil in May. Walter Graham visited Dublin City Council recently to highlight the studies linking fluorides with health problems. He urged councillors to tell the Irish Government that mandatory fluoridation is too risky to continue. So far this year, four local authorities, Kerry, Skibbereen, Carrickmacross and Portlaoise have told

the Government that it should end flouridation. However, when asked by a NewsFour reporter, the Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health said they believed Mr Graham’s presentation lacked scientific rigour. “Some of the slides used by Mr Graham were selected from a large number of maps published by the National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI). The NCRI has stated that neither existing internal research nor the information on these maps supports a link between water fluoridation and cancer. He has ignored the vast bulk of scientific research on this matter and has offered as evidence old material and other books which lack original research, misquote or misunderstand scientific articles and confuse opinion with fact.” Environmental Scientist Declan Waugh came to Leinster

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 House with Aisling Fitzgibbon in July to explain the links he found between fluorides in water and a long list of health conditions. Waugh has spent more than two years comparing statistics on the different rates of illness in Ireland and nonfluoridated Northern Ireland. His 2012 report found that early onset dementia is 450 times more common in the Republic than in the North. Waugh also believes that Ireland’s very high rate of Down Syndrome may be related to fluorides. He claims that studies show that places that put fluoride in their water have higher rates of alzheimers, cancer, kidney disease, thyroid illness, arthritis, and eczema. Again, The Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health, who have broad representation from areas such as dentistry, biochemistry, toxicology, environmental health and public health medicine, refute these claims. “The incidence of early onset of dementia is almost identical in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,” a spokeman told NewsFour. “There is also no evidence that there is any link between

Down Syndrome and water fluoridation. Mr Waugh alleges that Ireland has the highest levels of Down Syndrome in the world. “The Irish rate is reported as one in 546 births, which Mr Waugh compares to one in 1,000 births in the UK. But over 50% of all Down Syndrome pregnancies in England and Wales result in an abortion. When this is taken into account, the UK rate rises to approximately 1 in 460 births – in other words, there appears to be a higher rate of Down Syndrome pregnancies in the UK. “In evaluating on-going research, the Expert Body accepts the fundamental scientific tenet that any single piece of scientific evidence by itself remains hypothetical unless it can be repeated or confirmed by other scientists. Therefore, it considers scientific evidence that has been submitted to examination by other scientists, usually by publication in recognised peer reviewed scientific journals, after such publication has been approved by independent referees. “While Mr Waugh’s report

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

PAGE 9 does not fulfil these criteria the Expert Body appraised his report at the request of the Minister for Health. The Expert Body found it to be unreliable. Its appraisal is available on the Expert Body’s website (www. fluoridesandhealth.ie/documents). The Expert Body’s only concern about this false claim is that some people may believe it.” The decision to fluoridate Irish water was made by Fianna Fáil Minister Sean McEntee in 1962 to improve the quality of children’s teeth. He was opposed by Dublin mother-offive Gladys Ryan, who lost. Gladys died in February this year. Declan Waugh dedicated his 2012 and 2013 reports to her. Also in February, University of Ulster toxicologist Professor Vyvyan Howard warned that babies drinking bottles made with Irish tap water may be overdosing on fluorides. He pointed out that various scientific studies made a link between fluorides in water and lowered IQs in children. Howard, a UK Government advisor to DEFRA (Dept of the Environment, Food and

Rural Affairs) and a nanotechnology expert said, “Breast milk contains very low levels of fluoride (0.004 ppm, NRC, 2006, p.40), even when the lactating mother has been administered fluoride. Though the serum level of fluoride increased, the breast milk level remained very low (Ekstrand, 1981, 1984). It is my opinion that this is the result of a specific exclusion process that has evolved to protect the neonate from exposure to anything other than very low levels of fluoride during critical windows of development of a number of organs.” According to Howard, a baby drinking formula made with fluoridated tap water at one part per million gallons will get 250 times more fluoride than a breastfed baby. Aisling continues to campaign www.thegirlagainstfluoride.com DeclanWaugh’s report is at www.enviro.ie More information on the Expert Body: www.fluoridesandhealth.ie Pictured: Baby Charlie and his milk bottle.

PAGE 10

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

Editorial

WHY

IS A CREDIT UNION CAR LOAN BETTER ?

YOUNG ONES TO TAKE OVER DOCKLANDS

hen it comes to financing the purchase of a car, many people simply look for the lowest rate on offer and believe it to be the best option. Headline rates may attract the most attention, but the devil is very much in the detail. Many ‘car finance loans’ offered by garages and some banks are actually hire purchase agreements. The main difference between using a personal loan and a hire purchase agreement to buy a car is that with a personal loan you borrow money, pay for your car, and own it immediately. With a hire purchase agreement, you don’t own the car until you make the final repayment. This means you cannot sell the car if you run into problems making your repayments. Watch out for the range of additional fees and charges which you may incur as part of a hire purchase agreement. This would include a documentation fee (for setting up the agreement) and completion fee (a fee charged to end the agreement and pass ownership to the car purchaser). If you run into difficulty in meeting the terms of the hire purchase agreement, you may be charged a penalty fee for missed repayments, a rescheduling fee (if you need to change the terms of the agreement) and a higher rate of interest may be charged on any repayments which you missed. You may have to pay a large final payment (known as a balloon payment) at the end of the term, a payment you may not have budgeted to meet. It can be a real sting in the tail for some. Thankfully, a car loan from Sandymount Credit Union is much more straight forward. You borrow the money from your Credit Union, you pay for the car and you own the car immediately. You agree a repayment schedule with the Credit Union. Interest is charged on the reducing balance of the loan. If you run into difficulty, you can talk to the Credit Union to see if you can come to an agreement on the repayment terms. Should you be in the happy position of being able to repay the loan early, you may do so without any penalty charges. If you’re thinking about your options for financing a car purchase, look no further than Sandymount Credit Union. Phone: 01 668 5079.

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R.E.C.I. approved and insured

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NO JOB TOO SMALL OR TOO LARGE

By Liam Cahill ublin’s Docklands will be a busy place next year as the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and the National Convention Centre will host the One Young World Summit alongside Croke Park. Dublin beat some serious competition including Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Singapore to host the gathering that brings together young people, aged 18 – 30, who have demonstrated leadership potential to debate and formulate solutions for pressing issues the world faces. “Dublin City and its people will be the perfect host for the 2014 One Young World annual summit,” said the outgoing Lord Mayor of Dublin Naoise O Muiri, likely making reference to Dublin’s improved infrastructure such as the Luas, the new extension to the Bike Scheme and Dublin’s reputation for excellent hospitality. “These young people are our future, and hosting such a signiﬁcant and inspiring summit is of key importance not only for now, but for the future.” The 2014 summit will examine a number of broad topics including education, global business,

human rights, leadership and governance. The summit acts like a miniature version of the United Nations, with young delegates from across the world debating and formulating policy positions with high proﬁle counsellors such as Bob Geldof or Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey – who last year spoke about the importance of leadership in decision-making. “I am not surprised Dublin was chosen. We have world class conference facilities in the Docklands with great supporting infrastructure. It will be a great opportunity to showcase the new Dublin in our regenerated Docklands to young leaders from all over the globe,” said Alan Robinson, the CEO of the Docklands Business Forum. It’s unclear at this point what economic impact the conference will have on the Docklands particularly, but Fáilte Ireland have estimated the economic impact of the conference overall could stand at €3 million. For the 2012 conference, held in Pittsburgh in the United States, VisitPittsburgh estimated the conference pumped $5 million into the local economy through hotel bookings, an increase in local spending and

transportation. The summit gives young people a chance to stand next to world leaders who are inﬂuential in making governing decisions. In previous years former US President Bill Clinton spoke about the three biggest challenges facing young people today. Global inequality, global instability and a lack in growth within leading western economies. “Every topic that can impact on a young person and their lives will be discussed,” says Marie Duffy, the site Editor for youth information website Spunout.ie. “Having a vibrant conference like One Young World is fantastic,” she says. Latest ﬁgures by the Youth Council of Ireland suggest that over 61,000 young people were signing on the dole at the end of April 2013 and 45% have been signing on for a year or more. The summit will give young people a chance to engage with and rekindle some faith in the political process. For more information log onto www.oneyoungworld.com Photos courtesy Young World.

One

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

By Eric Hillis ublin City Council has some good news for Dublin Four’s cyclists, having approved the construction of a cycleway that will link Ringsend with Fairview, via the Samuel Beckett Bridge. The route will be the second phase of the Sutton to Sandycove cycleway, with the initial phase linking Sutton to Fairview, and the final stage Ringsend to Sandycove. Work will begin on phase one later this year with a view to completion in 2014, when the second phase will begin construction. The Sutton to Sandycove cycleway, first proposed 12 years ago, will stretch for a total of 22km on completion, making it one of Europe’s longest cycling promenades. The Council have also approved an expansion of the Dublin Bikes Scheme, with 58 new hire points, servicing 950 bicycles. Currently, 550 bicycles are in use at 44 points, all relatively close to the city centre. The expansion will increase the radius

of the scheme to cover the inner suburbs with stations at South Dock Road and Barrow Street. Work on the expansion will commence in October and the Council plans to have it fully operational by next Summer. Labour Councillor Maria Parodi has been campaigning for the service to fully expand into the Ringsend and Sandymount areas. She told NewsFour that the project is currently in its second phase and she expects phase five to fully encompass Ringsend and Sandymount. She calls the expansion “a huge success for the local community,” and promises to “continue to campaign for the further extension of the scheme to ensure we get stations throughout Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount, Ballsbridge and Donnybrook.” The additional funding for the expansion is expected to be raised through advertising, with the Council hoping to involve local businesses. The annual subscription for users is set to double from €10 to €20, while a three-day pass will increase from €2 to €5.

PAGE 11

INFORMATION NEEDED

ON HISTORIC TRAGEDY

By Eric Murphy ast year, NewsFour readers came up trumps in assisting Councillor Paddy McCartan’s quest regarding information on relatives of a late merchant seaman John Hearn, who was lost at sea in 1940. The Ringsend man was represented at a civic reception and plaque unveiling in the Mansion House by his relatives. Cllr McCartan is hoping for our reader’s input again on another historic quest. The late Margaret Naylor (nee Rowe) had been active in the Dublin 4 area during the 1916 rising whilst her husband John was serving overseas in WW1. Sadly, both husband and wife were shot within hours of each other; Margaret having been shot beside the old Boland’s Mills near Grand Canal Dock. The couple were remembered at the British Military Cemetery in Grangegorman, but the narrative of a sentimental chapter in both local and national history has so far been limited. Cllr McCartan recently expressed, “I was considering at one point appealing to Joe Duffy’s Liveline for information, but I remembered the great response from NewsFour readers last year regarding John Hearn.” Margaret’s death would be of great in-

terest to local historians, but it’s believed that Naylor’s people were also natives of the area and any information of the couple or living relatives would be of great historic value. If any of our readers know of or have any information regarding the couple’s history or bloodline, please contact Cllr Paddy McCartan at 12 Thorncastle Street, Ringsend or phone: 01 6609202. Photo supplied by Cllr Paddy McCartan.

PAGE 12

THE PRIDE OF DONNYBROOK

By Ruth Kennedy he still says “committee” with a broad Kerry accent, but Esther McGrath is the heart and soul of the Beech Hill Community in Donnybrook. Originally from Waterville in the Kingdom, Esther married a local man and settled twenty years ago in what began life

as a council estate beside the Dodder in Dublin 4. Rightly or wrongly, Beech Hill originally had one of those reputations for being “difficult” or “rough”. Nowadays there is a huge mix of tenants and owner-occupiers in the estate. Its proximity to the city has made it popular with landlords

and buyers alike. The newer and older residents seem to gel pretty well, and some of what makes the estate such a friendly and integrated community is down to people like Esther. Seven years ago with some other residents, she set up a ‘Donnybrook Neighbours’ group. At times they work closely with the parish of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook, in visiting elderly people in the area, organising shopping runs where people of limited mobility are brought to church and on shopping trips. The system is regular and well-organised, people can depend on it. It means that few of the area’s older people who welcome social interaction and help with weekly travel are left without it. Friendships are built up and valuable stories and histories are exchanged, meaning the younger residents can find out more about where they live. It has led to a more integrated and happier community for all generations.

Fun, costumes, music and a great feed were enjoyed by all those who attended St Andrew’s Annual Bloomsday Breakfast. Above: Sgt Sniffer pictured with Betty Ashe kept all entertained on arrival.

Right: Esther Kelly in lovely Bloomsday attire also attended the event.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 This year at the beginning of July, Esther and her committee organised a ‘Donnybrook Fair Week’ – the name taken from the traditional agricultural fair in the area that was phased out around 1850. There were activities every day, from football for the kids to bingo, a treasure hunt and even a Duck Race on the Dodder. There was great participation from residents and the plan is to do it all again next year. Another neighbourhood project that has been a success is the community garden. Up and running for the past three years, there has been a huge focus on getting the local children involved in planting and maintenance, which happens once a month. The garden was a finalist in a Community Gardens competition two years ago. As well as getting some funding from Dublin City Council, the

neighbours group have a raffle every Christmas to add to the garden fund and to buy a shed and tools. What has been achieved in Beech Hill could be replicated anywhere in the city or country – like Margaret Mead wrote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Pictured left: Esther McGrath. Below: the garden. Both photos by Ruth Kennedy.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

By Shan Kelly s more women tackle the challenge of learning to drive, demand for female driving instructors has increased. According to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), around ten percent of instructors in this country are now female. Karl Walsh of ISM, Ireland’s oldest driving School, says the number of women who have taken the three RSA exams needed to qualify as an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI), has jumped in the last decade. In 2010 a website was launched dedicated to helping women find female instructors in every county in Ireland. It is run by a female marketing professional, Fiona, who is also a qualified driving instructor. Driving schools covering the Dublin 4 area have noticed increased demand for female instructors. Karl says that women learning at ISM do ask for female instructors, but it is not a big thing. An instructor’s gender should not make any difference, he stressed. Nevertheless, a number of learners have told driving schools they prefer to take les-

PAGE 13

DRIVING MS D4

sons from female instructors. There are a few reasons. Some people feel more comfortable dealing with women, while others want female instructors for religious reasons. Mags O’Connell of Look School of Motoring gets a lot of business from customers through the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh. Mags set up Look SOM four years ago, after four years teaching at other Dublin driving schools. Her business is mostly word of mouth recommendations from women to their friends. Mags is part of a network

of female instructors covering south Dublin, who help each other with lesson cover during busy periods. “The only way to tell if an instructor is right for you and if you will be comfortable with that person is to take a lesson with them. You should never sign up for a block of lessons in case you don’t like them. Women tell me they find it easier to learn when they are more comfortable and many people are less intimidated when learning with a woman,” she says. She points out that essential driver training has 12 stages and that

it may take some people more than 12 lessons to master what they need to at all stages. D avid McDonnell of www.learntodrivedublin.ie has been an ADI for 12 years. He has three female drivers, Jacintha, Mary and Marion, who all teach in Dublin 4. “Women looking specifically for women instructors is a growing part of our business. It’s not really a common thing, but it has always been there,” he explains. ISM has three female ADIs who cover Dublin 4 and they would like to hire more female instructors as ISM learners are equally split between male and female drivers. Karl points out that it’s quite a family-friendly job, as it can often allow instructors to work flexible hours close to home. Karl says ISM’s business has doubled since 12 compulsory lessons (Essential Driver Training) were introduced in April 2011. “Before that, lots of people used to learn with their parents,” he said. Kevin Horgan of the National Driving School in Mount Merrion says female instructors are especially popular with his many international clients. His

Motoring schools covering Dublin 4 Irish School of Motoring, ISM is Ireland’s oldest driving school. Phone: 1850 530 430. Mags O’Connell, Look SOM. Phone: 086 3334219. Kevin Horgan, National SOM, Mount Merrion. Phone: 085 2853333. David Mc Donnell, www. learntodriveDublin.ie Phone: 01 4061925. www.femaledrivinginstructors.ie Phone Fiona at 086496189. school boasts a 98% pass rate and has been established for 22 years. He remembers that 15 or 20 years ago, some women clients were reluctant to take lessons from female instructors. “They didn’t like being told what to do by another woman. That has completely changed in recent years,” says Kevin. Above: Mags O’Connell, of Look School of Motoring.

PAGE 14

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

SMEAR TEST ESSENTIAL TO PREVENT CANCER

By Shan Kelly ot getting a smear test is now the biggest risk factor for cervical cancer, a local doctor told us, after a report from Ireland’s national screening service found that nearly one in three Dublin women have still not used the free testing service set up in 2008. Dr Tony O’Sullivan and his wife, practice nurse Caitriona O’Sullivan, pictured right, have worked at the Irishtown and Ringsend Primary Care Centre for 15 years. “We have a lot of people coming in here for smear tests from all over Dublin. Anyone can book an appointment,” said Caitriona, who is also a midwife. The couple have done thousands of smears at their Ringsend clinics. “A few people are put off by the idea of the test itself, which is quite invasive, so we try to reassure them that the staff here are very experienced and that we won’t hurt them. People re-

ally just want to know that we will be gentle and treat them well,” explains Caitriona. Cervical smears are the best way to prevent cancer by detecting the early cell changes which can alert doctors that cancer is likely to develop in the cervix, or neck of the womb. But cervical cancer is still so scary for some women and girls in Dublin that some ﬁnd reasons to avoid booking a test. “Fear of getting abnormal results is a big factor in putting off booking a test. It shouldn’t be,” says Dr O’Sullivan. As one woman put it, “It was over quickly. I don’t know why I dreaded it. The best thing about it was that the whole thing was explained well beforehand and they answered all my questions. To be honest with you, I never really understood before what smear tests were all about.” Tony and Caitriona both agree that the testing service has improved greatly. “Getting the

results back used to take six months and cost €80. The free service now is great. People are well trained and we have the results back in three weeks. Women need to take a test every three years up to age 44 and every ﬁve years after that,” said Caitriona. “The good news is that abnormal cervical cells which predict cancer are quite easy to treat if detected early. If the test shows abnormality, the next step is a colposcopy; a close look at

the womb, which usually takes place at Holles Street Hospital,” says Dr O’Sullivan. Follow-up treatments include a Lletz procedure, which freezes and kills abnormal cells and so prevents cancer developing. This can also be done at Holles Street. CervicalCheck, the National Screening Programme provides free smear tests for women aged 25 to 60. CervicalCheck says that women over 50 are less likely to have smear tests,

however it is just as important for women who have reached menopause or ﬁnished having children to have regular smears as it is for women in their 20s. Gráinne Flannelly of CervicalCheck is urging women to book free smear tests. She said, “I truly hope that women who have not yet had a smear test will take ﬁve minutes out of their busy day to arrange one. A smear test is nothing to be embarrassed about. It only takes a few minutes and doctors and practice nurses do hundreds a week.” Another woman explained why she liked using the new service, “I was very happy that the programme allows you to choose your smear taker and that it doesn’t have to be your own doctor. I am very happy with my male GP for all my other care, but I appreciate that I can have my smear test taken by a female smear taker in another practice if I choose to.” Once registered, you will be reminded by letter when your next smear test is due. For a list of registered smear takers and more information, please check their website www.cervicalcheck.ie or freephone 1800 454555.

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THE SITE

By Ruairi Conneely s Dublin become more populous and the endlessly discussed economic situation continues to inhibit growth and development, worn patches are beginning to show themselves in the city’s infrastructure and its commercial properties. Boarded-up shop fronts are that bit more common, even in the city centre, and the Docklands has come to feature some glaringly unﬁnished or un-utilised developments. However, innovation is still alive and well, and the consumer technology that was also the fruit of the boom years ago is still with us today, being put to novel uses. Scientiﬁc research for instance, has become open to input from the public, who can volunteer their observations to open-source projects. Two PhD students, Stephen Rigney and Eoin O’Mahony, have established a Map of Dublin’s Derelict Sites– abandoned lots, homes, neglected places in the midst of urban life– which is open to contributions. Stephen is researching for a thesis on Clondalkin and the suburbanisation of Dublin in the

1960s, while Eoin is writing on geographies of religion. The origin of the project is their shared impulse to “tell the story of Dublin’s Northside,” as Stephen puts it, though their incorporation of information from Dublin City Council’s Derelict Roster which places a number of Docklands and Dublin 4 sites on the map too. We wanted to know, if there was a ‘philosophy’ or intention behind the project? “Yes, the big question for us is why these central spaces are closed off from use. The conventional response would be that they are private properties or that the owner/developer is waiting for the economy to pick up. But in the meantime, there are all these vacant and unused spaces sitting alongside a shortage of recreational and play space and potential businesses and community endeavours unable to get going

because they cannot afford the rents being demanded.” What is the nature of their relationship with their other collaborators? Are they also academics? Apparently not. “It’s a public collaboration. Most of the contributors would be nonacademic, whatever that means! It was actually a pretty casual arrangement from the start– Eoin put out a call and a half dozen or so people responded. We are conﬁning ourselves to looking at the Northside, mainly to keep a focus, but it could be really interesting to open the map up to people from all around the city or even the country.” The Dereliction in Dublin Map is viewable on line at https://maps. google.com/maps/ms?msid=2073 27149283039286716.0004d2c7daf 84c293b9ea&msa=0 Image by Stephen Rigney.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

PAGE 15

Naturopathic Nutrition

Love your liver

By Nicky Flood our liver is your body’s primary organ of detoxiﬁcation – when it’s not well, neither are you! The largest organ in the body, it works pretty hard all day processing and ﬁltering nutrients and toxins from the blood. It produces bile for proper fat absorption and digestion, regulates cholesterol and is involved in healthy hormone metabolism. As it is one of the major or-

‘A Social and Natural History of Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend’ which was ﬁrst published in 1993 is available to buy from the NewsFour oﬃce and Books on the Green, Sandymount for €13.99 Phone 6673317 for details. Also available on eBay

gans of detoxification, our liver is in charge of processing any toxins that enter our bodies via the digestive tract, skin and respiratory system. This includes toxic substances such as alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, medication, cosmetic chemicals and food preservatives and additives. Signs of an unhappy liver include fatigue, foggy brain, poor quality sleep (more specifically, waking between 1am and 3am), abdominal bloating, skin problems like acne or dermatitis and hormonal problems like PMS. In traditional Chinese medicine, organ function and emotional health are interconnected, e.g. the lungs are associated with grief, the kidneys with fear and the spleen is connected with worry. The liver’s function (or dysfunction) plays a significant role in anger, rage, depression and irritation. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to lead a non-toxic lifestyle so eating some “liver loving” foods on

a regular basis is important to keep your liver functioning optimally. Think cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, beetroot (all raw or lightly steamed), garlic, citrus fruit, green tea and turmeric. All of these foods have compounds that help to activate liver enzymes to stimulate detoxiﬁcation and are antioxidant, anti-inﬂammatory and very cleansing. Exercise, food, water and alternative treatments can help keep your liver happy and as a result, your body healthy. We’ve heard it all before when it comes to water, but the rumours are true! Water is es-

sential for optimal health and detoxification, especially for the elimination of toxins once they are converted to water-soluble substances enabling them to be easily flushed through the bowels and kidneys. Make sure you drink approximately two litres of fresh filtered water a day to keep your system buzzing. Nicky is a Naturopathic Nutritionist practising in Dublin. She writes, speaks and advises nationwide on all aspects of health, nutrition and wellbeing. Check www.nickyflood.com for further info, upcoming courses and workshops.

PAGE 16

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

G IVE

A LITTLE , HELP A LOT

By Eric Hillis ou’ve probably heard of the One Percent Difference campaign by now but may be confused as to what it’s all about. NewsFour spoke to Seamus Mulconry, executive director of Philanthropy Ireland, to ﬁnd out just what the campaign is and how you can make a difference. Philantropy Ireland (PI) is a representative association for trusts and foundations in Ireland and a member of the Forum of Philanthropy and Fundraising, established in 2011 between government and philanthropists to create a more sustainable form of philanthropy. “One of the recommendations of the forum was that we would set up a national giving campaign, The One Percent Difference, all about getting people to give one percent of their time or income to a cause they care about, whether that’s a charity or a sporting or arts organisation,” Mulconry says.

According to PI’s research, Irish people give roughly €460 million a year to charity, not including sports or the arts. What PI hope to change, however, is the ad hoc fashion in which we contribute to causes. Most Irish people will happily give money if a bucket is shook in their face whereas in other countries people tend to give in a more sustained manner, setting up a direct debit and contributing to a speciﬁc charity over a number of years. PI’s research shows that the average Irish person contributes €130 a year to good causes but there is a large discrepancy between genders. While Irish women give €160 annually, their male counterparts give €100. “If we could get men to give as much as women it would make an enormous difference,” says Mulconry, who puts the imbalance down to women generally playing a more active role in the community. In New Zealand, in the wake

of the 2011 ChristChurch earthquake, a similar campaign was set up. “It was particularly successful,” says Mulconry, “because people could see the need on their doorstep and had neighbours who were desperately in need of help.” Mulconry claims that seeing the needs of a cause ﬁrst-hand changes your attitude towards giving and this is why people who volunteer their time with a cause are more likely to

contribute financially also. “One in five Irish people volunteer on a regular basis and if we could make it two out of five we could achieve so much more,” he says. In the current economic climate, for some, giving as little as one percent of their income may seem impossible. Mulconry is keen to highlight how much money we waste, often without realising it. “Every year the average Irish household dumps between €700 and €1000 worth of out-of-date food,” he points out, “with 1.2 million households in the country, that’s in excess of €1 billion wasted.” At time of writing, over 500 organisations have registered with the campaign. “The benefit of charities signing up is that

it makes it easier to fundraise and locate volunteers, both of which are expensive activities,” Mulconry says, “charities have to spend a reasonable amount of money every year sourcing funds so we hope this will make it much easier for them.” If you visit www.onepercentdifference.ie you can browse the registered organisations and decide who you’d like to donate a small fraction of your time or money to, both of which can be worked out through the site’s calculator. Mulconry is keen to point out the choice is entirely up to you. “We’re not telling people who to give to, or how much. As long as they’re giving, that’s all we’re looking for.”

Locals were out enjoying the sun and the BBQ as part of the Ringsend Summer Gathering recently. Ruadhán Mac Aodháin Outreach Development Worker with Ringsend Community Services Forum is pictured on left with Sharon, Ross, Rebecca, Dave and Bev from the Anchorage Project on York Road.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

By Eric Murphy sense of nostalgic pride surrounded the opening of the Ringsend Gathering Festival. The Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre played host to the launch of The Dubl i n D o c k Wo r k e r s P r e s e r v a t i o n S o c i e t y ’s p h o tographic exhibition. A lively mixture of youth and experience casually-exchanged tales and anecdotes inspired by t h e c o l l e c t e d i m a g e r y, the sunlit hall proving to be a relaxed location for the beginning of the three-day festival. The collection covered different aspects of working and living around the Docklands set against decades of a changing Dublin landscape. Many of the families in Ringsend have links to working on the docks, and for many the evening was passed placing names to faces. T h e c o l l e c t i o n ’s c o n tent proved as startling in themes as in image-

GATHERING FROM THE TIDES

r y, c h r o n i c l i n g c a m a r a derie, socialising and unity within an obvious c l o s e c o m m u n i t y. I m a g es of striking Dockers marching over the decades were interlaced between social events and men at work.

Beyond the theme, most of the collection offered a fine example of the dying art of analogue film photogr a p h y. S n a p s h o t s o f a n era before cameras selffocussed or electronic editing, the vibrancy of

the colours and richness of detailed black and white can still hold the attention as much as anything digitally created, and proved a joyful legacy to all in Dublin 4 and its surrounding areas.

PAGE 17 Declan Byrne opened t h e e v e n i n g ’s f o r m a l i ties, reiterating the pride Ringsend rightfully has at being a hub of Dublin maritime hist o r y, t h a n k i n g t h e l o c a l s along with Alan Martin in particular for compiling such a wonderful and unique collection. Don Bennett gave a wonderfully witty orated account of the mostly unknown origins of nicknames associated t o m a n y o f t h e a r e a ’s Dockers and Hobblers, re-emphasising the closeness and respect through the mutual lamp o o n e r y. Musical entertainment came by way of seafaring shanties and ballads courtesy of Eddie Byrne, whilst the happy audience enjoyed the complementary food and drinks laid on for the evening. If you know any of the gentlemen in this photo please contact Alan Martin through www.bluemelon.com/alanmartin

PAGE 18

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

R EDISCOVERING THE L OST G ENERATION

By Noel Twamley aris, 1925. Truly the centre of the art world. The Art Deco period had just begun and everybody who was anybody in the arts lived there, including Ireland’s three greatest writers – Wilde, Joyce and Beckett. As Oscar Wilde lay dying in a cheap hotel in d’Alsace, somebody gave him a glass of champagne to sip. “I am dying beyond my means,” he quipped. Also in Paris that year were two of America’s most infamous writers – Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had already published All the Sad Young Men, The Beautiful and the Damned and

his magnum opus, The Great Gatsby. The latter has been filmed five times. My preference has always been the first one starring Alan Ladd. Scott and his wife Zelda were very heavy drinkers to the extent that Hemingway said they were always drunk. He would take Scott horse racing at Auteuil and bicycle racing at Veldrome. But Scott would always get drunk. He once confided to Ernest, “First I take a drink, then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes me.” He also told Hemingway, “Ernest, in my soul it’s always 3am, day after day.” Zelda was also an alcoholic. At a party she is supposed to

have told Hemingway, “Ernest, don’t you think Al Jolson is better than Jesus.” To which Ernest is later to have said, “I now know Zelda is mad.” Ten years later Zelda was committed to an asylum. On many occasions, Ernest would take Scott and Zelda to 27 Rue De Fleurus (the home of Gertrude Stein and her lover Alice B. Toklas), for parties and to admire Stein’s collection of Picasso, Cezanne, Pascin and Matisse – paintings which today would cost hundreds of millions. Miss Stein was a very loquacious character and threw everybody out after a very noisy session calling them ‘The Lost Generation’. This term has stuck for over a hundred years. Lissom Sylvia Beach is considered by many to be the kindest person in the Lost Generation set. Owner of a bookshop at 12 Rue l’Odeon (Shakespeare and Company, which is still going strong), she lived above with her Lesbian lover Adrienne Monnier, a lovely couple who helped many impoverished writers with money and free books. Indeed, James

Joyce’s Ulysses would, perhaps, never have been published without their support. No one wanted to publish it because of its sexual content, but Sylvia poured every penny she had into the project. Many of these wonderful, talented people of the Lost Generation died young. Pascin hanged himself, as did Monnier. Zelda burned to death in a horriﬁc ﬁre in a mental institution. Scott died of an alcoholrelated illness. The ever-macho Hemingway shot himself and that is but a few. Only Sylvia Beach lived to old age. In 1962, she came to Dublin to open the Martello Tower in Sandymount. She named the

occasion Bloomsday. We’ll leave the last word to Ernest Hemingway, from his book, The Moveable Feast. “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you. For Paris is a moveable feast.” Clockwise from top left: Ernest Hemingway on safari in 1934; Sylvia Beach (centre) with James Joyce and Adrienne Monnier at Shakespeare and Company, Paris in 1920; F. Scott Fitzgerald; poster for Alan Ladd’s Great Gatsby, 1949; Zelda Fitzgerald in ballet attire.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

NIGHTS AT COLUMBIA MILLS

By Liam Cahill n the early 90s, a generation got caught up in the lawlessness of rave culture. Fed-up with boring slow sets and indie beats and yearning for some release from the constant talk of unemployment and emigration, young and old turned to a new kind of escapism: a bop at Columbia Mills. The Mills, based down in Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, became a second home to early house DJs the Beat Club, the Inﬂux Boys (Paul Davis and Johnny Moy), Darren Emerson, David Holmes,

DJ Francois and Mark Kavanagh. Its rooms were dark and small; it got so hot the sweat was literally running off the walls. It had two ﬂoors, one with traditional dance and techno and the basement with more laid-back tunes. “The area wasn’t built up then, there was nothing down there, so when you were walking down to Columbia Mills you were almost walking into a wilderness,” said Cara Davidson, one of the regulars. “It was the same group of people who kept organising the clubs and they would just change

the names and move from venue to venue,” she said. “Everybody was on the same buzz and the people were pretty rough, but none of that mattered. People were just there for the music,” said Sharon Murray, another Mills regular. “All the guys would have their tops off and all the girls would be dancing around in next to nothing. You’d go in with a little bag on your back and dance in your bra, hot pants or little skirt,” said Sharon. Columbia Mills was just one part of a growing dance sub-culture that was taking Dublin by storm. “There hasn’t been anything as good as Columbia Mills since,” said Gary ‘Gedge’ Slevin, a DJ who played at Columbia Mills. “I think what stood out about Columbia Mills is that it was a mixed crowd, you’d have people that were into different music scenes coming together, dance music broke down all those boundaries in society,” he said. The dance ﬂoor had ﬂuorescent lights and pumping beats and while the jacks were constantly blocked, love was seeping out of every pore.

PAGE 19 “Everybody was on a love buzz, you’d go to the toilet and meet someone in the queue and start talking to them and they’d be your best friend,” said Sharon. “That was the great thing. There was no rich, poor, gay, straight, there were no social divides. You’d just meet people and go to parties, there were no ﬁghts,” she said. The brainchild of DJ Francois and Mick Heaney, the Mills offered a fresh take on nightlife in Dublin. Shaft, for instance, was a gay night (considering it was the mid-90s was a rather new and unknown phenomenon). UFO was the Mill’s biggest night which crammed four to ﬁve hundred people into the former textile factory on a Friday night. (It was also the pub shown in the climax of The Commitments). The large crowds and the variety of drugs available eventually attracted the attention of the Guards, who carried out one of the biggest raids ever seen on Irish soil in 1994 – entering through the exits and entrances to the club and insisting everyone get down on their knees. “A good few people were ar-

rested, making the headlines the next day. The authorities thought they were making headway into destroying the dance scene that was sweeping the country at the time,” said Slevin. The raid helped bring about the club’s eventual demise – it was renamed Alien in 1995 and ran until the early noughties before closing shop. But the Mills managed to freeze a moment in time when nothing else mattered – only how hard you could dance. Images are scans of original ﬂyers from Columbia Mills.

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A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS

By Caomhan Keane haryn Hayden has been between these sheets before, for her hilarious stand-up show Shazwanda Up The Duff and her musical comedy night The Fandora Club. Having starred in Tr a c y M a r t i n ’s T h e Wa v e l a s t y e a r, s h e h a s c a u g h t the theatrical bug and is

combining her saucy humour with her more serious chops in a brand new production from Company D productions. Called A Coupla White Chicks Sitt i n g A ro u n d Ta l k i n g i t ’s penned by John Ford Noonan and runs at The New T h e a t r e , Te m p l e B a r, D u b lin 2 from the 19th – 24th of August.

“ I t ’s l e s s s p o n t a n e o u s , ” she tells me, talking about

S ALT

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 how she approached the work in a comedy play as opposed to doing a come d y a c t . “ O b v i o u s l y, s i n c e there are a lot of rehearsals and planning involved I have to up my game on my social skills – I’m so used to working on my own that I have to learn to play nice with the other children.” A zany romp about a mismatched pair of female neighbours as they fight, scheme, cheat, laugh and love, what made director David Scott want to do a comedy written in the 70s as his latest project? “I came across the play while searching for great roles for women I could use in studio classes,” Scott tells me. “I loved the play and decided I would

IN THE VEINS

By Eric Murphy ocal Ringsend man Gerry Brannock has good reason to be proud of the area. The spritely native has seen both land and seascapes of Dublin’s south portside change radically over the years, but the historic pride is also tinged with tragedy. Gerry’s father, able seaman Patrick Brannock, alongside bosun Frank Hopkins and cabin boy Robert Larkin perished aboard the Kyleclare and all hailed from Ringsend. The cargo ship was torpedoed 70 years ago this year, yet the tragedy didn’t put off any ambitions of serving the high seas for Gerry. This article is dedicated to the crew of the Kyleclare, the last Irish merchant ship sunk during the war. “It was a way of life with us, that’s just the way it was,” Gerry explained. Gerry Brannock is a wealth of names and rankings of every merchant naval position held by locals. He can account for the names and insignia of residents past and still present from almost every street in the area. “If one went to sea in a family, that usually got other family members to go. The like of the ship carpenters would have served their time

in the Liffey or the Ringsend Dockyard. Going to sea as a carpenter was seen as equivalent to a petty officer, a high-ranking position. You worked your way through the ranks, we all came from a working class area so it was a great achievement to become a captain.” And there were a number of captains amongst the dozens of names Gerry proudly recited to go with almost every ranking position. Seafaring, once inherent to the area, is declining. “With my grandfather being a seafarer, it was always a natural

do it one day when the right actors came along. Which they have.” What about Shazwanda? Wi l l s h e b e a p p e a r i n g o n a stage near us anytime soon? “Shazwanda has been b u s y r o a m i n g D u b l i n ’s north inner city for the l a s t y e a r, s e a r c h i n g f o r t h e i d e n t i t y o f h e r b a b y ’s d a . S o f a r, t h e p o s s i b i l i ties are Darren from Love/ Hate or the owner of a Chinese takeaway on Cork Street. She’ll figure it out eventually and she’ll be back.” See sharynhaydencomedy.com for more info on Sharyn Hayden. The New Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, 19th – 24th of August, 7.30pm, €15/12 conc. Phone 01 670 3361. progression that my father, brother and me would go to sea. None of my family has gone to sea since. The cut-off point was myself. My eldest son is 44 and the youngest is 32 and there’s no desire amongst them to go.” The proud Dublin 4 man believes the changing economic climate has changed the landscape of the area. “It’s something like the bankers are doing now – Irish Shipping was bled dry. It ruined shipping and the expertise was taken away. It changed the area.” Gerry still sees some brightness in the recent developments of building in the Docklands. “They based Dublin Docklands on the London Docklands. That Ulster Bank area is a miniature Canary Wharf. I was competing with Stella Maris Rowing Club on the Thames when they (the developers) came with us and started photographing London Docklands. People have some lovely apartment buildings here too.” He also firmly agrees with the port authority’s decision to move the passenger ferry terminals. “That’s all for the better. Better and quicker to have the passenger ports down here than having to go up the river toward town.” Photo: The Irish Merc hant Seamen Memorial on City Quay.

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PAGE 22

By James O’Doherty very day may not be a good day, but there is something good in every day. So says the old adage. And there’s a lot of truth in it. Early mornings at this time of year are quite beautiful. I write this on a morning where the air is filled with a soft, velvety quality. The beauty of a Summer morning surrounds me. I love this time of year. It feels like the floral pageant goes on and on. In a garden, life is endless. There is almost a glimpse of the eternal all around us. This is a great time of year to be outdoors among the sun, the trees, the flowers and even that frequent Irish visitor, the rain. Soon the year will creep towards Autumn. It seems to be that the long days of Summer feel shorter every year. So let’s look around at the Summer pageant; parks and gardens are full of colour and scent – the beauty of the pansies, marigolds, geraniums and petunias combined with a mixture of textures such as grasses and wooded areas are delightful. It is hard to believe that amidst all that beauty a million Ash trees will be destroyed this Summer to stop the spread of the deadly disease Chalara. Teagasc say that there have been 82 locations with confirmed findings of this disease in Ireland. Soon, over a million trees will be burned or buried to stop the spread of the fungus to our national trees. Our hurleys are made of Irish Ash. It is something we treasure. That is the bigger picture. And, it is important that we are aware of it, as it reminds us of the fragility of nature. Meanwhile, in the garden,

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

T HE G REEN S CENE MIDSUMMER MUSINGS

work continues. It’s a busy time of year. And whether you have a large space or a smaller area there’s lots to do. The best time to prune hydrangeas is after flowering. Prune rambling roses. Continue to dead head flowers on Summer bedding and roses to prolong the flowering season well into Autumn. Cut the grass at least once a week to keep the garden neat and tidy. This is also a good time to trim laurel hedges. Prune lavender after flowering. There is still time to plant the lovely Madonna Lily during August. Do not plant it too deep – an inch or two is sufficient.

September is a good month to sow new lawns. Prepare the ground well and apply a good general fertiliser before sowing. Give your lawn seed a thorough watering and do keep it well watered to ensure quick and even germination. Water and feed container plants on a regular basis. Feed outdoor tomato plants and take out the growing point. Water carefully and remove some of the foliage to help trusses of fruit to ripen. You can now divide the beautiful bearded iris and plant new ones. Summerprune pears and apple trees. Prune plums, blackcurrants, loganberries. Plant main crops and leeks, sow radishes and turnips. Prepare the site for planting strawberry runners in September. Sow spring cabbage and onions and lettuce. Feed Brussels Sprouts and Winter greens, shallots and garlic. As I work in my garden this Summer, I think back to a few weeks ago when I enjoyed a visit to Chelsea – host of the most famous flower show in the world. Held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea on its eleven acres, it attracts over 150,000 visitors every year. It aims to promote horticulture and in doing so exhibits gardening

at its best. This was its one-hundredth anniversary and as always it was a remarkable spectacle. And yet I expected more, something was missing on

the main avenue. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it was a sense I had. Call it the green fingers in me, maybe I was looking for something different. Never the less, beautiful artistic flower gardens and a lot of detailed landscaping was the order of the day. The great marquee was as usual outstanding. A spectacle of colour and flowers and nature at her best. Hardy geranium Rozanne was crowned R.H.S. Chelsea Plant of the Centenary. It is fast-growing, with violet blue flowers streaked with red. A very close second was Lupinus Russell Hybrids, another outstanding plant. So if you want to bring a bit of colour from the Chelsea Flower Show into your own green space this Summer it’s colours and flowers all the way. As Clara Balfour says, “What a desolate place would a world without flowers be, it would be a feast without a welcome.” Enjoy your Summer feast, whatever takes your fancy. C l o c k w i s e f ro m l e f t : A s h t re e , L u p i n u s R u s s e l l H y b r i d s a n d H a rd y Geranium Rozanne.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

CUTS CREATE RESILIENCE IN DRUGS TASK FORCE

By Liam Cahill here’s no doubt excessive budget cuts have had an impact on local services across the board, but some groups such as the South Inner City Drugs Task Force are trying to look beyond the negativity of budget cuts and dwindling services. “We knew there was a major cut coming down the line, so we looked at every single project that we fund and put in place a system where we protect frontline services,” says Colm Browne, the Task Force Coordinator for the South Inner City Drugs Task Force. This particular drugs task force was set up in 1997 and funded as part of the National Drugs Strat-

egy. It runs as sort of an umbrella organisation which includes 33 funded projects including: Rinn Training, Merchants Quay Project, The Mercy Family Centre, Teen Challenge and Ringsend and District Response to Drugs (RDRD). “The Drugs Task Force were very proactive in their approach in terms of the task for the area. What we did was put money aside under different headings like the cocaine problem over the past three or four years and put that money into cocaine awareness,” says Teresa Weafer, Manager of RDRD. Despite budget constraints, Teresa’s team provides a number of assessment and treatment options, counselling services, fam-

ily support groups and addiction support groups for people who may have a drug problem. Developing a dedicated key worker, and necessary support mechanisms for people who may be suffering from an addiction, is a priority for this program. “I think the Drugs Task Force would like to (give more money) but I don’t think the Government would. The Government are the ones who are holding the purse strings of the Task Force,” says Teresa. The Drugs Task Force also funds groups like Community Response, which help people with drug problems, HIV and Hepatitis C. It offers drug awareness training to project workers and family support groups. The

PAGE 23 force also funds the South West Inner City Network (SWICN) who run an education and youth service, providing services for the local community. Similarly funded is RADE (Recovery Through Art, Drama and Education) who engage drug users with the arts, allowing them to creatively express themselves through a variety of workshops such as drama, writing and ﬁlm. Despite the courageous work of many of these groups, a strangling of resources and calls for an evaluation of the current services provided has overtaken some of the positive work which is ongoing on the ground. The South Inner City Drugs Task Force’s current funding stands at just over €2 million. Since 2008 that number was reduced by €318,000, which is a 15% cut to their total budget. “I would say we have in place a system where we can manage but it’s nearly a death by a thousand cuts,” says Browne. Despite this, hundreds of addicts and their families receive vital support through the variety of services still being provided by the South Inner City Drugs Task Force. Spellman awards, clockwise from top left: Rachel Grifﬁn, Chloe McKevitt, Kelly Crosby, Aaron Lynch, Superintendant Lorraine Wheatley, Oisin McMahon, Shane Crosby, Jordan Collins, Dylan Helch. Teresa Weafer, Audrey O’Connor. Colm Browne, Leah Weafer.

Pat Ward and Connie McKeown Doyle.

Cllr Gerry Ashe and Colm Browne. Minister Alex John Mullen. Alice Foley.

White

with

Paul Traynor, Collette Moran, Jennifer Divine, Sean Quinn, Michael Sheary, Stella Pullen, Amanda Mellet, Maeve Clifford.

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FARM PLAY AT THE LIR

By Ruairi Conneely he LIR, Ireland’s National Academy of Dramatic Art, situated on Pearse St, recently played host to a meeting of worlds of what to most people’s minds are true opposites: country life and city life. The LIR and WillFredd Theatre brought the production FARM to the core of the capital in July. FARM is the brainchild of Willfredd’s artistic director, Sophie Motley and the intention behind the production was to quite literally bring the rural into the midst of the urban. At ﬁrst glance, theatre might not seem the wisest way to do this but FARM was no conventional plot-driven performance. Executive Producer Kate Costello provided some insight. “The director Sophie currently lives on a farm in Wicklow, and commutes to Dublin, and so she really started to notice the distinction between the two locations. That was the start, wanting to do a production where the two were brought together.” The production was intensely researched with locals that Sophie knew personally. Rehearsals were kept open to the public and elements of the show as it developed were discarded or incorporated according to their responses and suggestions and even a turn of phrase. In conversation with NewsFour, Sophie explained, “The catchphrase of the show, between cast members was ‘Anything that doesn’t work has to go’. It came from an interview we did with a farmer. He was talking about the farming life, but it just jumped out at us as soon as he said it, and became the guideline.” The show was very kinetic, based around dance, movement and song, and the presence of tools and how they are used in work. “It’s about capturing that sense of pace,” Sophie explained, “rural pace is ‘things are done when they’re done.’ In cities, it’s ‘I’ll meet you here, from this time until this time’ then it’s off to the next appointment.” The ultimate aim, she explains in conclusion, was getting the appeal right. “We wanted a theatre-going audience, and we wanted a non-theatre-going audience. When we had a crowd who were half farmers one night, we knew we were on the right track. FARM will be at the Big House Festival, Castletown in August. Images permission Kate Costello.

RETURN

By Ruairi Conneely ulture vultures and lovers of the performing arts will once again be holding their breath in anticipation of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. The first wave of news is upon us so we spoke with Róise Goan, Director of the Festival, The news provided so far talks about the festival in thematic terms, as being about “activists, whistleblowers, women, children and industry”. We wanted to know how the themes of the festival are determined. “Well, we put out the call every year for applications, and they come in and as I sort through the work, themes emerge on their own. It’s what’s in the news, it’s what’s contemporary that the artists respond to.” As befitting the imminent anniversary, one intention this year was integrating a sense of the significance of the 1913 Lock Out. One of the more hotly anticipated events this year is the ANU Production group’s production Thirteen, which will play out over as many days of the festival, with thirteen individual works gradually building to create a sense of the Lock Out unfolding in the present day. The other elephant in the

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

TO THE

cultural room this year is, of course, The Gathering, which Dublin Fringe are supporting. “Our response to the Gathering concerned Irish artists – or artists of Irish descent – who are based abroad and could bring a show back. There’ve been a lot of people bringing comedy this year – Maeve Higgins, pictured above, (of RTE’s Naked Camera) is debuting her first play with us. Then, on the other hand theatre artist Nic Green has a new show Fatherland which is about her Scottish roots, so it’s not just comedy.”

BOOKS

WALKING INTO ETERNITY by Rodney Devitt Reviewed by Ruairi Conneely lysses is certainly a book worth reading, something of an adventure given its size, prestige and depth of detail but getting a start can be a challenge. For many, particularly the fabled ‘average reader’, the intimidation factor is high. The novel is celebrated for its evocation of various literary styles, its deep interiorised portrayal of

its three main characters and an apparently pedestrian plot which camouﬂages Joyce’s sense that the mundane and the mythological are one and the same. These are among the novel’s strengths but they can create the impression that Ulysses is a chore rather than a pleasure. Rodney Devitt will be best known to Dublin Joyceans for his walking tours along Sandymount Strand on Bloomsday. His new chapbook Walking Into Eternity is an embodiment of these tours and provides an excellent foot-in-the-door for a willing reader who feels excluded from the text. Intended to be read in a single sitting, Walking Into Eternity addresses the chapters of the book speciﬁcally concerning Sandymount and neighbouring locales. Sandymount Strand is, of course, the site of Stephen Daedalus’ ‘walk into eternity’ (after which the book takes its

FRINGE

When asked what she is particularly excited about, Róise says simply, everything. “The festival is closely curated and I have had a hand in all of it, so I’m excited about everything. If I had to pick, I‘m looking forward to Taylor Mack’s 20th Century Music, which I recommend to all music fans: it’s a very eclectic approach to the music of the last century.” See www.fringefest.ie for details. The full programme launches August 13th. Picture from the Fringe Press Office.

Dublin

title). This is where he muses on his philosophical preoccupations and the immediate sensory details of a morning’s walk on the beach. Devitt, in discussing this scene, presents its possible appeal for a reader by sharing his own enthusiasm for the accuracy of the descriptions. He also sketches a little history of the area to communicate the signiﬁcance of Joyce’s artistry, and his eye for the critical little details of place. The second section of Walking Into Eternity, for instance, provides a brief account of the development of Sandymount as a residential neighbourhood, providing context for the relevant episode of the novel. The art design of the book intersperses colour images with choice quotes from the novel and encourages a leisurely consideration of the pages and, by extension, its subject. Walking Into Eternity is a ﬁne and friendly starting point for budding readers of Joyce’s great work.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

S NAPPING

By Liam Cahill n 2011, Kim Haughton, a freelance photographer based in Dublin discussed baking with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. “He’s a grandfather and bakes bread, I find these kind of things interesting about people,” she says. Her work has taken her from the abandoned ghost estates of Ireland to the desert plains of Ethiopia, where her interest in exposing people’s quirks, rather than how they look, marked her work. Kim started her career in the early 1990s as a student interning at the now-defunct Sunday Tribune, working one day a week with the newspaper’s photographer. This coincided with her studies in photography at DIT, a breathing ground for aspiring media personnel with RTE’s Claire Byrne and The Saturday Night Show’s Brendan O’Connor amongst their famous alumni. Although the job was only one day a week, it gave Kim a good grounding on technical aspects of photography – the importance of brightness, how to set the right shutter speed and how to properly develop prints. She watched, listened and learnt the skills needed to start her own career a few years later at NewsFour. “I knew I needed to start working on my own, so I applied for the job and got it,” she says. Kim worked under the then-Editor Denis McKenna who told her the reason she got the job was because

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TO THE TOP

her portfolio was the only one to contain people in it. NewsFour was Kim’s perfect match. It has always put local people at the heart of all aspects of its journalism. With Kim, the paper got its chance to enhance its coverage of local people and stories. Her predominantly black and white images echo a strong sense of storytelling that gave readers a sense of colour, vitality and youth. “NewsFour has produced a lot of people who have gone on to do well. I found it a very good place to start,” she says. After two years with NewsFour Kim moved into the less financially stable world of freelance photography, where she worked on a host of projects including portraits of Bertie Ahern, Bono, Brenda Fricker and Olympic champion Katie Taylor. Kim has also become somewhat of a roving photographer, travelling to Haiti to document the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and Lesotho in Africa in 2005, where she compiled a portfolio on the AIDS-ravaged region in Death of a Kingdom. Her most recent work Shadowlands documents Ireland’s economic and financial collapse. “I kept passing this development in Donaghmede and I thought if this is the way it is here, it must be interesting visually all over Ireland. Every weekend for about six weeks, I went off in the car to Leitrim, Longford and Ros-

common,” she says. Her work was compelling enough to land Kim spots in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Sunday Business Post and the Independent in London, who printed a big splash with the headline ‘The Human Cost of the Irish Crash’ with Kim’s black and white images which painted a rather eerie depiction of our sorry mess. “Given that I had that all ready to go when the collapse happened here, with the bank guarantee crisis and the IMF, that’s how it became a good seller for me,” she says. Her pictures manage to capture a moment in time that will be imprinted forever on the minds of those who see them, while also managing to capture something uniquely different about Irish people, that immediate sense of character. “You’re trying to find their soul, which is a difficult thing to do,” she concludes.

The main picture, top left, is from Kim’s recent Shadowlands series on ghost estates. Above and below are some of the many fine pictures Kim produced when working as the NewsFour photographer. The women below are awaiting the arrival of Prince Charles when he paid a visit to St. Andrew’s Resource Centre in Pearse Street.

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L OCAL

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

PICTURE ROUNDUP

Above: The 6th Year Graduation Class at Ringsend College. Left: The girls from Ringsend Creche release a balloon with personal messages to the late Antoinette Johnson at the launch of her commemorative bench in the gardens of Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre. Congratulations to Fergus Meneghan (pictured below) on the launch of his ﬁrst solo exhibition Ceolteoirí Sráide. Fergus has contributed many images to NewsFour over the past two years. His work can be viewed on www.dublinweddingphotographer.net. Image by Voicu Duma.

Above: The clas s o f 2 0 1 3 a r e a l l s m i l e s a t t h e R i n g s e n d C o m m u n i t y Creche Graduatio n .

Right: Ringsend College graduation, left to right: Priscilla Fitzpatrick, Yvonne Kavanagh, Patrick Murphy, Cathie Hogan, Carol Griffin.

St Patrick’s School art exhibition in Ringsend, left to right: Bernadette Egan, Sandra Johnston, Tony Faulkner, Kathleen Sheppard, Helen Sherry, Robin Booth, Louise Whelan.

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St Matthewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School celebrated the official opening of its new extension at the end of June. Pupils of all ages assembled and performed various songs and a play. Clockwise from bottom left:Rosie Nina, Grace Atkinson, Lara Johnston; pupils from 4th class perform a play; Beth (youngest pupil in the school) and John (the oldest) cut the cake; Sophie Maher, Alex Ainsworth, Rosie Muldown, Richard Ainsworth; Grace Atkinson in front of the new plaque.

Lakelands convent communion 1961 sent in by Theresa Maksymczuk.

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M USICAL

By Eric Hillis ave you ever found yourself longing to attend a live music event but can’t find anyone willing to tag along? Maybe your friends have emigrated, gotten married, or simply don’t share your impeccable musical taste? If your musical passion is lost on your peers, Dave Conway has just the solution. He is the founder of Gigonometry, an online group which organises meet-ups for fans of live music. Once registered, you simply suggest an upcoming event and, if it meets the quality control standards

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

MATH

of Conway or his co-organisers, it will be added to a database. Anyone else who wishes to attend registers their interest, resulting in a merry band of music lovers who can attend the event together, share the experience, and maybe even become good friends in the process. “By and large, a lot of our members are people who have not been going to live music for one reason or another,” Conway tells NewsFour. Conway founded Gigonometry in 2009 after discovering meetup.com a website aimed at uniting people based on

their interests. Inspired by a group called The Music Travellers, who organise meet-ups at international music festivals, Conway thought “why not do this on a local level?” Now the group is one of meetup.com’s most popular, with an average of three to four live music events added weekly, in venues ranging from the O2 to small pubs. A musician himself, Conway saw a unique opportunity in Gigonometry’s popularity and

PRESENT OF OUR PAST

By Eric Hillis his year’s National Heritage Week takes place between Saturday 17th and Sunday 25th of August. The week, which sees events celebrating Ireland’s heritage taking place nationwide, is part of European Heritage Days, an EU-wide initiative which began in France in 1984. Throughout the 80s, more and more countries got on board, with Ireland joining in 1989. Since 2005, responsibility for co-ordinating Ireland’s Heritage Week has been handled by the Heritage Council. Isabell Smyth, Head of Education and Communications at the Heritage Council, tells NewsFour that in Ireland, Heritage Week has become much more of a community-driven event than in other countries. This is partly by necessity, as the Heritage Council has seen their budget slashed by 70% in recent years. “Originally it was only Ofﬁce of Public Works sites which were involved,” Smyth says, “Now we have everyone from

academics to local historians and small Non-Governmental Organisations, including many environmental NGOs like An Taisce and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.” In order for institutions to qualify, they’re required to

make events as free of charge as possible, as the aim of Heritage Week is to get the public involved in thinking about their heritage. “We’re open to most events except those that are not doing something special for the week or aren’t speciﬁcally

established a monthly showcase for up-and-coming local bands in The Gypsy Rose on Aston Quay. “The bands often tell us it’s the best gig they’ve ever played,” says Conway, “and it’s simply because our members really love and appreciate live music.” While the bulk of members are in their 20s and 30s, Conway tells us fifty-somethings and late-teens have been known to attend. He also notes an increasing amount of newheritage-related,” Smyth says, “mostly we’re open to encouraging all kinds of events and often it’s community groups that get together and arrange speakers to give talks on various aspects of local history. It gives a platform to people with knowledge of, a concern for, and an interest in heritage.” Last year saw over 1,600 events held across the country and Smyth expects an extra 150 this year. “In the past five years it’s really taken off in the public imagination,” she says, “people appear to have an increased interest in being involved with their local community and Heritage Week is a great opportunity for people to experience something they mightn’t normally have access to.” Some of the biggest attractions during the week involve those institutions that wouldn’t be otherwise open to the public, such as the Royal College of Physicians, who host a display of antique medical instruments. Smaller local institutions provide the majority of events, however. “It’s important to remember we have won-

comers to Ireland joining the group. “Everyone is welcome to join,” says Conway, “you just need to be a lover of live music.” Gigonometry can be found online at www.meetup.com/gigonometry Pictured above: Gigonometry members at a recent meet-up. Left: The Gypsy Rebel Rabble perform at one of Gigonometry’s monthly showcase events. derful resources like our libraries, the Office of Public Works, parks etc,” Smyth says, “there are lots of cultural resources based in Dublin and most of them are doing something during the week.” Many events are specifically aimed at teaching children about their heritage, with one of the most popular being a specially tailored children’s tour of the Oireachtas. Several intriguing events are scheduled for the Dublin 4 area across several venues. Ringsend Library will host talks from experts on local history. The National Print Museum are providing a tour of Beggar’s Bush Barracks as well as hosting a special children’s day. Other scheduled local events include a rare artefacthandling tour of UCD’s classical museum and a talk on the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in Pembroke Library. A fully updated schedule can be found on www.heritageweek.ie with a smart-phone app also available. Smyth advises booking in advance, as many events have limited space and can book out quickly.

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UPCOMING DVDs Here are my recommendations for the must-see movies hitting DVD in the coming weeks.

Spring Breakers (August 12th) Possibly the most divisive movie of 2013, this tale of girls gone wild is a day-glow riot. If you have a teenage daughter, you may never allow her leave the house after watching this.

Compliance (August 19th) If you rent one movie in August, make it Compliance. Based on the true story of a sociopath who terrorized America by phoning fast-food restaurants posing as a cop, this independent feature proves truth is often stranger than ﬁction.

Love Is All You Need (September 9th) Pierce Brosnan proves adept at comedy in a rom-com that possesses both heart and brains.

PASSION Reviewed by Eric Hillis

t the Berlin ofﬁce of a global advertising outﬁt, executive Christine (Rachel McAdams) has a twisted working relationship with her dedicated assistant Isobel (Noomi Rapace), showering her with affection while stabbing her in the back at every opportunity. When Isobel comes up with a successful campaign for a Jeans brand, Christine takes credit for the idea, winning her a promotion to head of the company’s New York branch.

FILMS Isobel, following the advice of her smitten lesbian secretary Dani (Caroline Herfurth), lets the company CEO know that it’s actually her idea, denying Christine the promotion. Christine immediately sets about gaining revenge, using her most aggressive tactics yet. American remakes of French ﬁlms are nothing new, but Brian De Palma’s take on Alain Corneau’s 2010 thriller, Love Crime, is a curiosity. This isn’t

a case of Hollywood acquiring a property; rather we have the producer of the original, Saïd Ben Saïd, performing the same duty for the remake. Instead of relocating the events from France to the U.S, De Palma’s version moves the story next-door, to Germany. Saïd may have believed there was room for improvement over Corneau’s ﬁlm, but De Palma makes few changes to the original script. What little tampering he does, serves to make the story unintentionally laughable, as he injects a tawdry lesbian sub-plot which comes off like the fantasy

of a 14-year-old boy. Rapace is watchable as always but McAdams is badly miscast and at least ten years too young for the character. Anyone who saw Corneau’s film can’t help but recall Kristin Scott Thomas’s memorable take on the same character. McAdams pales in comparison. Fans of De Palma will note a suspicious resemblance between McAdams and his ex-wife, and star of several of his films, Nancy Allen. De Palma frames his shots almost identically to those of the original but throws in a splitscreen sequence which seems gratuitous until it’s part in the mechanics of a final twist is revealed. It’s a neat trick from a film-maker known for his

cinematic sleight of hand. As a director, he’s still got it, but the former Movie Brat insists on adapting the script himself. Writing has never been De Palma’s strength and that’s all too obvious here. The character of Dani is shoehorned into the story for two reasons: provide some sleaze, and act as a vessel for expository dialogue. Considering Passion marks the return of such an iconic ﬁlmmaker, it’s sad that the most lingering images are those of blatant product placement. Worst of all is a brazen shot which zooms slowly into a laptop lid until the Apple logo completely ﬁlls the screen. Perhaps De Palma’s talents are now more suited to Madison Avenue?

On the continent, Museum Nights, where museums and galleries stay open late are common, and this was the inspiration for Culture Night. It’s not

just larger institutions such as the National Museum or National Gallery which are involved, however. “To qualify, you just need to be an institution with a link to Ireland’s culture or heritage,” Van Wylick says, “but you must program something unique to the night, be it a tour or a special talk to provide cultural insight. We’ve even had individuals opening their homes and providing art work-shops.” With many people under ﬁnancial strain, Culture Night provides a great opportunity to indulge freely in the best the city has to offer culturally. “People tend to ﬂow from one venue to the other taking in as much as possible, that’s a special part of it,” Van Wylick says, “it’s a different way for audiences to experience arts and culture, a more accessible way.” The Temple Bar Cultural Trust will release a full programme in mid-August. For more details, visit www.culturenight.ie

F REE

PICKINGS FOR CULTURE VULTURES

By Eric Hillis n the evening of Friday September 20th, hundreds of Ireland’s cultural institutions will once again open their doors to the public, free of charge, for yet another Culture Night. First established in 2006 by the Temple Bar Cultural Trust, the annual event has grown increasingly in the intervening seven years and TBCT expects this year to be the most successful yet. Culture Night co-ordinator Aimee Van Wylick tells NewsFour the original focus may have been on Dublin but now it’s expanded to encompass the entire country, across the border and even across the water. “Last year there were events held to promote Irish culture in London and Louven, Belgium,”

Van Wylick says, “We’re starting to see Culture Night spread to the Irish diaspora, which is great.” Last year was Culture Night’s biggest to date, with more than 900 venues across 34 locations, attracting over 160,000 visitors. Van Wylick notes how it’s increasingly become a family event in recent years. “It’s not just for grown-ups,” she says, “kids love it as it’s the one night of the year they get to stay out late.” For some, the term “culture” can be intimidating but Van Wylick says Culture Night is precisely about making institutions accessible to those who wouldn’t normally visit them. “It’s all inclusive and geared towards all audiences,” she says, “it’s a real boost for cultural

organisations as it attracts people who maybe wouldn’t have visited those places or wouldn’t have had access for varying reasons.”

PAGE 30

SMILES WITHOUT BORDERS

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 in war-torn countries. “It’s a unique exhibition representing Clowns Without Borders work in conﬂict zones. Photographers and journalists from around the world have taken incredible and touching images during these Clown interventions, capturing great moments of joy. It will do your heart good to see the Miles of Smiles exhibition,” says Colm O’Grady the Artistic Director for CWB Ireland and former D4 resident.

By Liam Cahill photography exhibition called ‘Miles of Smiles’ will kick off this month. The exhibit, displaying photographs from journalists and photographers from around the globe, runs at the Irish Aid building, 27-31 Upr O’Connell Street from Thursday August 1st to 31st and will be curated by Spanish photographer, Elena Hermosa. The event is being organised by the Irish division of Clowns

ORAL

Without Borders (CWB) to celebrate the international division’s 20 years performing for children

HISTORIES AND

By Ruairi Conneely ublin is enshrined in the popular imagination as a literary city, and there’s a litany of names often invoked as proof of that accolade but, looking past Kavanagh, Joyce, Behan and the guided tour version of the city’s heritage, another vision of Dublin becomes apparent. Before the ubiquity of mobile internet, TVs, or even radio, the

CWB hold small performance shows for children and communities in war-ravaged countries,

helping bring a smile during traumatic periods. CWB started in 1993 during the Kosovo War, with the help of a Spanish clown named Tertell Patrona, who was asked by his son to do something to help the kids in Kosovo. “Everybody loves to laugh, but there is not a lot to laugh about in the situations CWB ﬁnd themselves in. The kind of work CWB do is called psyhco-social relief. Studies show that verbalising raw and fresh emotional wounds can be re-traumatising so ‘talking through’ therapy doesn’t work with children who are suffering from effects of war, camp living,

family and/or social infrastructure breakdown,” says Colm. Since 2006 CWB International held shows, performed and brought joy and laughter to children in Somalia, Uganda, Lesotho, Nepal, numerous times in South Africa, Palestine and Israel and in our own back yard – Mosney, Ireland. Anyone can get involved in the shows including professional Irish artists, musicians, administrators and psychologists. For more information see www.cwbireland.com

The three-verse pome caught on fast and was popularly attributed to Brendan Behan, but Vinnie was the author. Gough’s Statue was a particular favourite of James Plunkett, who enjoyed its mockery of “infantile militarism”. In 1982, Vinnie self-published a small run of a book entitled Rowdy Rhymes and Rec-im-itations (Doggerel for a departed Dublin). The book, printed “as a nixer” with the aid of friends at a variety of Dublin printing shops, is a record of Vinnie’s own work and other popular verses such as tragic, melodramatic The Sailor from Ringsend by balladeer Paddy Kenny. It was this verse that ﬁrst sparked Vinnie’s interest in balladry. He explained that, “Dublin has always been a word-ofmouth city, and these verses weren’t created to be put down in print. They were for the craic, and would be recited in pubs and at printer’s lash-ins. I remember as a child, fam-

ily get-togethers, hooleys, would be fairly frequent in my home. This would have been typical of a lot of houses, so there would be a mix of country songs, music hall numbers, and street ballads circulating in the city.” While no longer central to the culture, an appreciation remains, enshrined in regular sessions like the Cle Club meetings every Wednesday from 7pm at The Stag’s Head pub, where old balladeers reunite and perform the old standards in the traditional manner and should you happen to be enjoying a drink at O’Reilly’s of Sandymount, have a look around for one of Vinnie’s pieces framed on the wall, and maybe chance your arm at a recital, and see if it catches on.

Images supplied by CWB.

PUB POMES

popular culture of the city was in wordplay, parody, popular recitation and legendry. NewsFour spoke with Vincent Caprani, a long-time performer and chronicler of Street Ballads and Pub Pomes. Vincent (“Call me Vinnie”) began his career apprenticing as a printer in 1950 when the print trade was healthy and diverse all across Dublin, and a motivated person could run off a one-page

broadsheet to provide commentary on an event while it was still fresh in the public mind. We might think we have all this and more today with 24-hour rolling news but these were more anonymous times. These broadsheets would carry verses that could be irreverent or bawdy to the point of minor scandal. An example of this was the controversy (and hilarity) surrounding the Gough’s Statue incident. In 1957, in the Phoenix Park, a bomb was planted on the equestrian statue of FieldMarshall Sir Hugh Gough, a renowned British military leader. Intended to destroy, the bomb damaged the statue such that it had to be removed. Within days of the incident, a satire was circulated titled Gough’s Statue that began with the lines: There are strange things done from twelve to one In the hollow at Phaynix Park, There’s maidens mobbed and gentlemen robbed In the bushes after dark; But the strangest of all within human recall Concerns the statue of Gough, ’Twas a terrible fact, and a most wicked act, For his b****x they tried to blow off!

Above: Vincent showing the art of paste-up for printing. Image supplied by National Print Museum, Beggar’s Bush.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

POET IN PROFILE: NOEL DUFFY

By Ruairi Conneely or this edition of Poet in Proﬁle, we’re in conversation with a recent addition to the Dublin 4 talent pool, Noel Duffy. Noel is the

author of the collection In the Library of Lost Objects and a book of prose The Return Journey and Our Friends Electric: Two Novellas both published with Ward Wood Press in 2011.

PAGE 31 He has written for TV and film and his play The Rainstorm was performed in 2006 as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. Currently, Noel is putting the finishing touches to his latest poetry collection for Ward Wood Press. The new book is titled On Light and Carbon and focusses on one of Noel’s personal preoccupations: the relationship between Science and Art. Noel welcomed me into his flat in Ringsend for a chat over coffee and innumerable roll-ups. Noel’s career trajectory is an unusual one. He studied Experimental Physics at Trinity College, considered a PhD, and worked as a research assistant on the Human Genome Project before deciding that a life of research physics wasn’t for him. It was at this point, which he candidly describes as a crisis point that he began to seriously write poetry. I wanted to know where he was first bitten by the literary bug? “I grew up in a house without many books. I have four brothers so it was always action: bikes and football. Then in 5th Class, we got a new teacher who was really driven to get us all reading. I was picked out to go along to Eason’s wholesalers and pick out new books for the class and I think that started me thinking

THE POETRY PLACE Last Days

about books. I became a big reader. I actually tried to write a novel aged 11. I came up with a bunch of characters and set them going… and didn’t have a clue what to do with them! So it was never ﬁnished.” He then explained that the Poetry aspect came into play when he was asked to write a poem for school. He wrote a rather bleak Dublin nightscape piece called In the City at Night. “I looked at it again a while back and was surprised to see it was quite good, all things considered.” Following his fateful decision to step away from research, Noel threw himself into writing and laboured for the best part of ten years, learning to write for screen and developing his prose voice, although poetry remained the centre of the cyclone for him. “A poem has to have ballast, as Seamus Heaney said. It has to have concrete images to anchor it. The new collection On Light and Carbon is very speciﬁcally about those two things, among others. I wanted to meditate on

light, as a physical phenomenon and as a metaphysical factor in our lives, and I wanted to meditate on Carbon, which is the basis of life.” If this sounds a little airy, rest assured the collection will have a little something for everyone. “I’ve pushed further into the science in this book but I’ve tried to emphasise the human element. I like a big backdrop and have the intimacies of characters and voices in the frame. There’s a long piece, for instance, about the friendship my father struck up in the 90s with a labourer who was an amateur antiquarian. Around the time of the Wood Quay excavations, they were coming back to our home after work with recovered artefacts, like antler bones, roman coins. It was a great time for my father. That’s what you have to keep in the frame. Science gives us empirical knowledge but art – poetry – is more about the human element.” Noel Duffy’s new collection On Light and Carbon is out from Ward Wood Press in October.

Photography for Beginners

The Wedding

In those last days you were drifting away from us more quickly than any of us realised, you made child-like by illness and morphine as I got you a cigarette after your jelly and ice-cream. I sat with you for an hour before going to work, helped you to smoke your John Player Blue but was taken aback when you asked me to ﬁnish it for you. You closed your eyes and I said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Da,” and left you there lying on the sofa, already asleep – this last memory of you ﬂaring now in grief like a beacon lit and kept safe. By Noel Duffy

Like bride and groom apple-blossom and evergreen ﬂirt under a blue canopy. Softly they sway to the music of the north east wind, And leaning on the saddle of a stationary bike, an onlooker at the wedding.

By Rachel Stanley

The Leaving… at my old school ‘Rapid-Fire’-style, before 9am papers are dealt Fresh-print-ink filling the air with questions Fluttering and touching down. Each desk a battlefield of biros, pencils, pens of felt And calculators. Our futures. “You Can Start”. “From”. “Now” ! Cough, rattle, splutter: into a big hanky, My stifled cry ‘O God’, At the first maths proposition ‘I’m sorry mum and dad’ By Nessa Jennings

AN ESSENTIAL COURSE IN PHOTOGRAPHY Covering both Digital and Film Techniques At the Dublin Camera Club Starting Wednesday September 25, 2013 Dublin Camera Club, 10 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2 Visit our website: www.dublincameraclub.ie Photographs shown above are by Dublin Camera Club members

PAGE 32

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

A DIRECTLY ELECTED MAYOR? DO YOU CARE?

By Liam Cahill he governance of Dublin has been a hotly debated issue over the past few years. A recent online initiative launched in 2010 by Dublin City Council, also known as Your Dublin, Your Voice asked the question: should Dublin get a directly elected Mayor? It started as a floating question around the time the Greens and Fianna Fáil got into bed together; then other politicians, such as Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn, started throwing their opinions into the fray. Flynn said the move would “enhance the reputation of the office” while Ciaran Cuffe of the Green Party said Dublin needed a “strong and coherent voice.” “Most modern cities have directly elected mayors with terms of three to five years. I think Dublin is the only city of sufficient scale that can support a directly elected mayor,” says the outgoing Fine Gael Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí who has been a pivotal supporter of the reform.

By Liam Cahill he South East Area meeting of the Dublin City Council (DCC) kicked off in the usual manor of endless chatter. First on the agenda was Grafton Street, which is getting an Xposestyle makeover. Frank Lambe, Assistant Area Manager for Pembroke/Rathmines, presented a draft plan on the refurbishment of the Street (ofﬁcially called the Grafton Street Public Realm Plan) which

Fianna Fáil Councillor for the South East Area Jim O’Callaghan suggested the current process where the Mayor is elected on a yearly basis conforms to the “honourary and powerless nature of the office.” Labour’s Oisin Quinn (who also happens to be the Nephew of Minister for Education Ruari Quinn) took over the reins of the Lord Mayor’s office in midJune, becoming Dublin’s 344th Lord Mayor. The office of Mayor dates back

to the 13th century when Richard Muton was elected the first Mayor of Dublin in 1229. The title was changed in 1841 when Daniel O’Connell became the first Lord Mayor and only the second Catholic to hold the office. “A lot of these men were regular business men, so if you were Lord Mayor you got the opportunity to dine and socialise with some very important people. All of a sudden, you could be dining with the Lord Lieutenant and politicians,” says Lisa

detailed a whole list of changes due to take place over the coming weeks, including re-pavement and new lighting. The refurbishments started in June and are due to ﬁnish in October 2014 – when the public give their nod of approval after a consultation period – at a cost of €4million. There comes a moment in these meetings when Independent Cllr Mannix Flynn weighs in on a certain issue, but if you blinked you’d miss what he had to say. Expecta-

DCC

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NOTES tions for another rant about Molly Malone (who is due to be relocated while the street goes under the knife), were quickly diminished when Cllr Flynn ended his scrutiny of the plans earlier than anticipated because he liked what he saw. The New Lord Mayor, Labour’s Oisin Quinn, spoke about the need for a “family” zone within Grafton Street – but didn’t really give any specifics about his proposal. It was a parting shot. This was his last meeting before he became Lord Mayor. Next up: a proposal (which was long and rigorous) about modifications to a site on Haddington Road, opposite Baggot Street Hospital in Ballsbridge by a company called Quinn B Properties. Mary Conway, one of the City Planners, said the modifications would include new fitted windows, a new car park and the creation of a primary care centre. Cllr Flynn said the proposals lacked clarity while Labour’s Dermot Lacey (who had proposed a question on the matter) said, “I’m no clearer on what was proposed as to when I asked. I put it down in the hope that I might get some

Marie Griffith, who works in the National Print Museum. Lisa has researched the Lord Mayors of Dublin as part of her PHD in History at Trinity College and helped to compile a collection of stories about the office in the recent book Leaders of the City. The book profiles some of the most notable figures to take up the office including Sir Daniel Bellingham, Daniel O’Connell, J.P. Nannetti, Lorcan Sherlock, Kathleen Clarke (the first woman to be elected Lord Mayor of Dublin) and Alfie Byrne. “It was quite an expensive office, and there were complaints throughout the office that while it was not a paid position they were given a specific sum of money, so in that period they were given 200 pounds and always exceeded that,” says Griffith. The office was traditionally held by Protestants – Catholics were barred from the voting process, eliminating any chance at attaining office. With the enactment of the 1840 Corporation Act, all citizens – with a cerinformation.” The question and answer session pretty much ended at this point when the discussion turned to the expansion of the Dublin Bike Scheme to the Docklands. The fact is we’ve heard a lot about this over the past few weeks. Fine Gael’s Kieran Binchy jumped all over the issue, as did Labour’s Maria Parodi who said, “It’s been reported that it’s the most successful in Europe and it’s fantastic to see that bikes haven’t gone missing or been vandalised.” Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan weighed in at this point saying, “it has been a massive success and in the light of looming local elections no councillor will shy away from a picture with a bike.” So, so true. He said the scheme should expand

tain amount of yearly earnings – could hold office. Currently, election of the Lord Mayor is a pretty simple procedure; each of the 52 Councillors gets a vote on their preferred choice. The debate about the necessity of the office will intensify over the coming year with the announcement that Dublin will get a chance to vote on the issue in 2014. Although broadly welcomed, the plans for a directly-elected Mayor for Dublin are not free from criticism. The Leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, said the current proposals by the Government for a centralised regional authority fail the city. Other concerns were raised about the costs of the office, with Fingal County Council suggesting it could cost €1.6 million if implemented. “I think direct representation is really important and it would make the position more significant,” concludes Griffith. Pictured: Outgoing Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí and friends at the Bike to Work launch in Grand Canal Dock recently. to Pembroke, Donnybrook and Rathmines and questioned why this had not already happened. Finally, the Council discussed the Sport and Leisure Services Activities Report, which consisted of a survey of trees around the D4 area and the upcoming refurbishment and extension of changing room facilities at Herbert Park. “I like the look of the design, I like the consultation that’s taking place, I think it has been really well received,” said Cllr Oisin Quinn nodding and smiling in blissful ‘I’m the Lord Mayor now’ fashion. The trees didn’t get a look in except to say there was a survey conducted, but that was it. Below: Grafton Street’s paving gets a makeover.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

A PERFECT PLACE

FOR SUMMER NIGHTS

By Shan Kelly n sunshine or showers, the garden of the Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre is blooming gorgeous in Summer. Thanks to 19 years of hard work by a small team of self-taught workers, it has scooped gardening awards every year since 2005. Its running water, fruit trees, vegetables and fragrant flowers draw local office workers for lunch and a few areas have memorials to deceased RICC workers and locals. Head gardener Jack O’Brien was, “not happy at all,” when his 66th birthday meant he had to retire in April, although other Jobs Initiative scheme workers will soon be allowed to work until they are 68. “I

felt sick,” Jack remembers. The garden has shifted its shape and location since it was started in 1994, in what is now the car park at the front of the centre. “We started at the front and then we planted climbing shrubs along the side walls. It’s all been done by local people,” he explained. At the heart of the garden is an unusual tree with shiny black leaves, which was planted in memory of John Devoy, a RICC computer teacher who died suddenly in September 2009. John is much missed by former colleagues. Paul Madill was an RICC Cook who helped Jack to move the allotments and the garden to their present location by the river. Paul is re-

PAGE 33 membered by a plaque on the rose arch and by a cherry tree planted in his memory. Paul’s cherry tree is surrounded by the herb garden, which grows chives, sage, mint and rosemary. The land on which the garden is located used to be the Hammond Lane scrap yard when Jack was growing up. “Barges used to bring scrap metal into the dock right in front here,” he remembers. Jack handed over his job as head gardener to Philip McDonagh, 55, who has been at RICC for six years now. They have just repaired the stone water feature they built in the goldfish pond, after it was knocked over by boisterous kids during the May Day procession. It’s now higher and has a stronger pump. Jack still works here as a volunteer. “I’ve done too much work here to just allow it to go to wrack and ruin,” he explains. The garden includes 12 allotments, two tended by Philip and Jack, which grow gooseberries, rhubarb, strawberries, apple and pears, and a mini-meadow with strong scented wild flowers, which is great for attracting insects. There is a gorgeous salix flamingo tree with pink leaves which was planted in memory of local teenager Niamh Walsh, who lived in a cottage on Pigeon House Road. Another cherry tree was planted opposite the memorial to asthma sufferer Jessica Delany Smith who died in 2011, aged just 18. Jack is pictured in the B l o o m - w i n n i n g Recession Garden, beneath an odd-looking shed roof that is designed to catch water and direct it into the water barrel underneath. The idea of the Recession Garden is that it has enough space to grow everything a couple needs to live, including a compost bin and some funky art. It was donated to RICC in 2011 by a foreign designer after it won her a Gold medal at Bloom.

Reduction in net roaming costs The amount of internet roaming charges you get slapped with while abroad will be reduced significantly, thanks to a new order signed by the Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte. The new regulations, which specifically apply to internet data use, promises to make it cheaper to check email, watch online videos, and update social networking sites while travelling across the EU. It’ll cost you 45c per megabyte thanks to these new regulations, that’s a significant drop from 70c in 2012. It is expected this cost will drop further in 2014 to 20c.

Local writes of passage

By Eric Murphy une 13th 2013 was the 148th birthday of one of this country’s literary giants, W.B. Yeats, and to celebrate the local-born writer the Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association (SAMRA) held an annual Yeats recital at Sandymount Green. Shortly after 11.30am the small park drew in a crowd with renditions of the great man’s best-loved pieces. The event opened with actress Glynis Casson narrating and singing some well-known works accompanied by harpist and arranger Claire Roach. Attended by local dignitaries, business people and pupils of the nearby Star of the Sea primary school, readings of Yeats were provided by local labour Councillor Dermot Lacey with a ﬁne rendition of September 1913. Guest of honour at the event was the British Ambassador to Ireland, Dominick Chilcott CMG. Mr Chilcott spoke brieﬂy about how his son had recently completed his A Level in English which included works by the D4 native, before his own reading of The Lake Isle of Innisfree to an enthralled crowd. The hour-long event was austerely watched over by the Albert Power sculpted bust of Yeats, who may have had some say in casting warm sunshine over the proceedings. Above: Claire O’Toole Harpist. Below: Sixth class pupils from Star of the Sea School. Photos by Ross Waldron.

PAGE 34

By Eric Hillis n this climate, we all have to tighten our belt. Our incomes are reduced, while household expenses, taxes and healthcare costs are increasing. Loan repayments have fallen behind, there are extra bills to pay and nothing seems to balance anymore. Borrowing money is something that most of us do, using everything from personal loans and credit cards to hire-purchase agreements. Many financial products are presented in an unclear manner, meaning we often buy products we do not fully understand, and only take the time to read the small print when something goes wrong. Access to credit is not an option for many people, for various reasons. Many find it hard to get loans through banks or other lenders. Those under financial pressure are advised to take appropriate steps to avoid falling into the trap of moneylenders, whose interest rates can be as high as 187% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) and should be considered carefully before agreeing on them. Often, a borrower will feel they have little choice, especially in a crisis, but if you’re considering borrowing money, you need to ask yourself certain questions: • What am I borrowing for? • Can I wait and save instead? • What repayments can I afford? • How long is my loan period? • If interest rates rise, can I still afford the repayments? • What risks am I taking if I cannot pay?

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

T HE

COSTS OF BORROWING

Have a good look at y o u r b u d g e t . Yo u n e e d t o have some excess money to be able to make repayments. If you can’t afford to save in the first place, how can you afford to also pay interest? Money costs money; borrowing means you have to pay back the loan plus interest and can make your life miserable if you can’t meet your repayments. A moneylender is someone who lends cash, usually at a much higher interest rate than Banks, Building Societies, Insurance Companies or Credit Unions. Moneylenders are required to provide detailed lending agreements that show the total cost of credit and the rate of interest, plus any collection charges. An

agent may call to your home every week to collect cash payments and may charge a collection fee. Customers must be given the option of payi n g a t t h e m o n e y l e n d e r ’s business premises to avoid collection charges. The moneylender must issue a repayment book, separate to the lending agreement, which sets out the details and shows the customer how much they have paid off and how much is left to be paid. The moneylender must also keep a record of the details of each lending agreement. Moneylenders are not allowed to offer top-up loans or a second loan to pay off the first. People need to be aware of the damage and level of criminality that comes with illegal mon-

eylenders. MABS advise people to take appropriate steps to avoid falling i n t o t h e m o n e y l e n d e r ’s trap. Ty p i c a l l y, t h e y p r e y o n the most vulnerable and disadvantaged by calling to their home for a friendly visit at certain t i m e s d u r i n g t h e y e a r, e.g. Christmas, communions, back to school time, or they may drop leaflets t h r o u g h t h e d o o r. They charge extortionate interest rates; excess of 300% is not unusual. These loans are informal and undocumented, and the borrower often lives in terror of the moneyl e n d e r. If you believe you have dealt with an ill e g a l m o n e y l e n d e r, y o u should contact the National Consumer Agency or your local Garda station. The Gardaí can

take legal action against them and the NCA can give advice on whether the moneylender is trading illegally and how to proceed with your complaint. If you experience difficulty in paying off a loan, contact your lender as soon as you can. If you cannot resolve the matter directly with your l e n d e r, y o u c a n g e t h e l p by contacting the MABS Helpline on 0761072000, a free and confidential service for people with debt or money management problems. MABS will: • Help you deal with your debts and make out a budget. • Examine your income to ensure you’re not missing entitlements. • Contact your creditors on your behalf with offers of payment if you’re unable to do it yourself. • Help you decide the best way to make payments. MABS also advises people to be aware of the Exceptional Needs Assistance available f r o m C o m m u n i t y We l fare Officers and other Government-funded voluntary organisations s u c h a s S t Vi n c e n t d e Paul, who play an important role in providing advice and guidance to vulnerable people.

Clare McDonagh from Irishtown Road (pictured centre) celebrated her 90th birthday on July 16th surrounded by all her family and friends.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

THE CULINARY CORNER

Quick Sticky Chicken

By Eric Murphy or a number of years now I have been advocating the huge variety of herbs, spices and foreign grocery available at many of the Asian markets so popular of late. It took a bit of time for Dubliners to shop at such places, but the beneﬁts to cooking with foods outside the “norm” have reaped dividends; having friends and family sing the praises for your new-found cookery skills.Not only is the variety at such markets better than the supermarkets, they’re a lot less expensive. Exciting food means having to be adventurous in the kitchen, but before proclaiming to being a new culinary Messiah, it’s best to try out new recipes on a small group of volunteers. Sticky Chicken is a good dish to start off with for a number of reasons. Not only can you present a twist on the familiar staple, you can vary the compliments such as potato, rice or even chips whilst adding exotic tastes of the Far East. To prepare the Sticky Chicken (serves 4) you’ll need the following ingredients: 4 skinned chicken breasts. 1 tablespoon of Chinese 5 spice ½ tablespoon of Paprika ½ tablespoon of Cinnamon 1 tablespoon of Cornﬂour 1 tablespoon of Ginger puree 1 tablespoon of Garlic puree 7 tablespoons of brown sugar 7 tablespoons of white wine vinegar 2 tablespoons of clear honey 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil 6 tablespoons of Lime juice Mix the 5 spice, paprika, cinna-

mon, purees, sugar, vinegar, honey and oil into a medium sized saucepan. Slowly bring to the boil constantly stirring. When the

mixture reaches boiling point add the lime juice and simmer slowly whilst stirring, for approximately 15 minutes or until of a thick sauce consistency is formed. Mix the cornﬂour with ¹/³ of a cup of tepid (not boiling) water to make a smooth paste. Mix slowly with the sauce and leave to cool. Place the chicken breasts onto an ovenproof dish and spoon the sauce carefully over both sides of each breast. Place in a preheated oven (220°C/gas mark 7) for 20 minutes or until the chicken is brown glazed. Serve with your own choice of side order using any remaining sauce as a dip. For a little more “kick” try adding some crushed chilli ﬂakes to the sauce during cooking.

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THE NEWSFOUR CROSSWORD COMPILED BY GEMMA BYRNE

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Name:…………………………… Telephone:………………… Address:………………………………………………………… Prize of a €25 book token. Post entries to NewsFour, RICC, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, D.4 by 20th September 2013. Winner of our June/July crossword competition was Ivana Dusparic of Upper Grand Canal Street.

The recent good weather has everyone wanting to cool off. You can’t get a fan or a paddling pool for love or money in Dublin at the moment. While out and about our photographer Ross snapped these pics in the Docklands.

ACROSS: 1) Celebrations (11) 7) Purpose (3) 10) Negative response (2) 11) High blood pressure during pregnancy, Pre- (9) 12) A Japanese style verse (5) 13) Moist damp heat (5) 14) Paved outdoor area (5) 15) A note to follow soh (3) 16) Pretend (5) 19) Japanese maple or laptop brand (4) 20) The former name for Electric Ireland (1.1.1) 21) Ovum (3) 23) Motor (6) 25) Stay (6) 26) A period of history (3) 27) A trailer or a large group travelling across a desert (7) 28) Anger (3) 30) Mesh (3) 31) Decorate (5) 32) Anticipates with great reluctance (6) 33) Small card inside a mobile phone (3) DOWN 2) Omits, leaves out (8) 3) Buying and selling (7) 4) Bland, tasteless (7) 5) Idle, dormant (8) 6) Educational institute (6) 8) Coloured ﬂuid (3) 9) Harmonica (5, 5) 15) Tears, cuts (11) 16) Adorned with plumage (9) 17) Native to Spain or Portugal (7) 18) Failed to look after (9) 22) Floral crowns (8) 24) Provide commentary (7) 29) Famous Dutch cheese (4) 31) Promotional notice (abbreviation) (2)

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By Eric Murphy ricket is not a sport which comes readily to mind when thinking of school P.E. classes, but on June 12th this year the Railway Union Sports Club held the inaugural Leprechaun Cup for girls’ cricket, with eight different schools participating. Brian O’Rourke from Cricket Ireland explained there have been cricket league competitions for boys for a number of years now, with a total of 46 schools in Dublin participating. Of the Leprechaun Cup Cailíní Tournament, Brian stresses, “this is more about reaching out to the girls and giving them an opportunity.” Brian, who is also the Leinster Cricket Union Development Manager, said it seemed obvious to hold the competition at Railway Union, given that there are four well-established cricket clubs in D4. “There’s a limited time window for an event such as this when we can hold inter-school competitions before the summer break and amenities in Dublin 4 are per-

B ATTING

fect for this kind of event.” Event organizer Amy Kenealy also agreed with the choice of venue, admitting to being a fervent cricket supporter most of her life. “I have family connections with the founding of Leinster Cricket Club and was

SPORTSCO Wins Friendliest Business Award

THE LASHES

delighted to get a working internship there. I can’t imagine not playing cricket,” she said, proudly adding, “it’s great for the girls to have the tournament here.” This year’s Leprechaun Cup Cailíní has been restricted to

Editorial

SPORTSCO was awarded with the ‘disability friendliness award’ at the ‘JCI DUBLIN FRIENDLY BUSINESS AWARDS’ in the Mansion House on 17th June 2013. SPORTSCO provides programmes designed to enhance people’s health and wellbeing, in an enjoyable, friendly and relaxed atmosphere, through the delivery of programmes that will cater for our diverse user groups which range from children right through to senior citizens. It is SPORTSCO’s intention to strive for excellent quality through the delivery of friendly and professional service at all times. Management constantly encourage staff to ‘go the extra mile’ in friendliness and professionalism. This has been proven time after time through excellent customer feedback. We believe this friendly and professional service differentiates us from our competitors in the current value-driven economy. We believe health and ﬁtness facilities should be available to all sections of the community and have invested in ensuring our facilities are accessible to all members with disabilities. Achieving this award is fantastic recognition of our continuous efforts and will provide us with an excellent motivational tool for all staff. We would like to thank the Junior Chamber International for this award and look forward to celebrating our success with our 7,000 members. Achieving this award has also brought us closer in achieving our Vision ‘to be one of the top leisure facilities in the country offering state of the art product and a friendly, professional service for our members’. Lorna Brady, M.Sc. (Mgmt) General Manager

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

eight teams, but Amy said the number could have been higher due to deadlines. Fellow coach and team mate Isobel Joyce states there is a growing enthusiasm amongst girls to get involved in cricket, especially now that the Irish wom-

en’s team are consistently in the top 10 in world rankings. Both Isobel and Amy have represented Ireland and regularly coach both primary and secondary school students. So why are there so many clubs in the Dublin 4 area? “Cricket is big here because Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) down the road was a British base and areas such as Booterstown and Sandymount became a bit of a hub for the sport,” says Brian. The first Leprechaun Cup Cailíní final came down to an exciting encounter between Lakelands and Balrothery, which Lakelands won by 17 runs. Plans are already underway for next year’s tournament, along with school coaching sessions through Cricket Ireland. For further information visit: http: www.cricketireland. ie/get-involved/development Pictured, from left: Esme Clarke, Kristin Barry, Lelia Maloney, Siobhan Teifer, Safia Harting, Iseult Law. Photo by Ross Waldron

NEW KIND OF BRIDGE ?

By Eric Murphy he sporting legacy of Ringsend and Irishtown has been given a boost following the recent promotion of local team Bridge United to the AUL Sunday Second Division. Keen to nurture the community pride the area is notorious for, Michael Grant Renault has taken on the task of sponsoring the team. Speaking to NewsFour, Director Mike Grant explained how a sporting background had prompted such a decision. “We moved onto the Beach Road location last October, having traded for a number of years on the Northside. I’ve just ﬁnished another season playing with Clontarf Athletic, so there’s a love of football there. Unfortunately, time is catching up with me and I’m looking into playing at over 35 level.” Alongside uncle and business partner Michael Senior (who played for Clonliffe Rangers), both men have been keen soccer fans for a number of years and are keen to encourage local support in the ‘Wambles’. The economic climate and relatively short spell since Michael Grant Renault located in the

area has meant currently limited involvements with both Clanna Gael Fontenoy and Bridge United, but Mike has said he hopes such involvements will expand in the future. The team’s recent promotion to the second division has been a great lift to the local support, but comes as no great surprise to club manager Boy Murphy who adds, “We really deserved promotion and I felt this before half way through last season.” The manager has welcomed the new sponsorship as he prepares for the forthcoming season. With the two-time Cullen Cup winners stepping into an unknown league regarding

teams and ﬁxtures, Wambles followers will be encouraging the team for a repeat step-up next season. The backing of local business such as Michael Grant Renault is seen generally as a great move by the company in establishing healthy roots in the area, according to Deke’s Diner persona and Bridge United committee member Tony ‘Deke’ McDonald, who said, “Sports are a great way of keeping the unemployed youth in the area active without doing anything illegal or harmful.” Hopefully, sponsorship may pay homage to the old clichè, where success breeds success.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

DUBS TAKE OVER ST PATRICK’S

PAGE 37

Why not try batting for a different team?

By Liam Cahill wenty-four members of Dublin’s GAA team, including Dermot Connolly and Bernard Brogan, took part in a private training event at St Patrick’s Rowing Club in Ringsend in mid-June. “The event was to get them all together and do some extra training in the boats in an effort to toughen their arms, because rowing is a very physical sport which improves your upper arms and body,” said John Doyle, a community worker in Clan-

na Gael and member of St Patrick’s Rowing Club. The Manager of the Dublin team, Jim Gavin, approached John about letting the lads do a few sessions at the club. The sessions lasted for the best part of a day and included a sprint up the Liffey in pre-organised races spearheaded by the club and Gavin. The races included two heats and a final to Samuel Beckett Bridge and back to the East Link Bridge. “We had an absolutely brilliant day with them, the weather was magnificent and

they enjoyed it tremendously,” said John. “We pulled out marquees, water, energy drinks, food, we pulled out all the stops basically,” he said. St Patrick’s is a common stop for professional athletes. The Dublin Hurling team, who recently won the Leinster Final, took part in a low-key session at the club a few months ago and other athletic organisations from the UK have used the club in the past. Pictures supplied by John Doyle.

By Ruth Kennedy n a beautiful Saturday at the end of June, Wanderers Rugby grounds on the Merrion Road was taken over by eight teams of softball players for a ‘blitz’ or fun day-long tournament. Teams came from around the city and country to pitch, bat, field and catch – and basically peg it around the field until it was time for the BBQ. That’s not to say these guys don’t take their game seriously. Softball has been gaining in popularity in Ireland over the past twenty years, and one of its most active clubs is based right here in Dublin 4. Kiely’s Kegs is the local team, sponsored by the well-known Donnybrook Pub. They have two teams – the first team, who play in the Premier League and several of the firsts also play softball for Ireland. The Premier League team trains on Mondays in Wanderers and they are currently top of the league in the 1st Division. The second team in the Kegs is called the ‘Chuggers’, who play in the 1st Division and they train on a Wednesday evening. Unusually in team sports, the second team has at least as much status, if not more than the first team – probably because everyone thinks they have the most craic. These are people who love to win, but winning just wouldn’t be worthwhile if they couldn’t have fun doing it. The sport has attracted people from all over the world who are living in Ireland. Apart from the Irish, there were plenty of Americans, French, Germans and Venezuelans. Not that anyone pays attention to where anyone is from (they are all united in a love of the sport) but you could make up a pretty representative model U.N. from the crowd playing that Saturday. For so many of the players at the tournament, what they love about softball is that it is mixed. Men and women compete together on the same teams. This is one of the factors that makes softball so intensely sociable. The rampant equality doesn’t stop there – you can be any age to play. A team of visiting 80-year olds from Germany played competitively at Wanderers recently. There is no such thing as a ‘bad’ player – there are some stars, of course, but everyone is encouraged by the crowd and there is a serious amount of unselfconscious high-fiving, slagging and in-jokes. These are people who know how to have a good time. They are always looking for players – anyone with an interest is welcome. You don’t have to be accomplished at any other sport, but a background in either Gaelic games or baseball seems to help. To find out more, check out the Keggies online at www.kielyskegs.com Pictures by Ruth Kennedy.

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NEW

By Kirstin Smith t’s not an exaggeration to say that last season was a great year to be involved in Railway Union RFC. Five Leinster Pennants hang in the clubhouse as a mark of the success of the year and there’s a sense of energy and excitement at pre-season training as men and women alike look to the 2013/2014 season with enthusiasm. If you’re wondering exactly what success can be summarised as, here is an overview of the season. In March, after a six-month league campaign, the Men’s 1st XV came away with their Leinster League title, with the Men’s 2nds following that up a week later to win their division also. The men’s 3rd XV narrowly missed out on victory in Leinster Metro League and the hugely talented Men’s U20s, of whom many of the players are underage again this year, lost their cup semi-ﬁnal by the narrowest of margins, 20–19 to Seapoint. Meanwhile, in their inaugural season, the Women’s 1st XV, had at this point already won their league in January, winning all their matches without conceding a single point. April saw them continue with their winning streak to claim the Leinster Paul Cusack Cup Final, beating Cill

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

SEASON EXCITEMENT AT

Dara 42–10. The Women’s 2nd XV, affectionately known as The Devs, won their cup ﬁnal that same day, beating Old Belvedere in the Paul Flood Cup Final. This was followed up that night by 240 people attending the club’s annual dinner dance in black tie at the Aviva Stadium. To say the club celebrated would be a slight understatement. Ringsend locals Kim Flood and Claire Ryan were both selected for the Leinster Women’s team, and along with fellow Railway teammates Eimear Flannery and

Eimear Mairtin were invited to train with the Irish Emerging 7s team later in the year. April also saw the establishment of the Railway Women’s Rugby 7s Academy with the team going on to play at Kinsale 7s in May, winning the Open Competition and are currently preparing for the National 7s in August. The Girls Rugby 7s Academy have been training all summer and four local girls have trialled and been selected for the Irish schoolgirls 7s camp. This residential camp takes place over six weekends from August, in

T HE R AILWAY L OCOMOTIVES

he Railway Locomotives are on track to land in Sandymount in September. The Locos is Railway’s mini rugby programme and caters for boys and girls aged between 6 and 12 years of age. Railway has appointed the hugely experienced Joe Kiely to

lead the initiative. Kiely, who was previously coach and chairman of the 300 child strong mini rugby at DLSP, is aided by Marian College teacher Graham Lawless and former community rugby officer Blaise Kenny, amongst others. “We’re really excited about

RAILWAY

the same facilities used by Brian O’Driscoll et al, and will culminate in the first Irish International Schoolgirl 7s team playing an international tournament in the UK. Railway’s stated goal of finding and developing a future Leinster, Irish and Olympic rugby player looks to be on track. Head of PR and Marketing in Railway, Kirstin Smith, picked up Leinster Rugby’s Press Officer of the Year Award at the annual awards ball in The Mansion House for “setting the benchmark by consistently promoting Rail-

TAKING OFF IN

launching the Locos,” said Kiely, “and we want to create a fun and enjoyable environment for parents and players to introduce the sport of rugby to young boys and girls in our community. We were really pleased with our recent summer camp with Leinster Rugby, which had over 100 children in attendance.” The Locos launch with a family Open Day in Railway on Sunday, September 8th at 2pm. “The Open Day is going to be a fantastic occasion,” said Graham Lawless. “We will have a number of male and female Leinster and Irish players in attendance to help with some coaching and sign autographs or jerseys, the Amlin Challenge and Rabo trophies will be there for photos, we will have some Leinster goodie packs to give out, not to mention bouncy castles, a BBQ and other activities.” “It will also be an opportunity for parents to see what we are

way to a variety of media with fresh, innovative and interesting content”. This season sees three adult men’s sides, three adult women’s sides, men’s U20s, Girls U18s and U15s take the field, in addition to The Locos. Preseason for all adult sides begins on Tuesday 30th July at 7pm. “I’ve been working with the club’s coaches and they’ve put together an impressive pre-season programme,” said Director of Rugby John Cronin. “All teams – men’s, women’s and U20s – will be training together for the first three or four weeks and we’ll be working on conditioning and skills. There is a really good atmosphere in the club at present and we are very clear about wanting to be a club for all our community. The players are itching to get back, especially after such a successful last season. I’m confident that the players and coaches, in addition to the new players joining us on all teams, with hard work and dedication can repeat the success of last season again.” As always, Railway is open to all and all teams are recruiting for new players. For further information, please see our website www.railwayunionrfc.com or our Facebook page www.facebook.com/railwayunionrfc

S EPTEMBER

trying to achieve and to talk to the coaches, as well as a great family occasion and enjoyable atmosphere for the boys and girls,” concluded Lawless. For further details, please visit www.railwayunionrfc.com or email locos@railwayunionrfc. com to register your interest.

Below: Leinster Player Andrew Goodman signs jerseys at the Herald/ Leinster Summer Camp held at Railway Union RFC. Below left: Andrew Goodman (back left) and newly signed Jimmy Gopperth at the Herald/Leinster Rugby Camp in Railway Union RFC. Pics supplied by Kirstin Smith.

NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013

PAGE 39 Right: Kenny Carroll of Railway Union on his way to scoring 101 in the T20 match played against YMCA at Park Avenue on July 16th. Railway scored 230 runs in their 20 overs and beat YMCA by 51 runs. Both Railway and Pembroke look as if they will compete in the Finals Day, which takes place at Claremont Road, Sandymount on August 18th. All local support welcome. Below: Railway Union Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hockey team retained the Neville Cup in an exciting match against Pembroke Wanderers in April. The match was decided by penalty strokes after extra time (4-4).

The Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rugby squad is pictured in relaxed mood on top of page 38 with their awards and above lined up for the camera. Below is some of the recently acquired silverware at the clubhouse.

Pics supplied by David Carroll.

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NEWSFOUR AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013