Oct - nov 2018

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October / November 2018

Page 1

BusConnects going around in circles

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n Kathrin Kobus ith one week to go till the end of the consultation period regarding BusConnects and the new bus routes (it officially closed on September 28th) the Minister for transport Shane Ross surprised everyone with the news that he didn’t consider the plan to have anything to do with him. After weeks of mounting opposition against the proposals it sounded like a ‘I’m dying out here’ punchline of an unfunny joke.

It also plainly contradicted what the lead consultant on the redesign, US-based, Jarret Walker thought, “It was my understanding that the NTA’s role was to develop the plan for the minister.” The Portland, Oregon company, Jarret Walker & Associates won the contract put out for tender, public consultation was to be finished by December 2017 with work to begin in the first half 2018. It was only in early July this year, the National Transport Authority (NTA) had published their proposals for the new transport network.

Anne Graham, Chief Executive of the NTA said before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport on July 18th “The objective of our review was to redesign the bus system to make it more useful to more people and to enable more people to go to more places than they currently can by bus.” Her statement also mentioned “too many buses in the city centre” as well as pointing to “complexity” and “poor service.”

Public reaction to the proposals, after a first glance, was disbelief and when studied further, outright anger. Far from connecting bus routes and people, if implemented as it stands, bus routes will be eliminated,

Page 4: A new schoolhouse

shortened, redirected and make life impossible for the commuter throughout the demographic spectrum. Every daily commuter using or relying on the bus, from young school children, older students, daily workers to OAP’s, the sick and the disabled, will be adversely affected.

Newly lettered routes will replace the numbered ones with a radial web design of routes that leave customers either stranded, or taking multiple changes or routes. Unbelievably, the further chaos, inefficiency and inconvenience of adding extra shuttle buses are now being mooted as a serviceremedy to the shambles that is BusConnects, one that only serves to highlight its ruinous dysfunction.

There are seven envisaged spines, lettered A to G, to operate radially from the city centre to the outer areas and suburbs through orbital rings, like a spider’s web.

South side, these are labelled from an inner ‘O’ ring through to an outer orbital ‘S’ ring. The letters and orbital rings intersect and also indicate routes and route terminals which are numbered S2, S4, O, (all this without having brought a customer to their wished destination). That is the theory, in practice the proposals from the NTA, Jarret Walker & Assoc. and the Dept. of Trans-

port, Tourism and Sport are even more breathtaking for running rings around the public.

Specifically regarding Dublin 4: Under current proposals Donnybrook and Ballsbridge bus routes will become ‘B’ and ‘E’ spine. At a glance, Loughlinstown Park and Sallynoggin lose their direct connection with Dublin city via changes to No. 7A, both lose frequency of service, with one reduced from three buses an hour to one an hour. Rochestown House loses all bus service. Monkstown loses the No. 4.

Interestingly, the ‘affluent’ ‘E’ Spine routes 46A/B, the 145 and others, appear not to be affected at all and users of this corridor, arguably the least in need of, and reliant on, public transport with either the Dart at their destinations’ disposal or within walking and/or cycling proximity to the city centre or their self sufficiency of private transport, will be far less disrupted, if at all.

Sandymount, Ringsend and Irishtown residents who looked at the plans discovered the big impact of the change to the No. 1 Bus route. It will become part of the ‘C’ spine and will no longer run through Sandymount village but along the Beach Road. That same ‘C’ spine will not cross

IN THIS ISSUE…

Pages 24-25: Dockers and Demons

Page 12: EPIC exhibition

O’Connell Bridge but continue from Westmoreland Street west past Heuston station towards Lucan. The No. 47 will be scrapped and with that the access towards St. Vincent’s hospital and towards UCD Belfield.

Before the official NTA BusConnects’ Network Redesign information session, Sinn Fèin had invited into the Ringsend Community Centre, Tom O’Connor, a No. 1 driver and trade union representative who explained again and again the huge and largely negative impact the proposals would have. There were pensioners from Sandymount who worried, “With these new plans we will no longer be able to get to Tesco at the Green in the Village or attend mass at Star of the Sea church.“ It’s not just the No. 1 morphing into ‘C’ spine that causes concern. One mother voiced how she found out what the scrapping of the No.’s 15A & B would mean.

“My daughter uses this bus to get to secondary school in Rathmines. Now with these plans I was told she will have to change at Aston Quay get on another bus that brings her to Portobello and from there she can walk to her school.”

The place for this meeting, upstairs at the RICC, was easily three times the space including seating that had been booked by organisers for the original, official public information session at the Ballsbridge Hotel. There, the organisers had booked a tiny room with only ten chairs lined up against one wall to face the four white billboards with the colourful proposals lined out, and three round tables, piled high with the shiny booklets but scarcely any forms to be filled in with suggestions and/or complaints.

Continued on page 35.

Page 14: Profile Eamonn Dunphy

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NewsFour Editor Beibhinn Byrne Online Editor Paul Carton Journalists Kathrin Kobus Eoin Meegan Alexander Kearney Peter McNamara David Prendeville Contributors Susan Daly Lorraine Waters Gavan Bergin Felix O’Regan Rodney Devitt Patrick Purcell Declan Hayden SuperNatural Food Market Crossword Gemma Byrne Design and Layout Eugene Carolan Ad & Photo Pages Design Lizzie Doran

Dearbhla and Patrick Devlin from Pearse Street on holidays in Alagoas, North East Brazil.

Sandymount Community Services, 13A Fitzwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4.

Telephone: (01)6673317 E-mail: newsfour@gmail.com Website: www.newsfour.ie Opinions expressed in NewsFour do not necessarily represent the views of Sandymount Community Services.

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Missionary priest Father Elliott from Ringsend catches up on the news from home in Mexico.

October / November 2018

The Editor’s Corner

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distinctive feature of this issue was the amount of new initiatives ignited or planned in the area and the city. On the positive side you will find articles on a new Educate Together premises and school (pg 4), new classes and hobbies offered in D4 that incorporate confidence and self esteem building (pgs 5 & 11), a new Reel Youth Film School is detailed on pg 33, as well as a ‘new’ credit union and honours won with local awards and accolades.

There are more stories that reflect constructive action; from individuals using their unique talents to start-up, innovative, niche services to large scale projects of artistic vision serving a huge university campus. The latter project is not without its contentions and questions, as you will read on pg’s 30 & 31, but that is part of the point. Venturing forward requires nerve to negotiate risks and upsets. Courage, determination and the focus on a successful outcome are necessary for any achievement no matter the endeavour or the size of its scale.

But some projects are poorly conceived and managed from the get go and descend into chaos before they even begin. The cost is high not only in money and time but also in human distress, people’s lives are impacted. Our front page (continued on pg 35) details the Bus (Dis)Connects fiasco. The public consultation meetings scheduled at offbeat times with rude and aggressive representatives were underprepared and inadequate in every respect, from supplying enough forms and real information to respect for the attendees. We The People are We The Taxpayers and We are The Customers. It is our service and, crucially, we fund it. Since our government seems hell bent on the pandemonium of an American neo-liberal capitalism, then they will have to accept that two can play that game and the customer is always right.

Fittingly, with the great Irish festival of Samhain upon us that marks thresholds, cycles and rebirth, change is also a theme.

NewsFour has two DCC pages highlighting some of the official local events. The Halloween theme is continued with recipes and must-see events at the Bram Stoker festival. The theme of change is also noted in a double feature report on the Pope’s visit, the low turnout and the protests in August, a definite departure from 1979.

We also have a very salutary read on pg 16 on the changes needed for young people and the sustainability of their mental health.

But in other areas, like BusConnects, it seems we’re going around in circles, diminishing ones.

One article on Pg 27, detailing the purchase of and plans for, a gigantic, lonely Xanadu on Shrewsbury Rd. reminds us of the marauding Celtic Tiger, meanwhile on pg 33 we have a tiny but insistent call to arms from the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group on social housing.

It feels like the last time, again, except this time it’s worse. There has been 10 years of leveraging the gap and a deepening of our problems and social ills due to wilful disregard on addressing urgent issues with new policy and laws. There appears to be a peculiar but distinct drag to the ‘recovery’, a limp our society carries from the ball and chain of debts we endure. The penalty incurred for previous, ruinous short sightedness, selfishness and greed. When will we leave the maddening circus (and surely short-fused circuit) of ‘greed is good’ and get greedy for The Greater Good?

NewsFour wishes to correct an item entitled Green Space Invader published in the DCC notes, Aug/Sept issue. We reported a query brought before the South East Area (SEAC) meeting by councillors on behalf of a local’s concern regarding the ownership and use of the space outside The Irishtown House.

We have since been informed by Mr McAteer that this space belongs legally to the owner and is a privately held and owned space. NewsFour wishes to clarify and correct any confusion caused by the item. NewsFour regrets any error regarding The Irishtown House and its outdoor space.

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October / November 2018

COMMUNITY / LOCAL NEWS

Page 3

Domino’s delivers 25 jobs to Ringsend

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n David Prendeville

omino’s Pizza celebrated the launch in Ringsend of their 50th store with a celebratory delivery by wakeboard. Following extraordinary deliveries by golf cart and penny farthing bike earlier this year, the ‘Domi-board’ is being trialled with dockside residents, who will be able to order freshly hand-made pizza straight to their door.

As part of the trial, Domino’s commissioned the design of a special wakeboard to serve the local community across Grand Canal dock,

home to the new Ringsend store.

The latest addition to Domino’s delivery fleet was created by the experts at Dublin’s leading water sports centre, Pure Magic and then ‘splashtested’ by the famed stunt wakeboarder, Sean Redmond.

Domino’s inaugural water delivery saw Sean don a branded vest and helmet to become an honorary Ringsend team member for the day.

Store colleagues were also given a high-octane wakeboard masterclass by Sean, who talked them through some show-stopping tweaks, stomps and ollies, before jetting across the water on his mission to deliver the first freshly handmade pizza by ‘Domi-board’.

Sean wakeboarded the stretch of the ‘Silicon Docks’

in 36 seconds, shaving two minutes off the average delivery time from the store to surprise and ‘dough-light’ 50 lucky super-fans, with his one-of-a-kind canalside delivery.

To further celebrate the opening of the 50th store, Domino’s were raising funds for its official charity partner in Ireland, Barretstown; helping it in its mission to bring more children and families with a serious illness to its camp.

Barretstown aims for the children to leave the camp stronger, more independent and with a renewed sense of confidence. For every pizza sold on Wednesday September 12th, Domino’s donated one euro in support to Barretstown.

The Ringsend store has created 25 new jobs for locals and will see Domino’s invest €250,000 to the area, giving the community a welcome employment boost.

Winning ways at Cambridge Court

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n Susan

Daly he Dublin City Neighbourhoods Competition is an annual competition for communities, schools and businesses in the city organised by Dublin City Council.

It is an area-based competition with categories judged initially on an area basis. The best entrants from each of the five City Council administrative areas are selected to go forward to a citywide competition.

Cambridge Court Retirement Complex, Ringsend have won an award for best entrants in the South East Area in the category Residential Competition-Garden The Community Gardener (Owen Walker, pictured) along with the help of the Senior Citizens of Cambridge Court have gone to great lengths to improve and enhance their complex, keeping it clean and well presented.

NewsFour would like to extend our congratulations to all involved.

Keep up the good work!

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EDUCATION / LOCAL

New school premises for Educate Together

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Peter McNamara ducate Together secondary school has moved into its new premises at the Roslyn Park Centre on Sandymount Road. It is a welcome addition to the locality, offering parents another option for the education of their children.

Here, the school enjoys rolling green spaces and a pleasant seafront location. This new location is also the site of the impressive Gandon Villa, a stately house built in 1790 by the architect responsible for the neo-classical Four Courts.

This September, the school had an intake of 31 first-year students. They are the first to avail of the new premises. At Roslyn Park, the Educate Together secondary school has set-up a network of sturdy prefabricatedtype buildings. There are bright and spacious classrooms, office spaces, and hallways.

According to Paula Mulhall, the principal, starting from scratch with a new premises poses challenges, but also huge opportunities. “A new school is like a blank slate. It’s somewhere that’s best suited to new ideas, to shake up the outdated education methods of the past.

Our teachers are hand-picked and ready to adapt to more modern approaches.”

Like all Educate Together schools, this one is co-educational and multi-denominational.

Pupils don’t wear uniforms, and they address their teachers using n

first names. Mulhall explains that this promotes openness and mutual respect.

“Everything is centred around the student,” she says. “There are three main things we work to achieve here. We want to create positive relationships between students, staff, and parents. We want to help pupils find their individual voice. And we strive for excellence in teaching and in learning.”

These are high ambitions. But Mulhall and rest of the staff at the Educate Together school are committed to realising their aims.

“As far as our relationship with parents is concerned,” says the principal, “there is an opendoor policy. At primary level, parents are more comfortable playing a closer role to their children’s schooling. This isn’t so much the case when it comes to secondary. I’d like to change that.”

Mulhall is passionate about respecting the students at the school. At every turn, students are encouraged to ask questions, to ask “why?” They are never given direction without explanation, and are included in every decision.

“The effect this can have is amazing,” she says. “At the start of the year students were surveyed about what language classes they’d like to take, and what extra-curricular activities they might enjoy. “When you do little things like that the atmos-

phere really changes. Students have a greater sense of belonging. They’re more interested and engaged.”

As concerned as she is with creating positive relationships at the school, and empowering the individual student, Mulhall knows well that at the end of the year education comes down to a grade. The importance of exam results is something she returns to again and again in our interview. “Parents are rightly concerned with the results we get,” she says. “And I’m glad to say they’re excellent.”

The style of learning practiced at Educate Together is a more inclusive means to the same exam-based end. The studentto-teacher ratio at the school is remarkable. Students get much care and attention. And, aside from the classic ‘chalk-and-talk’ format, the staff at Educate Together is branching out to newer methods of teaching. Apple iPads form part of the day-today schooling.

“With the iPads,” says Mulhall, “students are encouraged to take ownership of their studies. The digital medium helps activate their creativity. There is more scope for group work and collaboration, and videos and other interactive platforms help bring a subject to life.”

The iPads need to be supplied by parents, but many are available at a reasonable cost secondhand. They get regular use at the school, but are not intended to

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October / November 2018

replace copybooks and biros.

“The bulk of class work will be done in written form,” says Mulhall. Students might use the iPad for a few classes one day, and then might leave it home altogether for the next. “They’re just another string in the bow.”

At the Educate Together school in Sandymount there is also a class for children with learning difficulties. Running such a class is something that Mulhall evidently feels strongly about. “We want to demonstrate our commitment to helping every kind of child.” She hopes to expand from two pupils to the legislated maximum of six for any class.

This latest school is one of the hundreds which are part of the growing network of Educate Together schools in Ireland. Educate Together is an independent NGO that was set up over 35 years ago, with the Dalkey School Project, founded in 1978.

Each individual school operates under its patronage, and under the Educate Together Charter, which pledges to “guarantee equality of access and esteem to children, irrespective of their social, cultural, or religious background.” With racism and xenophobia on the rise globally, such a pledge is especially important.

Mulhall has big ambitions for the school. At primary-level, Educate Together is well established as an institution in Ireland. The organisation is only beginning to make its mark on

second-level teaching.

“There’s so much we want to achieve. We aim to get to 1,000 pupils eventually.” There are encouraging examples to follow.

The secondary school in Cork has over 500 students, and has been running for many years with great results. At Roslyn Park, the school is capping its 2019 intake at seventy-two or so. “And when we get our permanent buildings in place,” adds Mulhall, “we’ll get up to 180 pupils.”

To that end the school is engaged in a fast-track planning process. Once permission has been granted the permanent buildings should be up in a year or so.

As our interview wraps up, Mulhall makes a point of thanking the parents coming for enrolling their children in the school’s first term. “They’ve taken a leap of faith. They’re trusting us to do a good job, and we won’t let them down.”

Educate Together are hoping to attract as many local children as possible. Newcomers are always welcome. Their catchment area covers Dublin 2, 4, 6, and 8.

Top left: Principal Paula Mulhall is pictured with Minister Eoghan Murphy and Educate Together staff.

Below: Educate Together students getting creative.

Pictures courtesy of Educate Together.

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October / November 2018

Kids with confidence A n Eoin

Meegan new Mel Ryan School has just opened here in Sandymount in the Star of the Sea Hall. The class will initially concentrate on hip hop dance only, but Mel is hopeful of expanding this in time.

The classes are lead by Rachel Tracey and Alan McGrath. Alan was one of the dancers backing Ryan O’Shaughnessy in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which caused such a sensation all over Europe. He has also been a featured dancer with Justin Bieber and other top entertainers.

Rachel has been working professionally as a dancer and appeared in the Gaiety Theatre and the Cork Opera Festival.

When NewsFour caught up with Mel recently she was very excited about the Sandymount project. “I believe children to-

EDUCATION / LOCAL

day are under a lot of stress,” she told me, “because they feel they need to look and act in a certain way.”

Mel has a number of schools around Dublin located in Stillorgan, Carrickmines, Mount Merrion and Monkstown that expound her unique brand of performance training and personal development, the hallmark of which is that everyone is accepted for who they are, competition is discouraged, and children learn to embrace each others’ difference.

“Fear is something one learns,” Mel continued, “when you are concentrating on what others are thinking of you, if they’re judging you, that gets in the way of free flowing thought.”

As well as musical theatre and hip-hop, her school also teaches a class called ‘Dream Believe,

Achieve’. Students here are equipped with a range of life and social skills; presentation skills, communication, leadership, a sense of confidence and self-worth, combined with a learned understanding of the equal worth of the other.

The focus is on emotional intelligence and awareness, with the long-term goal to build healthy future relationships and create well rounded and capable young people.

Mel started off working with two kids in her sitting room and

Page 5 to date has trained over 350 children, receiving a lot of praise from parents who have literally witnessed their children being transformed.

She has trained at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Gaiety School of Acting, and the Bill Keating Centre, among other places, and to date has worked in a range of theatrical roles. Mel will appear in Festival Production’s Wizard of Oz in the National Concert Hall this Christmas along with five children from her classes.

She is passionate about her work and is looking forward, along with her team, to bringing these gifts to Sandymount.

The hip hop classes in the Star of the Sea on Saturday mornings are at the following times: 10-11 for 9-13 year olds.

11-12 for 6-8 year olds.

12- 1 for the 3-5 year olds.

Each class costs €12 and they are still taking bookings. You can contact Mel at Email: melryanschool@gmail.com Or telephone: 086-8372364.

Photo courtesy of Mel Ryan.

CULTURE / FILM

Page 6

Jordan archive for National Library

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n David Prendeville

scar-winning Irish writer and director Neil Jordan has donated his archive to the National Library of Ireland. The archive includes film and TV scripts, production files, storyboards, plays, notebooks and personal correspondence.

Jordan, a graduate of UCD, has enjoyed a long career and is generally recognised as one of Ireland’s most distinguished film-makers.

He began his career as a playwright and novelist. His first foray into film-making was as a writer on Irish First-Wave director Joe Comerford’s Traveller.

Jordan then had success with his own eclectic directorial output such as the psychological thriller Angel, the dark adult fairytale The Company of Wolves and the simultaneously gritty and romantic crime film Mona Lisa.

Jordan then delved into some comedy in Hollywood in the late eighties with films such as High Spirits and the Robert De Niro led We’re No Angels.

Jordan’s big breakthrough, and arguably his most enduring work, however, came in 1992

when he won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Crying Game. He continued to have much success at home and abroad. He had massive hits such as Michael Collins, in 1996, and artistic triumphs such as his film adaptation of Pat McCabe’s The Butcher Boy in 1998.

The donation, made under section 1003 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, was marked by a special event at the NLI on the 9th of August attended by Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan TD and Jordan himself. Madigan described the donation as “unique” and that is represents “a significant item of Irish cultural heritage.”

Jordan speaking at the event said: “The National Library of Ireland plays a significant role in protecting our country’s visual culture and heritage and I am happy to entrust my archive to it.

I have often used its magnificent reading room for research and written drafts of short stories, novels and screenplays there.”

The director of the NLI Dr. Sandra Collins added: “The National Library is committed to preserv-

L

ocal companies Element Pictures and Samson Films scored massive hits at the illustrious Venice and Toronto film festivals. Element’s film The Favourite and Samson’s Float Like a Butterfly won significant awards.

The Favourite won the Grand Jury Prize (runner-up prize) in the Best Film category. It also landed best actress for Olivia Colman. The film marks the third collaboration between Element and Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos after The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Its impressive supporting cast includes Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. It was shot by

Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan. The film follows the travails of Queen Anne (Colman) in the early 18th Century.

It has earned rave reviews at the festival and has been described as “a fabulously entertaining tragi-comedy” by the Hollywood Reporter and as a “sparkling contemporary Restoration farce” by Screen International. The film is set for release in Ireland on January 1st.

Samson’s Float Like a Butterfly won the FIPRESCI discovery award at Toronto. It was directed by Carmel Winters (Snap) and is described as “a timely and powerful story of a girl’s fight for freedom and to belong.” It follows a teenage girl as she attempts to follow her

October / November 2018

ing the story of Ireland through literature, film, still image, born digital content and more. Neil Jordan has had an indelible impact on film making at home and abroad, and we are delighted that he has chosen to donate his rich and diverse archive to the NLI. We look forward to making this generous donation accessible to fans, researchers and the next generation of Irish filmmakers.”

Included amongst the donations are a letter from actor Christian Slater, who expresses thanks to Jordan for allowing him to be part of Interview With A Vampire but wishes it could’ve been under different circumstances – the role of Daniel Molloy was originally supposed to be played by River Phoenix, who died shortly before filming commenced.

It also features a note from Sinead O’ Connor which was attached to a demo she sent Jordan.

There is also a letter from the disgraced movie-mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Cataloguing of the Neil Jordan archive will commence in 2019 and it is expected that this work will take one year to complete.

The NLI will digitise select items

from the archive, but in general it will be made available to researchers in the Special Collections Reading Room of the NLI. Jordan also has a new film, Greta, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film backed by Screen Ireland was shot in Ireland with the streets of Dublin doubling for New York. It stars French icon Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Grace Moretz and Maika Monroe. It’s described as a “contemporary psychological thriller.”

The film’s plot has been teased as: “After discovering a handbag on a New York subway train, Frances McCullen (Moretz), a

young woman bereaved by her mother’s death, sets about returning it to its rightful owner.

Frances subsequently strikes up an unusual friendship with enigmatic widow Greta Hildeg (Huppert), however Greta’s motives may be more sinister than they initially seem.”

The film also co-stars a Jordan regular, Stephen Rea. It was co-written by Jordan and Ray Wright. An official release date for Ireland has yet to be announced, but the picture should be with us in the forthcoming months.

dreams and become a boxer.

The jury described the award winner as “a pastoral and traditional bucolic film, capturing the familiar angst and anxiety a young adult woman undergoes in order to have her say in the scheme of things in a predominately male-driven patriarchal society.”

As well as these award winners, two other films from local companies were screened at the Toronto festival. Element screened their new Roddy Doyle-scripted drama Rosie, while Wildcard Distribution’s famine-western Black 47 was also screened.

Rosie, which stars Sarah Greene and Moe Dunford, explores Dublin’s homeless crisis.

Black 47 (which is currently on general release in Ireland) is an action-filled western set during the famine in Ireland.

It has a large cast of Irish and international stars including Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford and Sarah Greene.

The film has proved a massive hit recently at the Irish box-office, immediately becoming the most successful Irish film of the year after its first weekend on release. The €444,000 (includ-

ing previews) it made was also the biggest opening weekend of an Irish film since Brooklyn in 2015. It climbed up to top spot at the Irish box office on its second week on release.

There was further Irish interest in Toronto with the premiere of Neil Jordan’s highly anticipated Greta starring the great French actress Isabelle Huppert, along with Chloe Grace Moretz and Maika Monroe.

There will also be much local and Irish interest in next month’s BFI London Film with The Favourite also set to play in that competition. Rosie is also set to screen out of competition.

There will also be a special screening of Element’s Dublin Oldschool, which had a mammoth cinema run in Ireland over the summer. This screening will mark the film’s international debut.

Major awards for local film companies

n David Prendeville

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Above; Neil Jordan directing on the Michael Collins set.

Pictured: Olivia Coleman.

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October / November 2018

Celebrity and Special Guests joined Sandymount Hotel and Make-A-Wish Ireland for End of Summer BBQ Celebration Make-A-Wish celebrity ambassadors Lorraine Keane and Peter Devlin, plus musicians Little Green Cars, Mary Byrne, the Celtic Tenors and Paddy Cole were among the special guests at a celebratory End of Summer BBQ hosted by Sandymount Hotel in partnership with Make-A-Wish Ireland last night.

Guests enjoyed delicious BBQ bites, thirst quenchers, and entertainment from the fabulously talented Havana Club Trio to celebrate Sandymount Hotel’s

EVENT

Page 7 completion of a €2m 17-bedroom extension of the property and recent World Travel Awards ‘Europe’s Leading Green Hotel’ win.

Plus, the night also honoured and awarded some of the amazing supporters, volunteers and corporate partners who enable Make-A-Wish Ireland to grant wishes to seriously ill children.

Guests relaxed in the last of the summer sunsets and took home donated raffle prizes including 5-star hotel stays, premium match tickets and other goodies, with all proceeds of the night going to Make-A-Wish Ireland.

Pictured from left: Preparing the BBQ in Sandymount Hotel; Susan O’Dwyer CEO Make-A-Wish Ireland and John Loughran of Sandymount Hotel; Mary Byrne and Paddy Cole.

Photos: Richie Stokes and NewsFour.

LOCAL / MONEY

Page 8

REVAMPED CREDIT UNION OPENS IN RINGSEND

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n Peter McNamara fter weeks of building, the revamped Savvi Credit Union has opened in Ringsend. This all-new branch was ushered in with a launch party and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Members and passers-by alike were treated to freshly scooped ice cream, handmade sandwiches, and hot and cold drinks. Savvi even provided some family entertainment, with a balloon sculptor and storyteller. It made for a nice surprise for many on a balmy Monday afternoon.

The new branch is modern and sleek. The impression one gets upon entering is of vibrant simplicity. The walls are white and clear, the floor is of smooth polished wood and spotlights shine from above.

The simple modern space is embellished here and there by flashes of pleasant colour: There are green counters, blue chairs, and red notice boards – shades taken from the Savvi ‘four-heart’ logo. A digital screen tells the latest bureau de change rates, while customer service staff sit waiting at state-ofthe-art desks.

Savvi, which is the re-branded name for the Ringsend & District Credit Union, has been operating in Ringsend since 1969. In his speech at the ribbon-cutting, CEO Robert Cooper thanked members for their patience during the revamp. He also made sure to thank the staff, for putting up with weeks of eating “dust sandwiches.”

“At Savvi we are all about the community,” he said. “And this new branch is proof of our commitment to Ringsend. We are going to be here for some time to come.”

There is a sense of energy and possibility about the place, which is no coincidence. According to Cooper, this latest revamp is part of a campaign of growth and development at the organisation.

Along with a new branch, the Savvi Credit Union in Ringsend is also offering a range of new services and initiatives.

“We have big plans for the future,” Cooper tells me. “We want to establish Credit Unions as a meaningful alternative to banks.

That’s part of the founding intention of the movement, and we want to make it a reality.”

Credit Unions are linked to the

Irish Central Bank, and fall under its regulatory control, a control that has become more pronounced.

The link with the Central Bank imposes some limits on who Credit Unions can lend to, but it also offers huge potential for growth and expansion.

Alongside their usual lending and saving services, the Savvi Credit Union in Ringsend is working to offer to their members current accounts, debit cards, online banking, and even mortgages.

“We already give out a few mortgages each year,” explains the CEO, “but we are limited by the Central Bank. We want to expand, to offer even more.” He has great optimism and energy. As we talk, he stops to greet members by name as they come down the street. “In the next year or so,” Cooper adds, “we hope to set up a current account service. People will be able to send their pay cheque directly to their credit union, making it even easier to save with us.”

Credit Unions have a rich history in this country, and they play a vital role in communities across Ireland.

The Irish Credit Union movement was founded in the 1950s through the efforts of three pioneering people, namely Nora Herlihy, a teacher from Ballydesmond; Sean Forde, an employee of Peter Kennedy Bakers; and Séamus P. MacEoin, from Kilkenny, a Civil Servant.

All three worked in Dublin and witnessed the awful effects of high-unemployment and poverty there. People lived in abject conditions, and many were at the mercy of moneylenders. The Credit Union founders saw the scarce availability and poor management of money to be the root of the problem, and they resolved to create some way to enable people to gain more control over their finances.

The first Credit Union opened in Donore Avenue in 1958, and

the movement grew and spread from there. The Credit Union Act in 1966 brought statutory recognition of the co-op concept and the common bond at the heart of these organisations.

They are remarkable entities.

Credit Unions offer members the chance to have control over their finances by making their own savings work for them. Regular savings form a common pool of money, which in turn provides many benefits for members.

Each credit union is a not-forprofit organisation owned by its members, who both save with, and borrow from it. Members receive a dividend, if declared, on their savings and have access to loans at fair and reasonable rates.

And now, with expanding account services, bigger lending limits and online and ATM banking, there has never been a better time to become a member.

The more that Credit Unions can become a ‘meaningful alternative’ to banks, the better it will be.

The difference between them and ordinary banks is profound.

Unfortunately, if we have learned anything from the entitled recklessness of the banks during the Celtic Tiger, and the tracker mortgage scandal after the crash, the climate in the banking sector is selfish and aloof, and shows no sign of improving.

By comparison, the Credit Unions genuinely strive to do the best for their members. Their not-forprofit structure sees all profits circulated back into the growth of the business, or given out to members in the form of annual dividends or interest rebates.

The Savvi Credit Union in Ringsend offers its members a funeral allowance, and all debts are cancelled upon death. To imagine a bank cutting your interest rate or cancelling your debt is difficult indeed.

According to Cooper, the Savvi

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October / November 2018

CEO, they’re all about “people helping people.” And he is committed to challenging the dominance of the banks in this market.

“We want to compete with the banks in Ireland,” he says, “but their size is their key advantage.”

On that side, some Credit Unions in Ireland are joining together, to further empower themselves. “Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland are actually a combination of smaller banks that came together in the 1970s,” he tells me, “so there’s nothing to stop Credit Unions from doing something similar, and levelling the playing field a little.”

Compared with the retail banks, Credit Unions enjoy a great reputation. According to Laura Shilling, the Business Development Manager at Savvi Ringsend, this reputation is now second-to-none.

“As of 2018,” she says, “Credit Unions are the most highly regarded organisations in the State, overtaking An Post in this year’s Reptrak study.” Reptrak, an annual reputational ranking of organisations in Ireland, is run by The Reputations Agency, who gather data from all corners of the country. Kellogg’s came second out of 100 organisations in terms of the public’s trust, admiration and esteem, while Aldi came third. “It’s a great honour,” says Shilling. “And the fact this is a financial institution coming top of the poll really shows you how strongly people feel about Credit Unions.”

There are many companies try-

ing to tap into the goodwill inherent in the organisation. Shilling is often invited as a liaison for the Savvi Credit Union in Ringsend into legal, technology, and communications corporations that operate out of Grand Canal Dock and other nearby locations.

“They bring me in to speak to staff,” she explains, “and once I outline the range of benefits available to members, people are very eager to sign-up.”

Here she touches on a strange lack of awareness among younger people when it comes to Credit Unions. “Older people know all about these organisations and what they can do for you. But it’s like we’ve skipped a generation. Credit Unions are like a best-kept secret.

Thankfully the word is starting to spread.”

As we have seen over the last few years, unfettered neo-liberal economics, and the thirst for simple profit, has brought great loss to ordinary families and moved even greater wealth from the many to the few. The mission of community at the heart of Credit Unions and their ethos of ‘people helping people’ is something to support.

Savvi have been a part of Ringsend for some time, and with their sleek new branch they will be for many years to come. Their door is always open to anyone seeking micro-financing. If there’s something you need, or which you’ve been meaning to get sorted, drop into Savvi. They are ready to assist.

Above: CEO Robert Cooper is pictured with staff next to the ice cream trailer at the Savvi Credit Union launch.

Left: CEO Robert Cooper and Business Development Manager Laura Shilling pose with members and staff at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Pictures by Donal Healy. (Courtesy of Savvi Credit Union).

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Page 9

MONEY

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October / November 2018

Managing your finances this winter

n Lorraine

Waters Managing to save with extra bills during the winter and to have peace of mind

W

ith shorter days and colder weather creeping in, the most expensive season looms in sight. With extra heating bills and Christmas just around the corner, how can you manage to stay comfortable in the winter while reducing your bills and make some savings?

For many of us savings are for other people, people who have spare cash. But saving is for all of us, although when we’re finding it hard to make ends meet, saving money can seem impossible, so why would we? But it’s worth trying.

For the big bills, you know they are coming – electricity, gas, heating, property tax and so on. (And not to mention CHRISTMAS.) The list can seem endless but the one thing we are sure of is that these bills come in every month, quarter or yearly and we know that Christmas is going to happen and we have to be ready for them. It’s difficult to pay for them unless we plan ahead and save a little each week or month.

HOW TO GET STARTED? Often the first step in saving money is in finding the money to save – that often means prioritizing spending in some areas over others. Generally, it means putting aside some money each week.

Work out what you spend day to day and try to keep track of your spending habits. Shopping can be one of the biggest bills in the household, so the best advice is to plan in advance, make a list and stick to it. Compare prices and shop around. Can you cut down on your daily spending? Remember the small things add up.

Here are some practical things you can do every day to cut down your energy. And, even better, you may have some savings to put towards the Christmas kitty.

MAKE THE SWITCH You can make significant savings on your energy bills without having to resort to turning

off the heating.

Are you getting the best value wherever you can? Shop around for better deals on your fuel, utilities, phone, TV services, insurance and bin charges. Compare prices and switch services to where you can cut costs. Cost comparison websites like www. bonkers.ie will help you make an informed decision.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY Are you losing heat through windows or doors? Is your heating running when no-one is home? Could you turn it down a degree or two? And what about lights and appliances – are they left on all the time? Leaving appliances on standby can be costly – switch them off!

Check with your supplier for tips on energy efficiency and many have online tools which can help you. Electric Ireland have a free appliance app for IPhone and Android. The calculator gives you greater control over your home energy costs by finding out how much your home appliances cost to run.

The app can help you estimate your bill within a few euro.

PAYING YOUR BILLS So we have looked at ways of cutting costs of some household bills, now we need to look at a system for paying the bills, one that suits your needs. Choose a method that doesn’t take too much time and is handy for you. Use a service that is near where you live or work.

Alternatively, you can set up an account and put in a certain amount every week or month to pay your bills. However, check the charges you’ll have to pay your bank or service provider.

Make a list of regular bills and work out the best method to pay them. Some common methods of bill payments are: Bill Pay: Available through your Post Office-ask in your local Post Office or go through www.billpay.ie Post Point: This free service allows you to pay your household bills in shops nationwide, look for the Post Point sign.

Pay Point: This service is a convenient way to pay Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis and Eir bills at over 60 Credit Unions nationwide.

Household Budget Scheme: This free service is available to people who get certain social welfare payments from the Department of Social Protection.

A fixed amount is deducted from your payment each week.

Check out www.welfare.ie EasyPay: (Electric Ireland) With an EasyPay Card from Electric Ireland, you can make regular payments to your Electric Ireland account through PayPoint or at your local PO. Direct Debit: Direct Debits can be set up on some accounts, which allow your service provider to apply directly to your bank for payment of your bills.

Standing Order: You instruct your bank to make regular payments to your service

provider.

Internet / phone banking: Some bank accounts provide internet banking so that you can manage most aspects of your account, including paying bills, from your own home.

Cheques: Posting a cheque is a simple and secure way to pay bills. Complete the payment slip on your bill and return with your cheque. Remember there are charges for cheques.

However you pay, always keep a receipt of the payment or some other proof for all bills paid. Note down the amount paid, on the bill itself, and file it, or note the amount paid, together with the reference or account numbers, on your calendar or in a notebook.

For more information and handy tips, read the “MABS Guide to Managing Your Bills” on our website www.mabs.ie PLANNING FOR CHRISTMAS It may seem a bit early to be planning for Christmas but if you plan now it will make things a lot easier. We are often tempted to spend more than usual at Christmas, but do remember that all your regular bills still need to be paid once it’s over.

How did you finance Christmas

last year? How much did you spend on Christmas? Most people do not know, so to change things this year how about you controlling your spending (instead of your spending controlling you).

Include a ‘Christmas Savings’ amount in your regular budget to estimate how much you will need, draw up a list of everything you need to buy and estimate the cost. Then look at how much you can afford to save every week. Divide the total cost to see how much you need to save. Can you afford this? If not, you need to look again at your plan and consider making some cuts.

Would a secret Santa work in your family or circle of friends, so that everyone just buys one gift? Can you agree on a set limit per gift? Don’t overestimate how much food you need, the shops close for only one day so do you really need to stock a lot?

For more information on planning for the cost of Christmas read our “MABS Guide to Getting Ready for Christmas” available on our web site, www. mabs.ie Remember if you do run into trouble with clearing your bills or debts MABS is here to help you. Our role is to provide you with support and to help you draw up a realistic budget which will allow you to deal with your debts.

Calculating every cost, keeping a notebook and cutting out what you can save will add up for you!

MABS, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service is: Free, Independent, Confidential and Non- Judgmental Service.

Log on www.mabs.ie Phone Helpline 0761072000 Local Office 0761072520 Drop in Local Office 26-28 Lombard Street, Dublin 2 Picture: Google Images.

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Meegan ant to be healthy and fit for the coming winter as well as strut your stuff with the best of them on Strictly? Ever wanted to master the Cha Cha, Quick Step, Jive, Salsa, Charleston, Viennese Waltz? Then you need Fitsteps.

Fitsteps is a dance concept that was the brainchild of Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe of Strictly Come Dancing fame with Olympic swimmer Mark Foster.

Ian appeared on Strictly until 2010 and now hosts Strictly It Takes Two, while Natalie won Australia’s Dancing with the Stars, before working on Strictly for seven years, leaving only in 2016. Mark appeared on the sixth series of Strictly.

Fitsteps takes the best of dance movement, combines it with the aerodynamic of a workout, and creates something that could, just possibly, become the next big craze.

They also train suitable candidates to become Fitsteps instructors. Ringsend native Shauna Tilley took the training and now gives classes in Ringsend and Irishtown.

FITNESS

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Dance your way to fitness

So what exactly is Fitsteps?

Fitsteps is a solo dance fitness class, mixing the graceful moves of ballroom with the up-tempo steps of Latin dance. The fast dances pump up the heart rate, while the slower ones help muscular strength and body toning.

And you do it without a partner, so no one is holding you back.

I thought this odd at first, but Shauna explains that through the classes you learn the fundamental moves of every dance, and then it all just falls into place.

The class watch Strictly on a Saturday night when it’s on and then if there’s a particular move they like, Shauna will have them

practise it the following week, likewise with Dancing with the Stars, RTE’s alternative. But they will improvise and adapt where necessary so it’s never boring.

None of the girls in the group ever had dance lessons before starting Fitsteps and according to Shauna they have come on amazingly. “They are all one hundred percent committed,” she says.

The girls in turn told me they love coming to the classes as it’s a way to keep fit while having fun, and learning some real dance moves too.

It might seem easy watching people do it on telly, but there is quite a workout in a three-minute

dance. I stayed for part of the class and they were really working out. But the whole thing has a fun factor too and no one is expected to be an expert. Basically, it’s a fitness class delivered through dance.

Fitsteps is open to people of all ages. At present there are around 10 to 12 women in Shauna’s class, which is held twice weekly with most of the ladies coming both nights. Sadly, as yet, no men but she’s hoping that will change.

“Once you get them in the door they stay,” Shauna says, “but it’s getting them in in the first place that is the problem.”

And it doesn’t end with Fitsteps.

When the official class is over Shauna takes them through an extra class of Burlex. Burlex is an original dance fitness programme that combines a burlesque theme with props and squats. It is especially designed to work on core strength and cardio fitness, increase flexibility and give you a really powerful workout. And for the Burlex element I’m told they turn on the disco lights and create a very snazzy atmosphere.

Fitsteps happens every Monday evening in Ringsend Community Centre at 8.20pm followed by Burlex; and on Wednesday evenings in St. Matthew’s National School, Irishtown (Fitsteps only) at 7.30pm The cost is €8 per class, or €12 on Monday evenings if you add the Burlex. It works on a pay as you go basis, with no obligation to sign up for a whole term. The Fitsteps class runs for approximately 55 minutes and the Burlex for 35 minutes.

For more information contact Shauna at 0894299768.

Or alternatively on Instagram @Shauna_dancefitness.

Photo: Eoin Meegan.

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CULTURAL / HISTORIC

An EPIC story of Ireland

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n Eoin

Meegan f you haven’t already do so, please do yourself a favour and get along to see the EPIC museum in the CHQ building along the quays, and be prepared to shed any preconceived notions beforehand of what a museum should be like.

First of all, the location is amazing. Packed into the vaults of what was once a wine storehouse dating back to the early 1800s, it is cavernous, labyrinthine, and deliciously spooky.

This museum truly tells an epic story. Actually EPIC is an acronym for Every Person Is Connected, aptly named as connection is the motif running throughout. It is a cauldron of memories going back 1,500 years of those who left these shores, some out of necessity, others due to an adventurous

spirit, but who all left their signature on the world.

Designed by Event Communications, the people that created the Belfast Titanic experience, it is fully digital, interactive, and a high-tech facility, yet quaintly intimate, for as you wander effortlessly from one themed section to another, you feel you are a part of these people’s lives.

Jessica Traynor, the Deputy Director of EPIC, who very kindly gave me a personal tour of the museum, said, “Emigration must be seen in a social context. The reasons are not always poverty, emigration can often be a kind of pressure release valve.

The museum is an attempt to see ourselves and Ireland from the outside in.”

Over 70 million people worldwide claim Irish ancestry and all are celebrated here: the artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, and so on.

Among these people are James Hoban, the man who built the White House, to Wexford woman Eileen Gray, artist and architect, whose house E-1027

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the Alpes Maritimes department in France is considered one of the earliest examples of modernist architecture. Although built in the 1920s, and probably the apotheosis of an amazing life’s work, it wasn’t fully recognised as Gray’s until the 1960s.

Of course there are the heartbreaking stories too, like Annie Moore who arrived penniless in Ellis Island, or the 16 year old girl who was sent off to Australia to become a domestic servant, having ended up in the workhouse when both her parents died.

For these young women and hundreds like them, it was a release from an intolerable existence, only to be delivered to an equally stifling one in an alien world where they were often looked down upon. These and similar stories, are sensitively recounted on video using actors.

Other stories pique curiosity, Such as that of Dr. James Barry. Barry was, in fact, a woman who successfully disguised herself as a man, became a British army surgeon and reputedly performed the first caesarean

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October / November 2018

section. Or the amusing story of Margaretta Eagar, a native of Limerick, who was nanny to the Romanov princesses, the children of the last Tzar of Russia.

The little princesses were so devoted to her that the story is they developed an Irish accent. There are countless such delightful stories, including the ‘notorious’ Irish, such as poor Mrs. O’Leary and her cow. You’ll have to go to the museum to check that one out for yourself!

This year the museum has run a number of story-collecting events around themed subjects in conjunction with Europeana, the EU digital platform for cultural heritage.The next one will be in November (24th-25th) which will coincide with the centenary of women achieving the parliamentary vote. It will be called Women Migrants and people are invited to bring along objects that tie in to emigration or the early suffragette movement. These artifacts will then be photographed and put up on the Europeana database.

This is just one way the museum is reaching out to include

everyone’s story who is connected with emigration, while continuously expanding their archives.

The daily ratio of visitors is about 60% international, and 40% local, but this can vary. “It is very easy to approach emigration through big stats, but each is an individual story,” Traynor says. Very true, we tend to see the large canvas, but the story of Irish emigration is more a mosaic of millions of tiny, but fiercely extraordinary narratives.

The final word comes from EPIC founder Neville Isdell, “I may have left Ireland but Ireland never left me.” That, I think, expresses the sentiments of those who, for whatever reason, became part of the great Irish diaspora.

The museum is open seven days a week, from 10am to 6.45pm each day. Admission is €14 per adult, €7 for child, and €35 for a family of four.

You can download the free app of the audio guide, or pick up one at the entry for just a euro.

The museum can also arrange tours for groups.

Photos, left and above: Eoin Meegan.

Below: Eileen Gray’s E-1027.

Wellness of Women, A Day of Hope

A

uthor, DJ and mum Louise McSharry is calling on all women around the country to come out and enjoy some muchneeded TLC, while supporting maternal mental health, at the Wellness of Women, A Day of Hope in aid of H.O.P.E in Citywest on Saturday 7th October.

The brainchild of popular Irish blogger and influencer Bróna English, the ‘Snap Happy Mammy,’ the event is a day for all women to enjoy some fun, pampering, relaxation and learn some new

skills for their wellbeing, while raising awareness of maternal mental health.

After suffering from post natal depression after the birth of her son in 2016, Brona who believes “Pain is real but so is hope,” began blogging about her own personal struggles with anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

The blog instantly struck a chord with a host of other mums who had felt the same way. She is a now a mental health advocate and enjoys empowering and supporting

other women.

There will be pampering, expert talks, goodie bags, a kiddies’ corner, beauty, fitness and therapy workshops on the day.

NewsFour readers get a 25% discount with the code Newsfour25 For further info, contact Bróna Englishat0851448714ore-mail: snaphappymammy@outlook. com www.instagram.com/snaphappymamy www.snaphappymammy1. wordpress.com

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LOCAL HISTORY

Page 13

Donnybrook through the centuries

H

n Eoin

Meegan eritage Week at the end of August saw many events happening throughout the city. Here in Donnybrook it was marked by the Beaver Row Heritage Players with an event held in The Hive in Herbert Park on two consecutive weekends.

The event was organised by local writer Glenda Cimino, who has been organising these events for Heritage Week for the past four years.

Glenda gave a very informative talk on the history of the area entitled “A Tale of Two Donnybrooks” which centred on Beaver Row, the road that runs from the bus garage in Donnybrook towards Clonskeagh.

This row was built and developed by the Wrights, wellknown hatters who came to Donnybrook in the early nineteenth century. They established a hat factory, which stood approximately at the corner of Eglinton Road and Eglinton Park, with the entrance at the top of Harmony Avenue.

Beaver hats were the fashion accessory in the nineteenth century and got the name because the best ones contained a high percentage of actual beaver pelt, imported from Canada. Indeed, this is how Beaver Row got its name.

The Wrights built 20 cottages for their workers in Beaver Row, 18 of which still stand, with a private Wesleyan chapel attached to one (the family were Wesleyans, a branch of Methodism; there was also a Wesleyan chapel in Ringsend).

They also built a school and a parochial hall. Sadly, both were demolished in the 1980s in what, according to Glenda, may be dubious circumstances. A block of red-bricked flats, Anglers’ Rest, stands there now.

Unfortunately, around the mid-1830s the bottom fell out of the hat trade and the factory closed. A lot of the other industries went into decline soon after.

Local engineer Richard Good told the story of the mill race, located to the rear of Ashton’s Pub in Clonskeagh, which powered the hat factory, as well as a saw mill where Donnybrook Tennis Club is today, a calico and cotton mill where Johnston Mooney and O’Brien’s stood, now Herbert Park apartments and hotel, and a flour mill that is now Lansdowne Road Dart Station.

The mill race remained in operation until as late as 1949 and Richard talked about plans to restore it. Let’s hope that work sees fruition.

Donnybrook was an important hub for revolutionaries during the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence which followed.

Some stories of lesser-known participants were re-enacted using the innovative idea of having their ghosts come forward and tell their own story.

Rebecca Blomberg played the ghost of Mrs. Batt O’Connor, whose house in Brendan Road was raided many times by British forces, while Mary Pat Moloney portrayed the ghost of Molly Woods. Molly along with her husband Andrew sheltered

Galway rebel Liam Mellows, whose ghost was played by Dylan Delaney. Derek O Shaughnessy played the ghost of a De Valera volunteer from 1914.

And speaking of ghosts. It wouldn’t be a meeting with Glenda and her friends without a few ghost stories. One concerned a young lady named Elizabeth O’Neill, also known as “Honor Bright”, whose body was found on the Dublin mountains. She had been murdered.

Nobody was ever convicted for the murder, but later sightings of her ghost were reported in Ballinguile House, a once-stately edifice on Eglinton Road, and she appeared to be talking to someone just out of view. Could it be her killer?

Another story was of a woman whose son was going out one night. As she wanted to go to bed early she made him promise not to make noise upon returning and not to bring anyone back. However, some time later she heard people coming in and raising a great commotion downstairs, and, perhaps justifiably, feeling a little peeved that her son hadn’t kept his word she got out of her bed and came down, only to find the house in complete darkness and no one there. When her son came home some hours later she recounted the story to him, whereby the young man was every bit as astonished as she was. All very spooky!

Of course, no gathering would be complete without music, and award-winning poet Catherine Ann Cullen sang some lovely songs she composed herself including ‘Listen To The River’.

Glenda herself came to Ireland in 1972 and after a spell in Wicklow she moved to Donnybrook in 1974. She worked for a while in the theatre, studying under Deirdre O’Connell the founder of the Focus Theatre.

She had previously worked in street theatre in New York.

She set up the Beaver Row Heritage Players along with James Martinez, and, prior to that, the Beaver Row Press which ran from 1980 to 1991 and published, among other things, Paula Meehan’s first

two books, and Brendan Kennelly’s Cromwell. She recalls that when she first moved to Beaver Row there was a pig farm at the top of Beaver Row, where Smurfits now stands, and no traffic at all on the row. How

times have changed! A very entertaining evening all round in The Hive.

Above: Glenda Cimino.

Left: Catherine Ann Cullen.

Photos By Eoin Meegan.

PROFILES

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Eamon Dunphy

Departs RTE after 40 years

E

n David Prendeville amon Dunphy recently announced that after forty years he was leaving RTÉ to pursue his podcast The Stand.

Dunphy was an ever-divisive and entertaining provocateur. He will be best remembered for his candid, cutting and often very funny football analysis.

For many years Dunphy’s passion for the game and unique talent was prodded by the mischievous presentation of Bill O’ Herlihy and assisted by the more subtle,

though also frequently withering, assessments of John Giles.

If you type ‘Eamon Dunphy rant’ into Youtube there is a veritable treasure trove of hilarious put-downs, outlandish statements and wars of words. It’s fair to say Dunphy’s analysis, where entertainment and to a certain extent performance were paramount, was a far-cry from the largely vanilla offerings of other stations.

While there is some good analysis on Sky and the BBC (and some not so good), it can’t compare to

the joys of seeing Dunphy acting without a filter and with that twinkle of knowing humour in his eye.

Highlights of a sojourn into a Dunphy-Youtube rabbit hole include: infamously saying that Ronaldo is a “cod”, describing Niall Quinn as a “creep”, venting against journalist Rod Liddle after he criticized Roy Keane and a big bust-up he had with Graeme Souness. In the latter he responds to Souness’s put-down of “I’ve managed seven clubs, who have you managed?” with a knowing smirk and glowing pride: “I haven’t managed anyone, I’ve managed to stay alive for 63 and a half years, baby!”

Dunphy was born in Dublin in 1943. A varied and much-travelled career as a footballer saw him play for Manchester United, York City, Millwall, Charlton Athletic, Reading and Shamrock Rovers.

Upon retiring from professional football, Dunphy became a journalist, writing articles on football for the Sunday Tribune. He later began writing on current affairs for the Sunday Independent. His journalism career, similar to that of his career with RTÉ, proved

divisive and had its fair share of controversies. He slated everyone from Mary Robinson to Patrick Heaney. He was successfully sued for libel by Proinsias de Rossa. He railed against what he called, “Establishment Ireland”, in which he included the likes of Gay Byrne, along with the aforementioned Robinson and Heaney.

Not to criticise his outspoken journalism, of which the most contentious I would have been too young to engage with, Dunphy’s style really was at home in the land of football. That beautiful, impassioned and yet trivial soap opera, where you can genuinely be as outrageous as you like, without it having much of a consequence.

This is a potential of soccer or even any sports analysis that has rarely been explored elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see who will now fill the cantankerous pundit role vacated by Dunphy.

The best bet would be on Liam Brady sliding over one position to his right and into Dunphy’s chair.

There were times during the World Cup when Dunphy was absent in which Brady’s misanthropy levels seemed to rise and his curmudgeonly style was whet-

Local artist’s unique business

R

n David Prendeville ingsend-based artist Carla Daly is currently providing an artistic alternative to the usual gifts which one may get children for various milestones such as birthdays or which people would give to commemorate the birth of a newborn baby or a child’s christening.

She makes custom art prints for children which incorporate the child and his family/ friends as characters into the print. As well as these, Carla also does fun, coloured maps for children which have a very obvious educational value.

One can see how the idea fermented in her head, she tells me: “I’ve got two kids

and you get Christening gifts and as beautiful as they might be they are often put in a box and never used.”

Rather than that, Carla sees fostering a relationship with art at an early age as something which could prove much more valuable both in a child’s development and also as a memento of a particular event or time: “I think it’s nice having something on a child’s wall that they can look at and look into and learn from.”

Carla is very passionate about what she does. She proudly describes her prints as “her art.” One gets a defiant sense off her that she is fueled by creativity as opposed to

business. Her current venture also stemmed as a novel way from which she could still continue to work on her art, while also raising two children.

Carla started off as an illustrator for children’s novels, something which she loved: “That was great and I worked with some very good authors, but once I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to do it anymore because it was very time-consuming. It was when I had kids that I decided I was going to do stuff myself.”

Her current endeavour started when she created four prints and it struck her that this was something she could do: “I didn’t want to lose all my work or my ability to work so this allowed me to join the two.”

Carla seems relaxed when I ask her what the future holds for her artistic endeavours. She admits that the expansion of her unique business has stemmed organically but now is the time to get her work out to as many people as possible.

Carla is currently working on her own. but hopes that as her business

ted with news levels of Dunphyesque belligerence. It was a solid audition by the 62-year old.

In terms of the others, Richie Sadlier has long been an intelligent and outspoken candidate, but he’s a bit too refined to fill the Dunphy void. Damien Duff’s recent evisceration of the GAA won’t have gone unnoticed by RTÉ, but he would have to inject at least a hundred times the levels of aggression into his tick of saying “listen” at the start of every sentence to even warrant a call-back. Didi Hamann still seems just that little bit too amused by what he’s surrounded with to merit serious consideration.

Dunphy, upon announcing his departure in typically boisterous style, claimed that RTÉ had “lost their edge.” There is definitely a watershed feeling associated with Dunphy’s departure. Few others would either have the chutzpah to try or the charisma to get away with the often amusingly hyperbolic, contradictory, performative nature of his sports analysis. He will be missed.

Pictured: Eamon Dunphy.

Photo: WikiCommons.

expands she may be able to hire people.

Carla’s work represents a wonderfully artistic alternative to the traditional gifts parents get for their children.

More information can be found at: https://www.gifts4baby.ie/ Images Courtesy of Carla Daly.

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n Eoin

October / November 2018

Meegan

ince its foundation in 2011 at 15, St Stephen’s Green, the Little Museum of Dublin has become one of the most popular destinations for tourists and Dubliners alike. Well worth a visit, it is a treasure trove of curiosities, memorabilia and collectables spanning the last century and beyond.

The museum is a mix of guided and free-to-roam experience. The guided component takes the form of a tour every hour which lasts approximately 30 minutes. On the day NewsFour visited, the guide was Jesse, who managed to interweave historical facts with some

CULTURAL

The Little Museum of Dublin

entertaining local stories and amusing anecdotes.

For example, did you know that at one time 15 houses in Henrietta Street housed 835 people between them; one house alone had 104 living it it. An interesting statistic on a shameful past that sadly resonates all too well with the current housing crisis the city is experiencing.

Or that Erwin Schrodinger, the Nobel prize-winning physicist came here 1938 to escape Nazi persecution and remained until 1955. An interesting twist was that he brought both his wife and his mistress with him, a menage a trois that lived together without anyone batting an eyebrow in a city that wasn’t exactly known at the time for its liberal attitude.

The tour opens to some light amusement with an air raid siren. Jesse informed us that they acquired the siren from a rather eccentric gentleman who had it in his garden for the express purpose of frightening off aliens from outer space. As nobody fled the building upon hearing the sound, I think it’s fair to say everyone

present was human.

Outside the tour, you’re free to wander around at your leisure and soak in all the many curiosities on offer. On the ground floor there is a whole section dedicated to aviation, with pictures from Aer Lingus and early Irish flights, including Harry Ferguson, who along with his brother built and flew the first Irish aeroplane in 1909.

They were Ireland’s answer to the Wright brothers. Harry went on to create the famous Massey Ferguson tractor.

You’ll also find a poster of Amelia Earhart the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo in 1932. When she landed in a field in Ireland to

Eileen Purcell nee Marmion 1918 - 2018

By Rodney Devitt and Patrick Purcell ost Dubliners of a certain age will remember fondly the great Noel Purcell: actor, panto star, film star, and true blue Dub, but also a Sandymount man for most of his adult life.

But in the 1930s, there was an even more famous name on the theatre posters in Ireland: “Little Eileen Marmion – Child Star”.

Eileen was born in Dublin in January 1918. At the age of 10 she was spotted on stage by Jimmy O’Dea, joined his company and had her first role as a Teddy Bear in Sinbad the Sailor.

Under the chaperoning of her mother Mamie, she toured all over Britain and Ireland with O’Dea and his actors, singers and dancers. She became a huge success as a child star, singing and dancing to her own compositions.

When she was 12, Eileen met a very tall up and coming comedian called Noel Purcell, who was to play Dame Longshanks, her “grandmother” in the pantomime Red Riding Hood. They became fast friends, and colleagues would

M

laugh as little Eileen would trot alongside Noel as he went out on dates with other women. But Eileen grew up, and Noel waited, and in 1941 she married the man she had loved since she was a child.

Eileen and Noel moved to their first home, in Newbridge Drive, in Sandymount. They had four sons, Michael, Glynn, Patrick, and Victor. Eileen by now had retired from the stage, and along with Mamie – now Grannie Marmion – looked after the four boys when Noel was away doing plays, films, pantomimes, and eventually television.

They moved house two more times, first to Sydney Parade Avenue, then to Wilfield Road, with

Grannie Marmion still part of the family. Eileen used to joke that since Noel was away in exotic locations filming on the two occasions that they moved – in Tahiti for Mutiny on the Bounty the first time, and on the Atlantic Ocean for Moby Dick the second – he was unable to find his new house each time he came home.

When Noel died in 1985, Eileen moved across Sandymount Avenue to her little apartment in Hollyrood Castle. She developed dementia late in life, and was lovingly looked after in St. Marys Nursing Home in Merrion. Although she could not communicate much by then, her nursing staff would say they could know she had been a dancer because her feet always tapped in time to any music on the radio.

Eileen died in her 101st year, on 19th of August 2018. She is survived by two of her four sons, Patrick in Australia, and Glynn in England, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is buried beside her beloved Noel in Deansgrange Cemetery.

Photo: RIP.ie.

refuel on her way to Paris, the first thing she did was to walk up to a bewildered famer and ask him for a glass of water.

On the upper floors there’s a room dedicated to U2, with posters and memorabilia of the band going back to their formative years, including a life-sized statue of Bono.

Another room is dedicated to the Irish Times, particularly its legendary editor Bertie Smillie, illustrated on right, and one given over to Dublin’s most famous Lord Mayor Alfie Byrne. Here you can see the famous bike that he traversed the length and breath of the city on, and even get to shake hands with the great man. You’ll have to go there to find out how!

The museum covers the history of Dublin from early times to the present day, and is resplendent with advertisements, photographs and artifacts over the last century, which includes Queen Victoria’s visit here in 1900, a scaled model of Nelson’s Pillar, an old typewriter, a copy of the speech John F. Kennedy delivered to the Houses

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of the Oireachtas on his historic 1963 visit, along with the lectern from which he gave it, a bust of Bram Stoker, and one, among my personal favourites, copies of the Dandy and other comics.

It brought back some delightful memories.

Overall the Little Museum of Dublin won’t disappoint. The staff is very friendly and helpful, many of them volunteers and they do an excellent job. It is open seven days a week from 10am to 5pm, and 8.30 on Thursday nights. Admission €10 adults, children €6.

Photos: Eoin Meegan.

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W n Eoin

Meegan e observed World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day this September 10th. St Patrick’s Mental Health Services marked the occasion by calling for a nationwide mental health awareness-raising and anti-stigma programme, combined with comprehensive counselling and treatment services for children and young people.

Some of the findings of the 2018 Annual Attitudes to Mental Health Survey, commissioned by St Patrick’s make for disturbing reading: • 28 percent of people would not tell anyone if they were experiencing suicidal thoughts.

• 42 percent would not tell their partner if their child was being treated for depression • 37 percent would not trust someone who had postnatal depression to babysit.

• 16 percent think seeking help for a mental health difficulty is a sign of weakness.

• 16 percent would be uncomfortable living next door to someone with bipolar disorder, • 40 percent thought the public should be better protected from people with mental health difficulties.

New research carried out independently by UCD and DCU showed that even at primary school children are dealing with men-

HEALTH / EDUCATION tal health-related problems, with anxiety being the third highest issue reported, and to compound the matter, teachers feel totally illequipped to respond to children in distress or deal with specific mental issues that may arise. Hence the need for a nationwide dedicated primary schools counselling service.

Suicide ideation is not easy to detect, as some will attempt to hide a difficulty they are going through, especially, as the data reported here reveals they feel having a mental illness somehow diminishes them. So everyone, teachers, caregivers and all of us need to be extra vigilant, especially now that the new school year has just started. Indicators may include mood swings, high elation followed by withdrawal, and an overall deviation from what might be considered normal behaviour.

Studies carried out by the HSE and National Office of Suicide Prevention show a disproportionately high male to female ratio of suicide in Ireland. In 2015, out of 425 deaths by suicide in Ireland, 335 were male and 90 female.

In 2016, out of 399 suicides, the number was 318 male and 81 female. While in 2017 it was 312 male and 80 female out of a total 392.

This gender imbalance is further borne out in studies on teen suicides, although here a slight vari-

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October / November 2018

Mental problems affecting the young

ation occurs. The data shows more teenage girls than boys attempt suicide, but with less fatalities. This seems to indicate a serious cry for help, a cry that we as a society need to start heeding.

Statistics from the World Health Organisation show that one in four young people suffer from a mental illness, and that 75% of all mental health difficulties begin before age 24. Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in the 14 to 24 year old age group in the whole of the EU. Suicide is the number one cause of death for men between 18 and 25 in Ireland. Therefore, early intervention is not only advisable, it is absolutely crucial.

Currently, there are two online services providing counselling to teens aged 18 and over. These are Turn2me, with over 20,000 people accessing their site on a monthly basis, and MyMind.ie which has a membership now of over 70,000.

Recently Senator Catherine

Noone (FG) has called for an expansion of these services to include under 18s, and for the rolling out of a national platform and online counselling service to be promoted in all post-primary schools. NewsFour contacted Senator Noone to ascertain how she envisioned this agency would work, but did not receive a reply.

The UNICEF Report on teen suicide “Building the Future – Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries” (June 2017) states that 18.3% of children here are living in relative income poverty (relative income poverty means where people lack the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in one’s society) while 17.9% of children under 15 are living within a food insecure family (where there is not money to buy food). According to this report, Ireland has the fourth highest rate of suicide in the EU.

Feel Good Week

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n Eoin

Meegan

ieta House are running a Feel Good Week from the 20th to the 27th of October to draw attention to mental health issues. Anyone can take part and it promises to be fun.

In a press release, they are calling on people to get together with family, friends or workmates to organise a FeelGood event. It can be anything at all – from yoga sessions, a book club get together or that great hike along the Wild Atlantic Way. It could even be that reunion lunch

with some old friends. Simply visit www.pieta.ie/feelgood.

Brian Higgins, CEO, Pieta House commented, “What you do is not important – it’s all about taking the time and reminding yourself how good you can feel, reaching out to others and enjoying time together. You’ll also be helping raise vital funds for those among us who struggle with feelings of hopelessness or despair.”

Many stars such as Dublin four-in-a-row winner Paul Flynn, rugby heroes Jack McGrath and

The report says that one in five children aged between 11 to 15 experience two or more psychological symptoms indicating suicidal tendency more than once a week; these can include feeling low, irritability, and lack of sleep.

This shows that poverty and income are crucial factors in the nationwide conversation we need to have on suicide and mental health, something it is hoped those planning the forthcoming budget will take cognisance of.

So, while not losing sight of that, we must also take note that the reasons for suicide are more nuanced; depression, bullying, alcohol or drugs, family dysfunction, and loneliness being factors along a spectrum, with physical or sexual abuse at the extreme end. I also believe that a prevailing sense of helplessness is a frequently overlooked factor.

Evidence has shown that if mental health problems are detected and treated early, the rate of suicide and attempted suicide decreases substantially. The national mental health awareness programme called for by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, as well as the extension of existing services to include under 18s which Senator Noone proposes, need to be implemented as a priority.

At an individual level we all need to be mindful of those around us, especially the very young and the aged, and in a non-intrusive but compassionate way look out for them.

Behind every one of the horrifying statistics enumerated here there exists a real person, a person who right now may be encountering problems they feel are insurmountable. We must not fail them.

Photo: WikiCommons.

Hannah Tyrrell, celebrity chef Derry Clarke, Game of Thrones actor Moe Dunford and wellknown radio DJ Nikki Hayes have already given their support to the FeelGood campaign.

It sounds like something everyone can get involved in and will help raise much needed funds for a really good cause. Pieta House have been to the fore in highlighting mental health issues, they provide free therapeutic service for people self-harming or in acute stages of suicidal ideation and distress and those bereaved by suicide, and organise the annual Darkness Into Light event.

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October / November 2018

COMMUNITY / LOCAL

A walk to the Pigeon House

W n Eoin

Meegan eekly walking groups are a community based, volunteer led, socially interactive activity that take place all over Dublin. They are also known as ‘Let’s Walk and Talk’. The initiative was started by the Lord Mayor of Dublin about ten years ago with the aim to help people stay active while also having a social element.

The Sandymount group meet every Thursday at 2 o’clock on Sandymount Green, and a few weeks ago I joined them to see what it was all about.

The selected leader on the day was Eddie Waters who told me they vary the walk from week to week so it never gets boring.

Some weeks they stay local, taking a pleasant stroll up the Dodder, but on other occasions they go further afield, sometimes out as far as Dun Laoghaire, or walk the Metals from Dun Laoghaire to Dalkey. Mind you, Eddie emphasised, for that they take the DART there and back!

Today, Eddie announced we were going to the Pigeon house.

We travelled along Sandymount Strand, which offers breathtaking views of the Bay and Dun Laoghaire pier, and then through Irishtown Nature Park. It fell to the leader to tell us something about the destination when we got there.

The Pigeon House got its name from a man called John Pidgeon (not the birds) who was a caretaker of a storehouse used by the builders of the Great South Wall.

Obviously of an entrepreneurial spirit, John began selling tea and cakes from his storehouse to

passengers alighting the packet ships which docked in that area, and were named thus because they brought letters and parcels from Europe and the UK. Basically he opened a cafe!

Indeed, so popular was it that people from the city would come out on a Sunday afternoon to ‘Pidgeon’s house’ (later the d in the name was dropped). In 1793, the storehouse was demolished and a hotel erected on the site to accommodate the travellers on the aforementioned packet ships. Kudos to Eddie for a knowledgeable piece on the area.

When we arrived at our destination the first thing which caught the attention was the absence of the familiar cannons (a relic from 1813 when the then government built defences in anticipation of a Napoleonic invasion) from outside the ESB power plant. Had they been stolen? Would it be a national crisis?

An investigation began immediately and it wasn’t long until these Poirots and Miss Marples uncovered the reason. The cannons have in fact been moved inside the ESB compound as they are in a state of disrepair.

However, as soon as restoration work is completed, we were assured, they will return to their former place. Well, we added a good day’s sleuthing on top of our walk.

On average, fifteen to twenty people do the Sandymount walk each week, mostly retired, although long-time walker Jim Walsh told me some American visitors like to join them when they’re here on holidays, “be-

Page 17 cause they love being regaled with stories of the local area,” he said.

Those who volunteer as leaders get a half-day training where they learn about things like first aid and what to do in a medical emergency. Also about local laws and crossing the street.

However, it is stressed everyone is responsible for their own safety.

After the walk they all go for a well deserved coffee, and just maybe a little cake! Apart from the obvious health benefits from walking, this added social dimension is what it’s all about as many people are living alone and don’t always get the chance to socialise as often as they’d like.

Walking groups take place all across Dublin, they are free and last about 90 minutes; no advance booking is needed.

If you wish to join a walking group in your area, you can contact them at 01 222 5084 or 01 222 2148 (between 9-5pm), or via email at letswalkandtalk @dublincity.ie Photo: Eoin Meegan.

All hats on deck at Horse Show Ladies’ Day

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n Peter McNamara

his summer from August 8th to 12th the Dublin Horse Show came to the RDS. It marked the 114th year of the show. The first one was held in 1864.

The show has changed a lot over the years. What began as a private, upper-class affair, now welcomes all and sundry.

Alongside the equestrian competitions and prize-giving ceremonies, there is a wealth of shop stalls, selling not just riding clothes and accessories, but also art, antiques, books, and gifts.

As striking as the horses on show appeared, themselves groomed and primed for competition, on Thursday afternoon all eyes were trained on a more impressive specimen: among the masses of people at the Horse Show, there wandered streams of extraordinarily enchanting ladies. These women wore glowing designer dresses, and smiled to all the regular folk from under fantastic hats.

There was excitement in the

air: this was the afternoon of the Dublin Horse Show Ladies’ Day competition.

On the second day of the Dublin Horse Show, lady attendees are invited to dress up in their most elegant finery for the bedazzlement of judges and onlookers alike. It’s certainly worth the effort: the lady judged most glamorous on the day goes home with a €10,000 voucher for Dundrum Town Centre. The day of the competition this year was bright and sunny.

As fascinating as the dresses and handbags on show may be, they don’t match up to that accessory which adorns the head.

Undoubtedly, there is a kind of surreal logic to the Horse Show Ladies’ Day hat. The rules of what makes a good hat are unclear, and the variety of those hats that try to capture its particular glamour are many.

Some hats really succeed. On show are many wonderful fusions of colour and shape, combinations of discs and spheres and arcs, delicate creations that sit tenderly on the head.

There are hats that give a sense of energy, excitement: we see striking fluorescent shades, thoughtful tactile embellishments, bird-like forms and bright floral clusters.

Others hats are not so easy on the eye. Many look a bizarre hodgepodge, a thing made in a rush, perhaps by some colour-blind, scattered-brained masochist. On the Thursday of this year’s Dublin Horse Show there were dozens of unfortu-

nate ladies who seemed to wander half-blind behind reams of pointless lace, ladies trapped beneath a hat that not only provides no cover from the rain, but also exposes them as someone terribly susceptible to sartorial sleight of hand.

Many will stop at nothing in pursuit of the €10,000 voucher.

As the Ladies’ Day competition begins at the main stage, dark rumours circulate in the crowd: I’m told in hurried, hushed tones

about a woman who happened upon a dead swan, and snatched feathers from it to perfect her own head-piece.

Deirdre Kane from Ballinabranna Co. Carlow was the eventual winner of the competition. She took the stage dressed in an elegant white-gold ensemble, and a restrained, but no less inspiring, golden-lattice topped Ladies’ Day hat. The lady looked glamourous: the logic of the hat is fulfilled.

Magnanimous in victory, Kane waved at the crowd, smiled at those she had vanquished, and took firm hold of her prize. Armed with a €10,000 voucher, for that shopping centre which must be the spiritual home of boutique finery in this country, who knows what heights of glamour the Lady Kane will ascend to in the weeks and months to come.

Overall winner of the Ladies’ Day competition, Deirdre Kane and a mob of enthusiastic snappers.

Photo: Peter McNamara.

FOOD

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October / November 2018

Food with rich rewards

The SuperNatural Food Market ctober sees the clocks turn back, the dark evenings in, the weather on the chillier side and the height of the harvest season heralding the hibernation of winter.

Orchid apples, pumpkins, squashes, kale and cabbages, varieties of Irish potatoes and fresh nuts along with the more wintery blackberries and other fruits of late autumn appear.

This is a great time for nutritionally stockpiling and a perfect opportunity to turn back to the warming dishes that support the immune system and sustain your adrenal energy once winter begins.

The high mark of the threshold between the two seasons of Autumn and Winter is the great Irish festival that is Oíche Samhain or Halloween, a significant date in the ancient Celtic and druidic calendar.

The word Samhain translates as ‘end of Summer’ and marked the end of harvest and a time when the veil that separates the living and dead is at its thinnest. The druids, who were held in the highest regard, were also acknowledged to have psychic powers, would light bonfires, dress in masquerade and would predict the fortune for the next coming year.

This tradition has survived in the form we now know as Halloween and the fortune telling in the barm brack (bairin breac) that foretells what you have coming depending on the talismanic items you find in your slice.

Also, here is our perfect excuse be zero waste about the pumpkin and turnip carving and make delicious soups and pies.

Traditionally, breac is a

sweet, yeasted bread speckled with fruit. This version is a gluten, sugar and dairy-free barm brack so that anyone with food allergies or other strictures can still enjoy it. It is a rich and tasty treat, despite missing all those usual ingredients that can be serious irritants rather than delights. It is moist and rich in tea-soaked fruit and best of all can be made ahead and stored.

It is the perfect accompaniment to tea. We do like to add some roughly chopped walnuts and almonds, though this is not traditional.

BARM BRACK Ingredients 275 ml tea (Just over 1⁄2 pint) Good and strong, anywhere between 3-6 tea bags soaked in liquid will intensify the flavor.

We recommend Clipper, organic and fairtrade teas. Earl grey is immense.

400 g dried fruits sultanas, raisins, dates, figs, apricots, apple rings. None of our dried fruits have sulphur or sugar in them and you can use any mix you like, though it’s perfectly fine to use just raisins or sultanas.

20 ml/g sweetener honey, maple, agave or the pear or apple fruit concentrate. I prefer the fruit concentrates with the superfood honey! The complimentary flavours are great with the dried fruit.

240 g self-raising flour Either use a traditional wheat, spelt or a pre-mixed gluten free blend.

Doves Farm is very good.

1⁄2 tsp bread soda/baking powder If using GF flour, please ensure this is a GF option. If you have not got any – leave it out. Disaster will not ensue.

1 egg, beaten 30 ml liquid fat (oil of choice,

or else melted butter). Deodorised sunflower oil, avocado, macadamia, peanut (or coconut if you don’t mind a slightly tropical flavour).

1 tsp ground spice, mixed spice, cinnamon, nutmeg (optional) Place the warm tea and liquid sweetener in a bowl. Mix together a little. Add in the dried fruit. Cover and set aside to soak overnight. This bit is very important. Don’t rush this step. The following day the liquid will all/mostly be absorbed. Add the fat and egg and the sieved flour, bread soda and mixed spice and mix well.

Drop your coin, ring, stick, rag and pea or bean into the batter and stir in before you transfer mixture to tin.

Transfer to a greased and lined 900g/2lb loaf tin or a 20cm/8” round cake tin and smooth the top. Bake in a preheated oven 170°C/325°F/Gas 3 for approx. 1 hour to 1½ hours or until risen and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire tray.

When cold, wrap in greaseproof paper and keep for two days before cutting, if you can.

If not – just tuck in, and worry about the crumbs afterwards.

Store in an airtight tin.

Colcannon is as traditional as it gets – and so delicious too. In addition, there is lots of iron, magnesium, vitamin K, potassium, calcium, vitamin C, cholorphyll, antioxidants and fibre in this dish! So a real winter comforter and booster all in one.

Don’t just make this at Samhain, though this is the only time of year you add coins into the dish to be found! (Tip: Let people know so it is flagged to anyone who may swallow them).

Use Irish potatoes and make it all year whenever you want it. Some cooks like to use cabbage rather than kale, others add a little bacon, giving it a bubble and squeak twist, others like to use spring onions rather than golden ones or red ones but all variations are good. Again, we suggest buying these ingredients direct from the farmer at the market and excluding agri chemicals, protecting your long-term gut and immune health, getting more taste and supporting benign practices and sustainable, local economy. For this recipe we use kale but you can substitute as discussed.

COLCANNON Ingredients: 1kg potatoes, peeled and diced 250g kale, (any variety Nero/Curly) finely and roughly shredded 1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced 2 tablespoons of butter 75ml of milk A good pinch of sea salt and black pepper Add the peeled, diced potato to pot of boiling water. Reduce heat and simmer until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork. Place a metal steamer into another pot, or use bamboo steamer (from any Asian stores) add a little water and bring to the boil. Place kale into the steamer and steam cook until it is tender.

Remove ready potatoes from the heat, drain, then return to pot with the butter and milk.

Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. You may want to add a little bit more or less milk and butter, it is up to you! Add in

the spring onion, steamed cabbage, sea salt and black pepper and stir through with a spoon until evenly combined. Hide the money in the dish and serve straight away with a little extra butter and sea salt.

PUMPKIN SOUP Pumpkin soup is a great way to use the scooped out flesh of the Jack O’Lantern. It doesn’t take long to make and again you can vary it using cream, chicken or vegetable stock or adding coconut milk and spices for a Thai flavour. It is full of beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A and is very low fat if you choose to add spices and no cream. We like to add some red lentils for protein, carrots and red peppers for extra sweetness!

Best of all it, freezes really well. Just put either butter or cooking oils in the pot, add the pumpkin flesh, chopped onion, garlic and soften 5-8 mins, then add approx 700ml stock or water, 100-150 gms red lentils, carrots, salt, pepper and spices of choice, bring to boil the turn down to simmer until all are soft, then add cream or other to taste, turn up heat briefly and then blend with hand blender and serve or cool completely and use kitchen blender then reheat or freeze.

The market will be running fun educational food workshops for children 6th Oct 11am Booking essential at https://www.thecoolfoodschool.ie/shop/tomato-workshop-for-children + Halloween pumpkin carving & food workshop TBA Sat Oct 27th www.supernatural.ie Photos: The SuperNatural Food Market and WikiCommons.

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October / November 2018

n David Prendeville he October Bank Holiday weekend, October 26th to the 29th, sees the return of the hugely popular Bram Stoker Festival. The event will continue to celebrate the supernatural, the thrill of Samhain and the legacy of one of Ireland’s most treasured authors.

There are plenty of highlights to look forward to at this year’s festival. Fans of film screenings accompanied by live music will look forward to the highly promising NYsferatu: Symphony of a Century. The film, directed by Andrea Mastrovito, is an animated interpretation of Murnau’s classic 1922 horror film Nosferatu.

Set in present day New York City, it turns the original film on its head, positioning the vampire character as that most contemporary of “outsiders” – an emigrant escaping war and hardships at home only to face economic exploitation, discrimination and xenophobia in their new country.

Said to be rich with symbolism and political commentary, the film aims to retell the story of the vampire through the lens of modernday fears about Islam, immigration, and refugees.

The film, which replicates the eerie, flickering shutter effect of early cinema, will be accompanied by a specially commissioned live score by internationally renowned composer Matthew Nolan (Ireland), with similarly celebrated international musicians Erik Friedlander (U.S.A), Sean MacErlaine (Ireland) and Jan Bang (Norway) at St. Anne’s Church, Dawson St, where Bram Stoker married Florence Balcombe in 1878.

There will also be a panel discussion relating to Mastrovito’s film, NYsferatu – Xenophobia and the Vampire Myth (Saturday 27th, Trinity College Dublin, 1pm, €5).

This will delve into the themes explored in the film. This discussion will be chaired by Trinity College Dublin’s Professor Matthew Causey with photographer and visual artist Dragana Jurisic, Deirdre Ni

EVENTS / CULTURAL

Supernatural thrills Bram Stoker Festival events

Cheallaigh of Trócaire, Micaela Martegani of More Art NYC and NYsferatu Director Andrea Mastrovito.

Further cinematic treats will be on show at Creatures Features.

This strand sees late night screenings of three creepy-crawly film classics in the stunning Victorian glasshouses of the Botanic gardens (October 26th, 27th, 28th). The films being screened are Arachnophobia (1990), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Little Shop of Horrors (1986).

Another highlight festival-goers can look forward to is the world premiere of The Night of the Shifting Bog, by the world renowned Loosysmokes. This acrobatic show is billed as being only for those adventurous enough to “delve deep into the woods at night” and those willing to enter: “a world where bodies score in the sky and crash to the ground.”

Using the trees as their stage, the acrobatic performers will whirl through scattering shadows, flickering projections, pulsing sounds and the audience themselves. This specially commissioned new circus/theatre show, taking place in St. Anne’s Park, Clontarf, is based on a passage from The Snake’s Pass, Stoker’s novel set in the bog-

lands of Ireland.

In Dublin Castle’s hauntingly beautiful Chapel Royal, audiences can catch The Horrors in the Black Church (Friday 26th – Monday 29th, The Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle, 7pm, €13) a seventy-minute combination of three short horror plays within one show, performed by a cast of three. It’s directed by Anna Shiels McNamee, and written by Peter Dunne, Lauren Shannon Jones and Stuart Roche.

A more family-friendly highlight will be the perennially popular Stokerland, which promises two days of Victorian fun and frolics in Saint Patrick’s Park. With one of Ireland’s most stunning cathedrals as its backdrop, this event will contain performances by world-renowned street performers, as well as various rides and attractions.

Other family fun includes Dracula’s Disco (Monday 29th, 2pm, free) in Meeting House Square and an animation workshop for children with the director of Vamperina, Mårten Jönmark, being held in Brown Bag Films Studio in Smithfield on Sunday 28 at 1pm and 2.30pm.

The literary side of the festival will see a variety of discussions,

talks and insights into Bram Stoker’s life, Victorian Dublin and Stoker’s literary influences.

At Life After Stoker: Dracula’s Continued Relevance (Saturday 27th Belvedere House, 4.30pm, €13) Donal Fallon, Historian-inResidence at Dublin City Council, presenter of RTÉ’s National Treasures and founder of the Come Here to Me blog hosts an illustrated discussion of the cultural and social legacy of Bram Stoker’s most enduring work. In conversation with Fallon will be novelist Frankie Gaffney, Bram Stoker biographer Paul Murray and academic Dara Downey.

At SLICE: The Gothic Graphic Novel Live (Saturday 27th, Belvedere House, 1pm, €13), expect a special live reading of comics and graphic novels with a Gothic horror theme by some of the most promising indie comic makers from Ireland. This storytelling event combines music, sound design, projected illustration and live performance and is described as a combination of theatre, cinema and animation.

Fans of Sky One’s TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches and the All Souls Trilogy will love Deborah Harkness: In Conversation with Patrick Freyne (Sunday

Page 19 28th, The Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle, 2pm, Tickets €11), a public interview and Q&A with the distinguished writer, scholar and novelist, Harkness will discuss her bestselling novel, ‘A Discovery of Witches’ her global phenomenon, All Souls Trilogy, and her latest, recently published novel Time’s Convert.

Fast becoming a much-loved Dublin tradition, thousands of people are once again expected to line the streets of Dublin 1 for the Macnas Parade ‘Out of the Wild Sky’ (Monday 29th, starting from Moore Street, 7pm, Free) an incredible spectacle of magic and macabre.

World-renowned pioneers of imagination and invention, Macnas transform the city streets as dusk falls, with a haunting and hair-raising procession of otherworldly creatures.

Over 70,000 people are expected to attend this year’s Bram Stoker Festival. With such an eclectic but unified programme on show, it promises to be another stellar year.

Commenting on it, festival codirector Maria Schweppe said, “We couldn’t be more excited about this year’s programme.

We’re working with artists and producing events that find inspiration in the life and works of Bram Stoker, his gothic legacy, Dublin’s spectacular Victorian architecture, the supernatural and Ireland’s Samhain traditions, while also celebrating contemporary and artistic interpretations of his most significant legacy, Dracula.”

The Bram Stoker Festival is brought to you by Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland. More information is available at www. bramstokerfestival.com

Above: Macnas parade at the Bram Stoker Festival.

Below: Scenes from Stokerland and The Night of the Shifting Bog. Photos Courtesy of Conway Communications/Bram Stoker Festival.

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PHOTO DIARY

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PHOTO DIARY

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Page 22

Preview of Metropolis Festival at the RDS

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n David Prendeville

his year sees the fourth edition of the hugely popular Metropolis festival in the RDS, having sold out last year. Running over the four days of the October Bank Holiday Weekend, Metropolis is a multi-stage, indoor, winter music festival and conference. It launched in 2015 in the RDS and was the first of its kind in Ireland.

The festival has created a whole new experience in the Irish festival scene. One of the festival’s objectives is to create a unique and abstract identity each year to continuously captivate its audience.

This year sees another stellar and eclectic line-up at the festival.

The headline act is Roisin Murphy, fresh from wowing the crowds at this year’s All Together Now festival. The London-Irish singer first drew attention as half of alternative dance duo Moloko in the 1990s before she embarked on a highly successful solo campaign of her own.

Over the course of four solo albums and numerous side projects, Murphy has amassed nominations for the Mercury Music Prize and Ireland’s choice music prize. She is an artist celebrated for her singular music, fashion and performance style.

Other performers to look forward to are Villagers, who headline and curate the Saturday night of the festival. Villagers are also fresh from a successful performance at All Together Now. This will mark their biggest indoor gig to date and their only indoor gig in Ireland in 2018. Lead singer Conor O’ Brien’s fourth solo album, The Art of Pretending to Swim, was released on September 21st.

Other acts people can look forward to at the festival include: Mac DeMarco, The Grand Brothers, Gwenho, Blood Orange, Young Fathers, David O’ Doherty, Booka Shade and The Black Madonna.

Tickets are currently on sale for the festival via Ticketmaster www. ticketmaster.ie / for more info see www.metropolisfestival.ie Picture of Roisin Murphy courtesy of WikiCommons.

BOOKS AND MUSIC

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October / November 2018

Troy, the storyteller’s Phoenix

T

n Kathrin Kobus he Phoenix is the bird of mythology, that burns itself up only to rise anew.

A symbol that has sparked many artistic references throughout the ages while the ancient story and place of Troy has a hold on the imagination like no other.

Just two examples are Sinead O’Connor’s 30 year-old song about Troy, a phoenix from the flame, with the lines ‘There is no other Troy for me to burn.’

(Echoing Yeats’s poem about Maud Gonne). There is also the Seamus Heaney verse adaptation The Cure at Troy based on Philoctetes by Sophocles.

The topic of the Trojan War demands fascination three thousand years later and far away from the Eastern coast of the Med where Achilles, Odysseus and company were battling to finally win, a ten years war against the Trojans.

Fall of The Phoenix is the title of Daniel Kelly’s first book.

It didn’t take him a decade, but near enough, around eight years of writing, rewriting, putting sketches and outlines away and even starting all over again (like the phoenix from the ashes) before he had a draft he felt comfortable to send off to publishers.

“I wanted the novel to get out into the public this year, because it’s twenty years since the actual site of Troy was declared a UNESCO heritage site,” he told NewsFour when we met a few days after his book went on sale.

The heroic-fantasy, fiction novel takes the reader back to the place of Troy, with Homer making a fleeting cameo appearance towards the end. “I am not retelling the Iliad. But rather looking at the ordinary soldiers, or people who must have lived through the siege, whether or not it was ten years long.”

Kelly begins his story where the Iliad nears its end, with the duel of Achilles against Hector. It then takes a huge departure from the traditional telling, onto a different path which still leads us back to the familiar plot point of the Trojan horse and the eventual destruction of the city.

He describes in detail, armour, fighting scenes, resulting injuries and wounds plus battle techniques which are a mix of late Bronze age and Spartan

legends. It’s a bromance action story of blood, sweat and tears.

The first half focuses on young Diomedes, a 12-year old Trojan boy, who ends up as servant to Achilles. Through his eyes the reader gets introduced to the Bronze Age warrior life from dusk to dawn.

Kelly’s explanation for the absence of woman in his novel is: “I believe most children of the time, boys anyway, weren’t raised by their mothers as it would make them soft, so, especially, rich princes were sent away to be trained by the best.

Given they are both on the Aegean, there’s a good chance the two princes trained together and were quite possibly close friends, both having the charisma to lead armies.”

The early duel scene between Achilles and Hector is memorable because of the atmosphere he manages to create as if describing a filmed scene. The Trojan Horse plays its due part accompanied by the proverb ‘Beware the Greeks bringing gifts.’

Diomedes, the boy, regrettably seems to disappear from the story. Kelly’s solution at the end who betrayed whom, who is alive, who gets killed and who barely survives and / or who assumes new identities resolves much of the plot that is only hinted at in events leading up to this throughout the novel.

Ancient myth with a good dose of ex machina near the finale when Aeneas, another Trojan prince, as the accepted mythology goes, sails away from a burning Troy towards the Western Mediterranean with two heroes who will become the founders of Rome. Troy lies in ashes only for another phoenix to rise.

The Fall of the Phoenix €9.99; author Daniel Kelly; published

by Olympia Publishers available from all good bookstores, www.booksonthegreen.com and online.

Photograph of book cover Courtesy of British Library.

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BOOKS / MUSIC

October / November 2018

The NewsFour Crossword Compiled by Gemma Byrne

Name:…………………………… Telephone:…………………

Address:…………………………………………………………

I

n Alexander Kearney n late August, U2’s desire to build a dedicated 2,864 sq metre visitor centre / exhibition space to themselves on Nos. 15-18 Hanover Quay received a polite but firm push back from Dublin City Council. The proposed new attraction would replace their existing two-storey recording studio with a dark, brooding four storey block by Dublin practice, ODAA. In a detailed report, the Planner acknowledged local and business concerns about the character and bulk of the proposed 14.4m high building, and requested substantial changes that may now put the scheme’s viability in doubt.

In its decision, the Planning Authority stated that it, “has serious concerns regarding the height of the proposed building”, particu-

larly its impact on Six Hanover Quay (6HQ), a 120-apartment development, recently acquired by Carysfort Capital for a reported €101m. Consultants for Carysfort, had strongly objected to the “monolithic” centre.

The Board of (residential) management company CLG also lodged an objection on behalf of its 63 residents at 5-7 Hanover Quay, arguing that the new centre, “will create significant amenity issues... including overshadowing of apartments.” In total, the application met with ten objections.

The Planner asked the applicant, “to reconsider the second floor façade fenestration treatment” and, “to reassess and explore options regarding a reduction in height to the proposed development.” No target height was set, but the narrowness of the site already makes accommodating the various themed exhibit areas, a café, auditorium, reconstructed original studio, and merchandise store, a challenging task.

The applicant was requested to

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ACROSS: 1) Journalist and cystic fibrosis campaigner (4, 7) 5) Cleaning tool (3) 7) Usually (10) 9) Mexican food perfect on Tuesdays? (4) 11) Ruthless, cruel (5) 12) Container designed to give out contents

in prescribed amounts (9) 13) Communist politician and theorist (5) 14) These grains are often shifting? (5) 15) This type of bread is soon forgotten (5) 16) Coastal cocktail? (3, 6) 18) Mighty ones grow from little acorns (4) 20) Mr Dawson, English funny man (3) 22) Item for sale at an auction (3) 23) Creativity (11) 25) Severe skin damage from fire (5, 6, 4) DOWN: 1) Eye specialist (15) 2) This Bowie film is a bit of a maze (9) 3) Irritability (10) 4) Extinct species of human (11) 5) Food delivered to the door (5, 2, 6) 6) Dithering (15) 8) Radio audience (9) 10) Persistence in the face of difficulty (12) 17) Strip of leather worn round the waist (4) 19) Military colour (5) 21) Outer layer of citrus fruits (4) 24) This can be high, low or expert? (3)

provide further details on projected visitor numbers. Should those numbers prove too high, the venture’s anticipated success might turn out to be its downfall.

The Council would be mindful of the surrounding narrow streets heaving with an influx of fans and rock pilgrims. Yet it is the very potential of a local tourist bonanza that has drawn submissions in support from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Fáilte Ireland, and the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF).

One of the other observations in support is from the developer Harry Crosbie. His own application to transform a neighbouring protected structure at No. 9 Hanover Quay into a boutique hotel has also raised concerns. The Council noted a “lack of synergy” between it and the U2 proposal, and urged both applicants to, “submit contiguous elevation drawings and photomontages.”

An apparent lack of coordination between the two seems all the more curious when one considers the longtime association of Crosbie and U2.

Together they restored the Clarence Hotel in Temple Bar, and U2 gave the first concert at Crosbie’s Point theatre in 1988. Crosbie had, in fact, previously owned the U2 building.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) compulsorily purchased it from the band in 2002, and U2 eventually bought it back from the DDDA in 2014 for around €450,000. The following year, the Irish Independent reported Crosbie to have been upset that this sale took place without his knowledge.

Both applicants have six months from the 23rd August to submit their

SOLUTIONS OR THE AUG/SEPT 2018 CROSSWORD Across: (1) Tribulations; (6) Racehorse; (9) Corgi; (10) Okra; (11) Aperitif; (13) Shellfish; (14) Inn; (15) As; (16) Spatulas; (19) Blue; (21) Elixir; (22) Rope; (23) GHD; (24) Luncheon; (26) Canter; (29) Backfire; (30) Aplomb.

Down: (1) Tortoiseshell; (2) Incarceration; (3) Niceties; (4) Hairpinbend; (5) Trafficlight; (7) Replica; (8) Earth; (12) Flourish; (15) Alopecia; (17) Tax; (18) Strange; (25) USA; (27) Nil; (28) Rob. Prize of €25 Book token. Post entries to NewsFour, 13A Fitzwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4 by 21st Nov 2018.

The winner of our Aug/Sept crossword is Susan Earls, Townsend Street, Dublin 2.

revised plans. As Grand Canal Dock falls within a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), decisions cannot be appealed to An Bord Pleanála. The Planner’s Reports suggests, “a walkway, over the water, which connects... the front of both No. 9 and Nos. 1518 would be favoured.” It must have taken considerable restraint not to add that, “sometimes you can’t make it on your own.”

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DCC Notes

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL

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October / November 2018

for SEAC meeting, September 2018

A

Compiled by Alexander Kearney

fter its annual break in August, the South East Area Committee (SEAC) resumed its monthly meetings on the 10th September 2018, with Rose Kenny attending as South East Area Manager. Ruairí McGinley (Independent) assumed the role of Chairman, after SEAC elected him to the position in July. He takes over from Cllr Paddy McCartan (Fine Gael).

Fitzwilliam Cycle Route: Proceedings began with a brief presentation on the Fitzwilliam Cycle Route by Joe Seymour, Director at Aecom consultants, and Christopher Manzira, Senior City Council Engineer. This followed a more detailed route presentation to SEAC in July.

Non-statutory consultation will conclude on the 12th October (contact: fitzwilliamimproveme nts@dublincity.ie).

It is envisaged that detailed design work will begin during October / November; procurement over the Christmas period; with construction to follow in Spring next year.

Several councillors raised safety and car parking concerns on behalf of local residents.

Both Cllr Frank Kennedy (Fianna Fáil) and Cllr Mary Freehill (Labour) referred to the divisive nature of previous cycling proposals before the committee.

The Fitzwilliam Cycle Route will next be on the agenda at the November SEAC meeting.

Report on Sandymount Green Proposal: Helen Smirnova, Senior Executive City Council Engineer, presented a long-awaited report on proposed pedestrian and cycling enhancements to Sandymount Green. These would involve a signalised pedestrian crossing on the West side of the Green, and two raised zebra crossings on its North East and South East sides.

Nine car parking spaces would be lost, but Ms Smirnova observed that, “We anticipate that this will be offset by increasing numbers of users who choose to walk or cycle through the Green.” Ms Smirnova told

councillors that if they consulted their constituents over the next four to eight weeks, a tender could go out with a view to implementation next Summer (Autumn at the latest). The total cost was estimated at around €200,000. Cllr McCartan said, “It was the first time I’ve seen a project of this scale receive unanimous approval from the traffic advisory group.”

The following items were raised under questions and motions to the Council.

BusConnects: Cllr McCartan successfully advanced a motion that SEAC express its concern to the National Transport Authority (NTA) about the possible rerouting of the No. 1 bus, and the by-passing of Sandymount village. Cllr Freehill also passed a motion calling on the government to establish a department within local authorities to liaise with the NTA and communities on local journey patterns, share research materials, and to examine proposal impacts. The Chair read out an emergency motion from Cllr Claire O’Connor (Fianna Fáil) that SEAC write to the NTA, asking them to extend the deadline of the public consultation period for BusConnects.

Rats: Cllr Mannix Flynn (Independent) asked the Area Manager to, “issue a full report regarding the recent rat infestation in certain flat complexes within the South East Area.” The Council explained that, “This summer, Dublin, like most major cities in Europe, has suffered a rodent infestation. The long spell of very warm weather apparently has increased their breeding…

The problem is not particular to the South East Area but is a citywide issue and whilst we will never eradicate it completely, the city council and the Health Services Executive (HSE) work hard to alleviate it.”

Conservation: Cllr Dermot Lacey (Labour) placed a motion that SEAC request a report from the Area

Manager on the conservation status of the old tramway sheds, yard and houses at Gilford Road, Gilford Cottages, Sandymount. He was informed that they were zoned Objective ‘Z2’ and are afforded conservation / protection under Chapter 11, Section 11.1.5.4, Architectural Conservation Areas and Conservation Areas of the 20162022 Development Plan. They are not, however, on the Record of Protected Structures (RPS).

The Z2 Zoning Objective is considered adequate conservation protection for the area at present, pending a future assessment.

Parking: Both Cllrs Claire Byrne (Green) and Kennedy asked the Area Manager to outline the bye-laws governing the longstay parking of camper vans in public car parks. Cllr Kennedy referred to an email from a constituent, who claimed to have counted over 80-100 camper vans in the public car park opposite Strasburg Terrace, Irishtown, during a two-month period. The email stated that, “whilst most of the campers are mature and do act responsibility, there have been a number of public order issues with younger campers, mainly at night.”

The Council responded that, “There are no parking controls at Strasburg Terrace and no action that can be taken with regard to parking enforcement regulations. As “temporary dwellings” they may, in certain circumstances, be subject to enforcement and removal under

Section 69 of the Roads Act if placed or retained on a national road.”

Cycling: Issues affecting cyclists and pedestrians have become increasingly prominent in councillors’ questions.

Cllr Byrne called on the Area Manager to, “once again seek a solution to the challenges to both cyclists and pedestrians at the junction of the Grand Canal Cycle route and Leeson Street Bridge.” She was informed that, “The Environment and Transportation Department is currently developing proposals to improve connectivity for cyclists between Eustace Bridge / Adelaide Road waiting area and the Leeson Street / Fitzwilliam Street junction.”

Both Cllrs McCartan and Byrne asked questions in relation to the cobblestones on Clanwilliam Terrace and cyclists. An email from one of Cllr McCartan’s constituents claimed, “The road is used daily by a large number of cyclists but is unfit for purpose as it is paved with cobblestones…” The Council responded that, “Cobbled streets are considered to be material assets of significant architectural and conservation interests. Consideration will be given to the development of alternative surfaces for cyclists along Grand Canal Quay.”

Cllr Chris Andrews (Fianna Fáil) asked the Area Manager to examine the crossing at the junction of Grand Canal Street Upper and Grand Canal Street Lower and Clanwilliam Place,

with respect to cyclists, and the safe crossing of parents and children to school on Haddington road. He was told the Area Engineer would, “investigate and monitor” and, “see if there are ways of improving the shared space between the crossings and the cycle paths.”

Cllr Kennedy highlighted a question he had first asked at the November 2017 SEAC meeting regarding, “the wholly inadequate provision of cycling tracks and cycling paths in the South Inner City Area from Sandymount to the City Centre”, which, “has now reached crisis point.” Returning to the subject for a third time at SEAC, he asked that he now receive, “a comprehensive response to my questions.” The answer came that, “Consideration will be given to inclusion of the East Coast Trail in the 2019 to 2021 Capital Programme subject to the availability of staff. The National Transport Authority is committed to funding the delivery of the scheme.”

G’ing up Eglinton Road: Cllr McCartan asked the Area Manager to notify Dublin Bus about the incorrect spelling of Eglinton Road on routes serving the Donnybrook area, including Nos. 39a, 46a, and 145. He observed that the public intercom system also mispronounced Eglinton as ‘Eglington’ road. He was told that Dublin Bus were duly notified on the 13th August 2018.

Above: The Sandymount Green proposal.

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October / November 2018

n Alexander Kearney n early September news rippled through the various property pages that a trust linked to billionaire Dermot Desmond had finally secured planning permission to demolish a large Edwardian house (with later additions) at No. 24, Shrewsbury Road.

The story attracted interest not simply because of the celebrity of the client, nor the seeming absurdity of demolishing a house its new owner had just paid €14.25 million for some eighteen months earlier, but because the property had once claimed the highest price for any private residence in the state: €58 million in July 2005.

The time and price call us back to the heady days of the Celtic Tiger. Certain locations, and Shrewsbury road is one of them, really do provide a ready index for the private excesses of that period, and ours. These are the places where the fruits of extreme wealth bloom and multiply, even when their owners are seldom at home.

In the business pages and the gossip columns, we can trace the rising fortunes and calamitous falls of past and current owners. Yet it is in the property pages and, perhaps more so, in the planning applications that even the very rich are obliged to submit, that we can see the physical character of ambition.

And here Dermot Desmond has succeeded where others have failed before.

It has never been publicly confirmed who paid that stupefying €58 million for ‘Walford’, though it was widely reported that Gayle Killilea, who had married property developer Seán Dunne in 2004, claimed its ownership was transferred to her in 2005.

The property was subsequently transferred to a Cypriot company, Yesreb Holdings. The perceived value of the site was its location and size: an enormous 0.72 hectares (1.77 acres): a honeypot for development potential. After all, home, sweet home, it’s only a saying.

Yet on repeated occasions the planning authorities, including An Bord Pleanála, rejected applications to demolish or substantially modify the main house, and to add varying numbers of luxury houses (two applications sought an additional seven homes) to the sprawling back garden.

Neighbours and planners clearly perceived the threat to Shrewsbury’s Road’s hushed and leafy character.

Desmond’s successful proposal had the signal advantage that he actually wanted to build a single family home, admittedly one that was a 17,168 sq ft mansion. To confirm that there really was a somebody behind the generic company name, ‘Celtic Trustees Ltd.’, the application stated, “in the interests of transparency, we can confirm that the dwelling is intended for use as the private dwelling of Mr Dermot Desmond.” The curtain of privacy was parted to secure a higher goal.

In the meantime, Mr Desmond’s assembled team had been busy at work to

PROPERTY

Dermot Desmond’s Shrewsbury Dream Palace

secure an objective crucial to their plans: the demolition of the existing house. On its face this was not an easy task, since the Council had blocked all previous attempts to demolish it, following the advice of their Conservation Department.

Mr Desmond’s appointed conservation architect, James Slattery, set about his task with grim efficiency, namely to dismantle the Council’s case for preserving the original 1902 house. (Here the writer should declare an interest, I have, in the recent past, appealed a planning application on which Mr Slattery served as consultant).

Slattery’s point-by-point rebuttal of the Conservation Department’s previous defence of ‘Walford’ – its “architectural quality” and “its considerable contribution to the rich and varied streetscape of Shrewsbury Rd. and its environs” – seem to have been effective. The fact that the house had been left unoccupied for many years also weighed in their deliberations.

As the Planner’s Report observed, “that given the dereliction of the site, the poor quality of the existing building in its architectural features, etc. and given the proposal for a single property which respects the existing character of the road, the demolition of the current property in this specific instance is considered to be acceptable.” When I passed by the house several weeks ago, five of its front windows had been left open, as if it had already given up the ghost.

Mr Desmond’s vision to replace the ramshackle and unloved ‘Walford’ derives

from the late 19th / early 20th century symmetrical mansions of Britain’s last great classical architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens. It was a manner rarely practised in Ireland at that time, and rather at odds with the relaxed, vaguely neo-tudor houses that still characterise the street.

Lutyens practiced variations in that manner too, masterfully so, but given a clean sweep, Irish billionaires and their fortunes will tend to plumb for the symmetrical kind. If the generalisation seems too broad, consider that just down the road, a company acting on behalf of Denis O’Brien applied in 2007 to replace the already sprawling ‘Belmont’ house with another exercise in Lutyens’ classicism, this time exceeding 20,000 sq ft. That scheme was ultimately rejected, but the continued attraction towards this style invites consideration.

Enormous wealth has its own gravitational effect, especially when it is hardearned rather than inherited. It draws its owners to certain ‘desirable’ locations, appears to dictate a borrowed dream of order, domination, and control, and then bends everyone in its field towards fulfilling its whim.

The sheer force of money is most discernible on those architects charged with giving the dream formal expression. In the cases of ‘Walford’ and ‘Belmont’, both sets of architects, have elsewhere been overwhelmingly modernist in sensibility. Yet here they must play classical with varying degrees of leaden competence and failure.

Page 27 And the megalomania of the deep pockets is, of course, contagious. In describing their plans for ‘Walford’, the architects Lawrence and Long name their sources, starting with Lutyens and rising to a startling invocation of Blenheim Palace by Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor – the only nonroyal residence in England to be named a ‘palace’. A sense of proportion is not convincingly regained by their admission that, “the scale of Blenheim is enormous’.

Nor can it be found in the prospect of the new ‘Walford’’s proposed elaborate formal garden, or its cavernous underground pool, games room, gym, cellar, security room, servants’ quarters off a sunken courtyard, and double-height entrance hall with minstrels’ gallery, preceded by a grand porch and entrance lobby.

From bell push to faucet, all comforts will be taken care of, but the ultimate luxury is surely control. And the floor plans express exactly that. Each room takes its place in a thoroughly centralised plan, something as far from the spirit of the original Shrewsbury houses as it’s possible to imagine.

While Desmond’s totalising scheme evidently succeeded with the planners where O’Brien’s had failed, each pursued a second-hand vision for his palatial pad. The risk is, that as more owners seek to transform their already ample houses with ever more outlandish mock-Edwardian extensions, or to demolish them altogether, Shrewsbury Road will increasingly resemble a victim of advanced cosmetic surgery: plumped, ageless, implausible.

Desmond’s mansion won’t even be the biggest on the road. That accolade currently goes to No.2, Shrewsbury Road, which has been expanded to over 20,000 sq ft, the grand prize that eluded O’Brien.

The architects were once again Lawrence and Long, for whom this extension work might have served as a calling card to Desmond. Only now, instead of adding to a large old house, they must fabricate an entirely new-old house from scratch.

Perhaps not quite the prize they had been looking for, but one they must have felt unable to refuse. To date, the plans for Desmond’s palace have not appeared on the architects’ website.

As for its wealthiest and destined-to-be occasional residents, they might mull over the precipitous falls of some previous owners. Last April, the bankrupt property tycoon, Seán Dunne, told the High Court he, “didn’t need furniture to live in a house.” and, “If I lived in Windsor Castle does that mean I have access to the queen’s money?” Mr Dunne was pleading the kind of poverty that can only befall the very rich – consigned to large rooms with missing furnishings. As the song would have it, ‘in every dream home, a heartache’.

Pictured: A satellite image of the the existing ‘Walford’ house on its vast 1.77 acre Shrewsbury Road site.

From the Dublin City planning application.

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Pope Francis and Stand for Truth

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Peter McNamara t the time of writing, it has been nearly a month since Pope Francis’s much-touted visit to Ireland. To say this visit was a contentious one is an understatement. Some were inspired by the coming of the Pontiff, some were angered.

Coming at a cost of roughly €32 million, at a time when this country is mired in a deepening housing crisis, a visit that seemed imperative to some remained incomprehensible to others.

His trip marked the second papal visit in the history of this country. The visit of John Paul II in 1979 was a triumph for the church. The country appeared utterly united in their reverence and faith; it’s somewhat staggering to think that nearly 1 million people attended John Paul II’s mass in Phoenix Park.

In the run-up to Pope Francis’s visit, expectations were not so high. To the organisers of his final mass, 500,000 attendees seemed the likely figure. Although there are some mitigating factors around it, the low-turnout was a shock for them. n

After two ground-breaking human rights referendums in the last few years, the muted response to the Pope’s visit seems to confirm that Ireland is much changed since 1979.

That said, the Pope’s visit can be viewed as a success. There were no disruptions to protocol or ceremony. There was no violence, no clashes, and no problems reported at the major events in Croke Park or the Phoenix Park.

Pope Francis arrived on time and worked buoyantly through his busy itinerary. His smile never seemed to leave him as he went from the Aras, to his popemobile journey around Dublin City, to the Capuchin Day Centre and to Croke Park and then down to Knock and back across for the final mass.

Although many were critical of the national broadcaster’s devoted coverage of each event in the visit, there was room given to other voices in the run-up: most notably former President Mary McAleese’s incisive documentary, the Modern Family. This documentary, which deals with the

NATIONAL EVENTS

kinds of sexual and socio-economic family units overlooked or unrecognised by the church, was given a prime-time evening slot on RTE One a few days before the pontiff’s arrival.

The ongoing issue of abuse As compassionate and forward thinking as Pope Francis can be, the legacy of issues surrounding his office and the institution he supposedly controls loomed large over preparations. In print and broadcast media there was much speculation about whether the Pope would discuss or even acknowledge the issue of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland and the grave and murderous harm done to women and children in Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby homes.

Although the organisers of the World Meeting of Families remained silent on the subject before and during the visit, in the end, Pope Francis decided to make time in his busy schedule to meet for an hour and a half with eight survivors of clerical, religious and institutional abuse.

The meeting delayed his appearance at the Croke Park Festival of Families event. After all the silence around this issue, it came as a surprise when Paul Redmond of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors said that in their meeting the Pope condemned corruption and cover up within the church

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October / November 2018

as “caca”.

“Literally filth as one sees in a toilet his interpreter clarified,” Redmond said in his statement, “but [the interpreter said] ‘sh*t’ or ‘excrement’ would be a more accurate translation”. Redmond also said the Pope had apologised for what had happened in the Church-run homes in the course of the meeting.

Clodagh Malone, who is also a member of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors, met the Pope alongside Redmond. She asked the Pope, according to a statement from the group, “to clearly and publicly state that the natural mothers who lost their babies to adoption had done nothing wrong and call for reconciliation and reunion for these families broken by the Catholic Church both in Ireland and around the world”. In turn, the pope agreed to include the message in his final Mass.

To make time for these survivors, and to respond to their trauma with compassion and force is a testament to the tenderness of Pope Francis. However, even with these admissions and apologies, there were many calling for more concrete action, and a clearer path to prosecutions, justice and reparations.

Colm O’Gorman, CEO of Amnesty International Ireland, and himself a survivor of clerical sex abuse, floated the idea of organising a protest rally to coin-

cide with the Pope’s final mass.

Social media lit up at the suggestion and a plan took shape.

A rally became a concert; artists began to sign up; and soon the international music star Hozier pledged to perform.

Along with the vigil at the mass baby grave at Tuam, Co. Galway, the ‘Stand for Truth’ rally at the Garden of Remembrance became a focal point for the frustration and pain around the Papal visit, and the history of abuses committed by the church.

The ‘Stand for Truth’ rally The day of the rally (and of the Pope’s final mass) started very wet and windy. This inclement weather, which could be hazardous to the old and infirm, was one of the reasons given for the low turnout in Phoenix Park.

Such conditions didn’t deter a crowd of nearly four thousand from gathering at the Garden of Remembrance. Those at the protest rally were a mix of young and old, with many families and small children present. People held placards and banners aloft.

An impressive stage with blue ‘Stand for Truth’ banners, with lights, and a concert-quality sound system was erected at the corner of Parnell Square. Shortly before festivities began the rain eased, leaving a muted sky above. At 3pm Colm O’Gorman took the stage to a hero’s welcome from a crowd that seemed

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October / November 2018

glad of a means to voice their anger.

From the off, the atmosphere was one of empowerment and solidarity. After an impassioned speech from O’Gorman, the poet Mary Coughlan read a poem that was a clarion call to action. The singer Brian Kennedy next took the stage. He gave a strong performance of Imagine by John Lennon, even adding his own verse written for the day, about imagining a world without abusers. Throughout each performance a sign-language interpreter worked diligently at the right of the stage to communicate words, lyrics, and poetry.

Thanks Brother, a new musical duo from Dublin, were next up. They performed their single ‘We Are Different’ and a chatting crowd were quickly captivated by the powerful voice of lead singer Roisín O’Reilly. The song, about embracing difference and healing pain, was soaring and melodic, and very appropriate. As its final notes rang out and the applause died down, O’Reilly asked “if it’s okay with you I’d like to invite my mam onstage.”

That ‘mam’ happens to be Mary Black. Mother and daughter performed Grace, a song about 1916 signatory Joseph Plunkett and his wife Grace. The two sang in tender harmony, in acappella, and the crowd were silent with appreciation.

Villagers also gave their own tuneful performance with the appropriate song Courage. And afterwards writer Marian Keyes took the mike. She spoke about the Ireland she knew growing up, how it was “a great snarl of

contradictions, kept together by fear.” In her view, clerical abuse of all kinds was enabled by an apathetic, cowed populace. “We were so grateful to be spared,” she said, “that we said nothing.

And,” Keyes added, “that cowardice disgraced us.”

The writer spoke about the contagion of fear, but also of the contagion of courage, referencing in particular the last two referendums in Ireland. To the victims of abuse she said: we see you.

“There is a new, mature, fearfree Ireland coming into being,” Keyes claimed. “This country is finally coming of age.”

At last, after much anticipation, Hozier took to the stage. At a mere 28 years old, the singer from Bray has stormed the US and UK charts, and performed and collaborated with some of the biggest names in music today and of yesteryear. He began his set with a stripped-back and more delicate version of his signature song Take Me to Church.

This unflinching takedown of religious hypocrisy was greeted with rousing applause. The singer then introduced a ‘song of struggle’, and went on to perform the US Civil Rights anthem We Shall Overcome. The crowd clapped along unprompted, and there was a sense the event was reaching its peak. Joined by the other performers of the day, Hozier gave a masterful vocal performance.

As the crowd cheered, Colm O’Gorman returned to the stage, to call upon those present to undertake a silent march from the rally on Parnell Square to the old Magdalene Laundry on Sean McDermott Street. This laundry, op-

NATIONAL EVENTS erational until 1996, is a blunt reminder of the wrongs so recently, and possibly still committed by the church in this country.

A respectful silence fell. The crowd turned from the stage and made its way down Cavendish Street towards the Gate Theatre.

Above the soft shuffle of feet you could hear the ring of the new cross-city Luas, the cry of a child, and the call of a sea gull. As the crowd continued onto O’Connell Street their silence was imparted onto passersby. But for the sound a few car engines, the busy street seemed more subdued. People watched the silent crowd as it turned onto Cathal Brugha Street.

There were even a few bemused tourists taking photographs.

The silent marchers reached the laundry on Sean McDermott Street and after a few moments staid applause broke out.

Most of those at the concert appeared to have taken part in the march; the crowd trailed as far back as the junction with Gardiner Street. Outside the laundry, Colm O’Gorman spoke about Pope John Paul II’s visit, and his famous words: young people of Ireland, I love you.

“But he did not love them,” claimed O’Gorman. “We are learning to love our people properly in this country, and no longer are we going to let anyone else tell us how.”

His speech was a resonant end to a powerful afternoon.

Righting the Wrongs How to handle the legacy of abuse is an ongoing problem.

Although no concrete plans have been laid, the fact that Pope Fran-

Page 29

cis is discussing it and engaging with abuse survivors does represent progress. This September he summoned over 100 bishops from around the world to Rome next February for a meeting focused on protecting minors. The meeting marks the first time that presidents of bishops’ conferences worldwide have been summoned to discuss a specific topic.

The meeting comes in the wake of a spate of new abuse cases. In Germany, a new report has revealed that at least 3,677 cases of clerical sexual abuse took place over seven decades, and may be taking place still.

Another report has been released on an alleged cover-up of clerical abuse in Philadelphia, and of abuse taking place in Chile and the Philippines. In mid-September, US cardinals and bishops met the Pope to discuss allegations that he rehabilitated a top American cardinal sanctioned by Pope Benedict XVI for having molested and harassed adult seminarians. This accusation has let to an outcry in the church, with many calling for Pope Francis’s resignation.

The extent of the Pope’s culpability in this, and in all abuse cases, is not yet known. Hopefully, through meticulous investigation, the truth will come out and justice will be done. In the meantime, there is much to credit Pope Francis in his deeds as pontiff thus far. His 2015 encyclical on climate change, Laudato si’, was insightful, practical, and helpful in raising the profile of this urgent global issue. Likewise his softened stance on LGBTQI people, though far from the liberal tolerance desired by many, shows more compassion than anything offered by his predecessors.

Unlike John Paul II, or his enforcer-turned-pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis seems to em-

body the open, humanising spirit of Vatican II. He is more forgiving. He seems to step from doctrine towards simple love.

For this reason, since being elected Pope in 2013, he has been under attack from conservative elements in the church. It would not be surprising to see these conservatives using the abuse scandals, which Pope Francis seems to be taking steps to rectify, as a means to blacken the reputation of the Pope, and oust this more progressive pontiff.

Leaving aside the institution he represents, and the doctrinal beliefs he holds, it’s hard to deny that a natural goodness seems to radiate from the man. His dislike of ceremony and his eagerness to meet with ordinary people, faithful or not, is a welcome change from the loftiness of pontiffs past.

If the church is to have any hope of learning from its past, of healing those it has wronged, and of inspiring faith in future generations, it will need his kind of ordinary compassion. Hopefully he will be around for some time to come. For one thing, throughout his whistle stop tour of this country, the Jesuit from Buenos Aires never seemed to tire and never failed to smile.

Clockwise from bottom left, page 28: International music sensation Hozier was the top of the bill at the protest concert (courtesy of Wikicommons).

A smiling Pope Francis greets the crowds at Croke Park (courtesy of The World Meeting of Families).

The underwhelming turnout at the final mass in Phoenix Park (courtesy of The World Meeting of Families).

Crowds gather by the Garden of Remembrance for the Stand for Truth rally (courtesy of creative commons / William Murphy).

Page 30

ARCHITECTURE / PLANNING

www.newsfour.ie

October / November 2018

UCD GOES HOLL-THE-WAY: W n Alexander Kearney hen the American architect, Steven Holl was announced the overall winner of UCD’s Future Campus Master Plan competition early last August, it’s fair to say the reaction in the wider architectural community was mixed.

He had prevailed in a two-stage contest against 98 teams from 28 different countries, yet still there were expressions of disappointment. Not because Holl isn’t known; he is, in fact, very well known. At 70 years old, he is at the peak of his profession, with offices in New York and Beijing. And not because Holl isn’t a very able architect; he is frequently bold and occasionally brilliant.

The reasons are various, as we shall see, but they begin with a perception that his entry, including a concept for a new 8,000 sq. metre Centre for Creative Design, was a superficial medley of forms and influences, pandering to its intended audience. As one prize-winning Irish architect sharply put it on Twitter, “This wouldn’t pass second year in most European schools of architecture.”

Members of the international competition jury, of course, took a different view. The Jury Chair and President of UCD, Professor Andrew Deeks declared, “Holl’s vision is intriguing and striking… The Centre for Creative Design promises to be an exhilarating presence, announcing UCD from afar, creating a new Dublin landmark, and giving visitors, students and faculty a definite sense of arrival.”

Another jury member, Professor of Architecture at UCD, Hugh Campbell, said, “Holl’s winning proposal combines the striking form of the Centre for Creative Design building with a clear and robust masterplan.”

If criticism of the winning entry had been merely confined to aesthetics, then the debate might have remained in the rarified worlds of architecture and academe. However, those concerns now extend to the composition and decision-making of the international jury, and what these reveal about UCD’s approach to governance, campus planning, and gender equality. If the Future Campus brief represents UCD’s vision of itself, it also raises serious questions about how it intends to get there, and just how closely the jury studied the winner’s plans.

Doubts about that jury were shared on social media as news of Holl’s win came in: the focus was on the relative lack of women.

As one poster put it, “Two women out of 12 panelists is a bit crazy especially when Irish female architects and architecture writers/ critics are doing so well. Maybe there simply aren’t enough women in big business and property development?!”

Among the jury panel were Dermot Desmond, Chairman of International Investment and Underwriting (whose Shrewsbury Road house plans are assessed elsewhere in this issue), and property developer, Seán Mulryan.

Also adjudicating were leading architect

David Adjaye, responsible for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC, and Malcolm Reading, architect and Director of Malcolm Reading Consultants, the organisers of the competition.

The two women on the jury were Amen Beha, Principal of Boston-based Amen Beha architects, and Orla Feely, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact and Professor of Electronic Engineering, UCD. Another online commenter remarked that, “Perhaps they need to reread their UCD Gender Equality Action Plan 2016-2019.”

And indeed, UCD has such a plan, as part of a higher education requirement that allows it, and other third-level bodies, to apply for various forms of research funding.

The following sections of UCD’s own Action Plan seem to be relevant: Point 4.8, ‘Supporting and Advancing Women’s Careers’, states, “Selection committee membership, and their Chairs, will consist of at least 40% women and at least 40% men (comply or explain)”, and, 4.4, ‘Organisation and Culture’, adds that, “Chairs of all committees to report on implementation (comply or explain).” The balance on the International jury was just over 16% female, or nearly 84% male.

NewsFour made repeated enquiries to UCD’s office of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), asking whether it had been consulted on the competition, and whether the jury panel came under the university’s much-vaunted Action Plan. We were eventually referred to the UCD Communications Office with a one-line acknowledgment. By

then, the Communications Office had replied to a similar set of questions with the following emailed statement: “The University undertook its best endeavours to have a gender-balanced panel... the relevant roles from within the University structure are all currently held by men – (College Principal for Engineering and Architecture, VP for Campus Development and Dean of Architecture). The University was disappointed that a number of women invited to be on the competition judging panel were unable to give the time commitment.”

Neither the EDI nor the Communications Office were prepared to answer whether the Action Plan applied to the jury, or just why problems of time-commitment should disproportionately affect women. Nor is it clear how many women candidates were approached for the panel; a direct question on the subject was still left unanswered at the time of writing (UCD explained its Director of Communications was currently on sick leave).

The above might be considered a rather abstract row over gender quotas, were the sheer disparity between stated commitment and actual representation not so glaring. The rapid rise of Irish women within the fields of design and architecture should have ensured that the university met its minimum targets with relative ease. Whatever else UCD’s priorities might have been in gathering its competition panel, gender equality doesn’t seem to have been high among them. A case of better said than done.

And what of the winning entry itself? The focus of criticism by other architects has

been on Holl’s concept for the €48 million Centre for Creative Design. This is the building intended to announce UCD to its Stillorgan road entrance (R138) and environs, and to bring together various creative and technical fields in cooperative endeavour. Holl’s proposal is for a glass and metal-clad building, sprouting three cranked funnel-like towers and a large dodecahedron auditorium, the latter a nod to UCD’s best known landmark: its 1972 concrete water tower. Holl’s building is full of such nods. In one pictogram he includes a photograph of the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim and a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses as inspirations for the centre’s form and subtext.

For several critics, this was simply too much. Architect Sean Griffiths took aim at Holl’s pretentions in Dezeen, a leading online design magazine. He wondered if Holl had, “metaphorically marauded across the landscapes of the emerald isle and, in doing so, failed to spot a couple of not unimportant details. Firstly, the geographical inconvenience that the Giant’s Causeway is not, in fact, anywhere near Dublin, and secondly, the unfortunate faux pas of neglecting to notice that the world-famous landmark is not actually situated within the borders of the country of which Dublin is the capital.”

This is perhaps unfair to Holl who, elsewhere, has shown a rare gift for reading site and terrain. In at least one instance, he overcame a seriously flawed brief to deliver a memorable, even inspiring project. Visitors to his additions to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, still enthuse about the necklace of glowing pavilions that slink

www.newsfour.ie

October / November 2018

ARCHITECTURE / PLANNING

THE QUESTIONS BEGIN

past the original 1930s beaux-arts centrepiece. And Holl won that competition in defiance of the official brief. There, he took the bold decision to place his buildings where he thought they should be, rather than where the museum had specified they should go. None of the other finalists showed such pluck, and the assessors were unanimous in awarding a rule-breaking Holl the commission.

It is perhaps surprising then that there should have been so little comment on the bigger part of Holl’s UCD entry: his master plan for 23.8 hectares of the North Eastern side of Belfield. Holl’s outline calls for seven new, open-sided quadrangles linked to the existing campus core via a H-plan network of translucent glass walkway canopies.

These canopies would collect rain rainwater and generate solar power, thus advancing UCD’s aims to promote greater green measures and technologies. They take their cue from the concrete sheltered walkways, which form the spine of the original 1964 competition-winning campus masterplan by Andrzej Wejchert, a then unknown 28 year old Polish architect.

Yet on studying the new master plan, questions mount as to how closely Holl and his team actually looked at the present-day campus. What has so far gone unremarked in news coverage is that the main aerial and satellite views in Holl’s winning presentation are significantly out of date. They omit several major changes to the campus core that have taken place over the past decade, or are now taking place. And those changes are immediately adjacent to the area covered by Holl’s master plan.

Perhaps the most salient of these is the new UCD ‘Club’ annex to the O’Reilly Hall, which doesn’t even appear in the winning submission, though it is currently under construction. No trace of the ‘club’ can be found in Holl’s renders, plans, or illustrations. Nor do recent large additions to the Science block (completed in 2014) feature in Holl’s satellite view of the campus.

Some faint CGI indications of changes to the original buildings do appear in his main aerial view, but not as built. The current footprint of the O’Brien Science Centre is, though, indicated in Holl’s smaller diagrammatic plans. The position of the recently completed Confucius Institute is noted throughout Holl’s submission.

What is curious is that, despite the winning entry going through several rounds of assessment, such omissions apparently weren’t caught or corrected in consultation with the jury. In the second round, Holl’s scheme competed against just five other entries. The finalists toured the campus, received further briefing, and were interviewed by the panellists. It is all the more surprising, then, to observe the connections between the buildings left out, and those members of the jury who commissioned them or otherwise oversaw their construction.

The missing UCD ‘club’ annex has been widely reported as a campus priority of President Deeks, and President Deeks was the jury chair. The project to realise the new Denis O’Brien UCD Science Centre, though strangely absent from Holl’s satellite and aerial images, was personally overseen

by Professor Michael Monaghan. Professor Monaghan is vice-president for campus development, and also served on the jury. In addition, the panel included three other faculty members, among them Professor Hugh Campbell, Dean at the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, UCD. It is perhaps worth noting that only one other of the six finalists omitted the new UCD ‘club’ from its entry (Studio Libeskind). But Libeskind and the other finalists did include all the other major campus updates in their presentation materials. When I asked Dublin City Councillor, Dermot Lacey, who sits on UCD’s Governing Authority, what he thought of Holl’s omissions, he said, “The absence of the visuals as you describe does seem strange, but I would hope that the judges would have been able to use their knowledge of the site when making the decision.” One may hope.

To be clear, Holl’s omissions don’t invalidate his Master Plan, but they do affect its context, and arguably some of its assumptions. For instance, the new ‘club’ building blocks the straight path of a secondary pedestrian route indicated in his plans between the new ‘Oakland’ quad and the central lake. And Holl’s principal aerial image, taken from the far side of the Stillorgan road, betrays no sense of the closed and massive form of the main O’Brien Science building as it now stands.

It is that last image that bears some scrutiny when asking precisely how Holl and his team came to use such outdated imagery.

For the Future Campus competition is not the first time UCD has tried to put shape on an area stretching between its campus core and the Stillorgan road. The Gateway Master Plan competition from 2006-2007 had similar, sweeping aims, but ultimately foundered in 2010, when the realities of global recession overwhelmed it. A great deal of money was spent (a reported €10 million in consultation fees), but nothing from this plan was built.

Yet some of its presentation materials do seem to have been revived for a second use.

On close examination, Holl’s team appear to have copied and pasted their scheme over a minimally-adapted background image from

Christoph Ingenhoven’s winning entry for that previous Gateway Competition. Holl’s bird’s-eye view shares the same ghostly render of future additions to the Science Block, and inadvertently includes a fragment from Ingenhoven’s proposed extension to the rear of the O’Reilly Hall.

The above is certainly not evidence of plagiarism (Holl’s scheme hardly resembles Ingenhoven’s in any other respect), but of Holl’s haste in preparation. What it reveals about the jury is less certain. It has not been revealed whether the final choice was unanimous, or how close that decision actually came. Did Holl’s anachronisms entirely escape their notice, or was the view taken to dismiss these as trifling oversights on the path to the grander things? And what else might the jury have missed, or perhaps preferred to take on trust?

Holl’s master plan begs many questions.

How practical will the upswept angles of his proposed glass-topped walkways be in driving Irish rain? Will they end up being cracked receptacles for dead pigeons and lost running shoes? And do Holl’s rather vague plans for burying two car parks, and creating a submerged motor entrance from the N11 slip-road, provide an effective basis for rethinking UCD’s approach to traffic. Holl’s vision here is arguably not broad enough.

A runner-up proposal by John Ronan makes a bolder go of it, by envisaging a traffic plan for the larger campus. The new master plan lays out seven generous open-sided quadrangles, but what lasting measures will be taken to ensure that these are not progressively filled in? The main O’Brien Science building, the one that doesn’t appear in Holl’s renders, is an example of precisely this kind of creeping development.

But before any of this, there is the apparent lack of a budget for the master plan, or at least one that has been made public.The total sum for the abandoned Gateway project was pegged at €450 million, nearly ten times the estimate for the new Centre for Creative Design. UCD has yet to clarify whether any figures for the master plan were discussed or circulated with entrants to the Future Campus competition. The worry must be that as the university gains a shiny new addition, it will struggle to implement the rest. Or implement it in ways Holl might never have intended.

Finally, it’s worth thinking about the historical context for the Future Campus initia-

Page 31

tive. It is highly unlikely that a young Andrzej Wejchert would have been eligible for the Future Campus competition, even though he conceived the original campus layout. He certainly wouldn’t have met the criteria for the Gateway project, whose terms explicitly stated, “Firms must have successfully completed prime consulting contracts for major capital works in excess of €50,000,000.”

The story goes that Wejchert drew up his winning proposal on the kitchen table of his mother’s flat in Warsaw, poring over maps of the Belfield site and imagining the campus terrain. His first visit to Ireland was made only after he had won the competition. Yet his vision still remains the most coherent of any of the plans drawn up for UCD. The subsequent departures from it are to be lamented, especially the succession of moves away from a tightly integrated spinal corridor.

Perhaps the new ‘Master Plan’ will restore a sense of focus to the campus, but its network is looser, and its buildings and spaces considerably larger than those in Wejchert’s original scheme.

Holl, by contrast, has many projects on his books, ranging across the United States, Europe, and China. He frequently works while flying, emailing notes and sketches to his offices on opposing sides of the world, as he travels from one commission to the next.

The geographical distance between the Giant’s Causeway and Dublin must appear rather small from such a vantage point. And at 38,000 feet, or in a far-away studio, allusions to Joyce and geology might feel more urgent and real than the very buildings that continually seem to sprout over a now sprawling Dublin campus.

One must hope that as the plane descends, and detailed plans are summoned, that the eye will become more firmly fixed on the facts on the ground, and on the living terrain of his first Irish commission. For this, and much else, the jury remains out.

Page 30: A bird’s eye view and concept images for the new UCD ‘Future Campus’ Master Plan by competition winner Steven Holl (UCD and Malcolm Reading Consultants).

Above: A concept image of Steven Holl’s design for the Centre for Creative Design, UCD, as seen from the Stillorgan dual carriageway (UCD and Malcolm Reading Consultants).

Below left: A detail from Christoph Ingenhoven’s winning entry to the 2006-2007 UCD ‘Gateway’ Master Plan competition.

The unbuilt additions to the UCD Science block (top of image) appear identical in both Ingenhoven’s and Holl’s aerial views, though the O’Brien Science Centre was completed in 2014 in a very different form. Unrealised fragments from Ingenhoven’s proposal also appear in Holl’s view, including a curved addition to the rear of the O’Reilly Hall (centre of image).

LOCAL EVENTS

Page 32

www.newsfour.ie

October / November 2018

Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre News

T

n RICC he RICC is seeking to fill vacancies on its board and seeking to build capacity with a focus on particular skills and experience in one or more of the following areas: • Governance and knowledge of the no-profit sector • Have experience of Board membership in the Public, Private and Voluntary Sector • Business and Organisational Development • PR & Marketing • Child Protection • Commitment Board Members are expected to attend 11 board meetings a year in the Centre and to participate in a sub-group working on key aspects of development at different times.

Application Process: Potential board members are asked to email a CV and a personal statement of interest in the work of the RICC to lbarryricc@gmail. com by Friday 19th October.

Can you spare a cúpla focal?

Brand new to the RICC circle, is a coffee morning with a difference! RICC in association with Maideanach Café will host a free, ongoing Irish Café for those keen on keeping the Irish

language alive.

Those interested are invited to meet every Friday morning at 11am in RICCY’s Youth Café on Irishtown Road, for a cuppa and a chat – as Gaeilge! You don’t need to know any Irish as there will be plenty of friendly people there to help you. All welcome to this FREE weekly event.

Is maidin caifé atá i gceist le ciorcal RICC, le difríocht! Beidh RICC i gcomhar le Maideanach Café ina óstach ar chaifé leanúnach Ghaeilge do dhaoine atá ag iarraidh an Ghaeilge a choinneáil beo. Tugtar cuireadh dóibh siúd a bhfuil suim acu freastal ar gach maidin Dé hAoine ag 11am i gCeifé Óige RICCY ar Bhóthar na hÉireann, le haghaidh cuppa agus comhrá – i nGaeilge! Ní gá aon Ghaeilge a bheith agat mar go mbeidh go leor daoine cairdiúla ann chun cabhrú leat.

Cuirfimid fáilte roimh an imeacht seachtainiúil SAOR IN AISCE. RICC’s Cradle to Grave Services and Activities Take a look at our activities at the centre and if there is anything that interests you or that you need more information on, then please contact us on 01 660 4789. Our door is always open and we have activities to suit every age.

Irishtown Garda Station Open Day

L

n Kathrin Kobus isa McNulty is the new face around Irishtown Garda Station since spring. One could say she on probation. As part of her community policy project, she suggested something that has been done at other stations but not yet at Irishtown.

“I always wanted to be a garda,” she told NewsFour.

“So I did the 32 weeks in Tem-

plemore. Since April this year I am based at Irishtown station.“ She also created the poster for the open day, and copies of the same were distributed at local primary schools and day care centres for a kids’ colouring competition.

The results became temporary decorations for the cell walls that are usually more plain.

While Lisa McNulty is starting out on her career, Superintend-

ent Tony O’Donnell, appointed in July to the district HQ comes full circle. “Actually, I’ve done what Lisa does now, 26 years ago I started out at Donnybrook station. Back then it was a threeyears probation.”

The whole ground floor of the station was accessible for kids and parents alike to get familiar with services. But the main attractions were the various support units showing off

their tasks, skills and equipment. However, to encourage a schoolchild to throw a brick at, or hit with a baton, the leg of a garda fitted out in riot gear, also left one feeling uneasy.

This feeling only deepens going home later in the afternoon, after all the fun and jolly of the open day activities, and watching teenagers dragging wooden pallets and/or tyres towards hiding places in Ringsend Park

for pre-Halloween bonfire opportunities. An annual cat and mouse game between them and the local garda is about to begin anew.

Above from left: Lisa McNulty and Laura Byrne, from Irishtown Garda Station.

A Garda on Segway in conversation.

Throwing the brick.

Photographs: Kathrin Kobus.

www.newsfour.ie

October / November 2018

LOCAL / CULTURE

Reel Youth film-makers

R

n David Prendeville eel Youth is an innovative city-wide collective of professional youth workers. They work with young people in their services to promote and practice the collaborative, creative practice of film-making. I caught up with Ringsend and Irishtown Youth Worker, Emer Simmons, on the day of the launch of their highly successful screenings.

“It’s focused on the creative elements of film-making,” Emer tells me, before detailing exactly how the course works. “Each year there is a theme. People are split into groups. It’s a year-long process so it’s quite long. It encourages young people to create and experiment and to use their own initiative.”

Emer is passionate about empowering the young people engaged in the initiative, rather than impose on them how they should approach the process. “It’s completely youth-led. The youth workers are just there to support the young people. The young people can do everything from the filming to the script-writing. Some people even did the editing.”

The participants had the option to hire in a professional if needed for some of the technical roles

such as editing, but often they relished the challenge of engaging with and learning these skills themselves. About the project she worked on, she tells me, “a young person from Ringsend did the editing and he was brilliant!”

That particular project is a mockumentary about Ringsend. “It’s a guided tour of Ringsend from a really comedic perspective and one that is very youth-friendly.”

There is a unified theme for each group. This year’s theme was “A Day in our Lives.” Despite this, the finished films are very diverse in genre and tone. Other groups tackled such themes as homelessness and mental illness.

A key tenet of the course is that people interpret the themes in their own way and find their own voice.

The mockumentary nature of her group’s film allowed for a lot of ad-libbing, something which reinforces the central ideas of creativity and experimentation at the heart of this great initiative.

The process over the course of the year entails training for both youth workers and young people.

“They get to see all the different aspects of film-making,” Emer tells me, with everything from cinematography to acting being covered in the training.

The programme also has an integration project, in which young, like-minded people from different areas in Dublin get the opportunity to meet up, exchange ideas and to get to know each other.

Emer illustrates this to me by way of her own example: “I work in Ringsend local youth project and we teamed up with Familybase in Ballyfermot and Swan over in Dublin 1.”

Twelve different projects in total screened in the Trinity College Science Gallery at the official unveiling, after a year’s long work.

Each film is under four minutes and there are no prizes given out.

This unveiling of the work is very much a celebration of what these young people have achieved.

I ponder the long-term benefits and potential that acquiring these skills and being exposed to this process at a young age could have, both for the individuals and the film industry itself. “It’s great for these young people. They learn invaluable skills, it gives them focus.” Emer also points out that this project is very much aimed at people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to work with this equipment or gain this type of experience.

The screening of the films themselves was a massive success and the young film-makers enjoyed a great night of celebration. It’s well-deserved. They and all the youth workers involved deserve massive praise for such an innovative and positive initiative.

Back row, left to right: Brandon Caulfield, Stephen O’Connor, Samuel Elliasen, Ben Breslin.

Front row: Emer Simmons, Jordan Collins, Adrian Capacite.

Photos courtesy of Emer Simmons.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group Ringsend Irishtown Sandymount Pearse Street

We the IGB Housing Group Members would like to say that we have only just heard about the An Bord Pleanala Decision.

We are disappointed that a decision has not been made on the Poolbeg SDZ. We are anxious to see clarity, and to stress how important it is for work to start on the Social & Affordable Housing on the IGB Site which is so badly needed in our area.

IGB Housing Action Group Email: igbactiongroup@gmail.com

Contact us by email: IGBActionGroup@gmail.com Click on the Link! http://my.uplift.ie/petitions/fight-for-affordable-and-social-housing-for-the- glass-bottle-house-site-dublin-4 Visit us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/IGBhousing/ Catch us! On Twitter

Page 33

Newly Launched Ballsbridge Lions Club

On September 24th, the Ballsbridge Lions Club will take its place alongside over 46,000 other Lions Clubs throughout the world. Founded in Chicago in 1917, the Lions empower volunteers to serve their communities without personal financial reward, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding.

There are now more than 1.4 million volunteer members, making the Lions the largest service club in the world.

Members are encouraged to take an active interest in the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of their community. Throughout the year, Lions clubs identify people in need in their own communities and then fundraise to help alleviate some of the financial burdens on those who are struggling to cope in very challenging circumstances.

In 2017, all 108 Lions Clubs on the island of Ireland were grouped together and are now known as District 133 of the global Lions organisation. This 32-county organisation has over 2,300 members who raise funds for a range of good causes, including suicide prevention, guide dogs, food appeals and an international measles programme.

The first President of the Ballsbridge Lions, Farrell O’Boy, has many years experience volunteering with the Maynooth Kilcock Lions Club so he will bring some valuable insights to the fledgling new club. The Ballsbridge Lions have already identified two very deserving charities in their community and have begun to fundraise for them.

They are recruiting new members in the Ballsbridge area at the moment so anyone interested should contact them via their website www. ballsbridgelionsclub.com.

RMS Leinster Centenary Events October

On the morning of Thursday,10th October 1918, the Mail Boat Leinster set sail from Dún Laoghaire’s Carlisle Pier. Aboard were an estimated 77 crew, 22 postal sorters (250 sacks of mail), approximately 180 civilians and in the region of 500 soldiers.

The mail boat was torpedoed by a German submarine not long after it had left Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) Harbour on its way to Holyhead.

The loss of life totalled 569 and it brought the First World War, in its final stages, very close to Irish shores.

Other ships passed the way but were ordered not to assist for fear of more torpedoes. Survivors struggled to get onto life-boats or hold onto pieces of wood floating on the water. Rescue boats did not arrive for hours. Heroes emerged, including Robert Lee, son of the very successful Irish employer Edward Lee and William Maher, a crew member among others.

To highlight the 100-year anniversary of this tragic event, a number of events are scheduled to take place across the country. Members of Families and relatives of the victims who lost their lives on the Leinster are available for interview.

Highlights of the centenary events will include; 6th October – DLR Family Day at the LexIcon. Incorporating exhibitions of St. John Ambulance rescue equipment used 100 years ago and actors in period costume.

7th October – Deansgrange Cemetery. Tour of Leinster-associated graves, conducted by John McCann of DLR County Council, followed by official unveiling of a monument to Leinster hero William Maher.

10th October – Centenary Day. 7a.m. Special wreath laying ceremony at the site of the Leinster wreck (tickets sold out). 9a.m. Main inclusive Leinster Centenary Commemoration – details to be announced – all welcome 21st October – The Pro-Cathedral. Special mass to be celebrated by Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, in memory of all victims of the Leinster disaster.

The Mail Boat Leinster Centenary is being proudly supported by The Association for Gaff Rig Sailing, Celtic Invoice Discounting DAC, Premier Business Consultancy, Costello Jewellers, DLR County Council, Costello Flowers, The National Yacht Club, Mitchell & Son, The Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club and Royal Mail.

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J

Gavan Bergin ack Kirwan was born in Dunlavin Co Wicklow in 1872.

He grew up to be a fine Gaelic footballer and won the All-Ireland Championship with Dublin in 1894.

He also played soccer and was good enough to earn his living as a professional player in England.

He joined Southport Central in early 1898 and while playing for them in the Lancashire League he was scouted by several Football League clubs before being signed up by Everton in July 1898.

Jack played the outside-left position and he possessed all the attributes needed to be a top notch winger. He had the speed of a cheetah, was clever on the ball and made plenty of goals.

He demonstrated his ability from day one with Everton, scoring eight goals in 24 games for the reserve team before making his first-team debut against Preston in September 1898. By the end of the season, he’d scored six in 26 first-team matches – an undeniably impressive performance in his first season at the highest level, but it wasn’t enough to keep Jack at Everton and by the start of the next season he was playing for Tottenham Hotspur, who signed him in June 1899.

At that time, Tottenham was an unremarkable club that had been stranded in lower league football throughout its existence. Since its formation in 1882, by a group of local cricketers who held their first club meetings under a gaslight on Tottenham High Road, the club had done little to suggest that it would ever rise above its lowly status. The first hint that Spurs might one day amount to something was given when they moved into their fine new home ground, White Hart Lane in 1898.

Jack’s transfer to Spurs was a backward step in his career, from centre stage with Everton in the First Division to obscurity with Tottenham, but Jack didn’t let it impede his performance and he played his heart out for Spurs.

In his very first game for Tottenham, he scored two blazing goals to get his team a win at Millwall in the opening league match of the 1899/1900 season. And that was just for starters, he then continued the brilliant streak throughout the season and scored 17 goals in 39 games to help Spurs win the Southern League for the first time.

They were in very good shape as they began the 1900/01 season, but Spurs were still a small-time

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n

Jack Kirwan: The Professional

club and utterly insignificant in the wider world of English football.

Making a decent run in the FA Cup was Tottenham’s only opportunity to play against the best teams in the country, but they had no history of getting far in the Cup, and any slight hopes they had for doing any better this time must have seemed forlorn when they drew mighty Preston North End in the First Round.

Preston were considered a certainty to win the game, but Spurs just managed to scrape a draw when the teams met for the first time, then in the replay they upset the odds even more when they

won 4-2 to take the game, and the tie. In the next round Spurs played the reigning Cup champions, Bury, and with confidence high they dealt with them competently and cleanly, winning 2-0. Amazingly, Tottenham Hotspur had reached the FA Cup quarter-final.

Spurs’ quarter-final match put them up against Reading. If Tottenham anticipated an easy match they got a nasty surprise. Reading scored the first goal then defended successfully until well past the eightieth minute of the match.

Spurs were looking down and out.

Perhaps their day was done, their run was over, but then with, time

almost, gone Jack made a run upfield, charging like the Light Brigade, forward and further forward again, then he fired a precision shot at the exact right moment to score a perfect goal, the goal that saved the day, and saved the game, for the Spurs.

The replay against Reading was much more straightforward. Tottenham won 3-0, then in the semifinal the Spurs beat West Brom 40, and so Spurs, the little Southern League team, found themselves in the final of the oldest and most famous football competition in the world.

The 1901 FA Cup Final was

played at the Crystal Palace Exhibition Ground in London, where a crowd of 110,820 spectators watched Tottenham line up against the mighty Sheffield United, who had won the League in 1898 and the Cup in 1899. They were a proper club enjoying their best years, on their way to the final, and still favourites to win the match.

When the game began, Sheffield took the early initiative, and when they scored in the eleventh minute it seemed likely that they would prove the bookies’ predictions correct. But Spurs showed their mettle again by fighting their way back into the game with some good attacking moves, while holding it together at the back to prevent any further breach.

In the 23rd minute, a chance was made and taken and Spurs made it 1-1. The score-line stayed even until the sixth minute of the second half, and then Jack made his mark on the match. Breaking free of his marker, he made a sprint, and outpacing defenders all the way he went forward with his head held high, searching for any chink of space.

Then he found the angle he wanted and played the perfect pass, timed to arrive precisely in the stride of the Tottenham forward who put the ball away into the net for the goal that took the lead. Heaven it was, but for only a short time, as a minute later Sheffield made it 2-2 and that was how it stayed.

Another replay a week later, but a very different type of match. Tottenham had their blood up and they took a 3-1 victory from Sheffield.

Spurs had won the FA Cup. They were the first London club, and also the first non-league club to win it. That Spurs team was also remarkable for the fact that it contained only three Englishmen in it.

The rest of the players were Scots, Welsh and, of course, our one fine Irishman, Jack Kirwan. He played in all eight matches in the Cup as well as 28 league games for Spurs that season.

Jack played 268 matches and scored 66 goals in his five seasons with Spurs and his contribution to those first days of glory in the early history of Tottenham have gained recognition for him as a genuine club legend. The Cup win of 1901 was a sure factor in helping Spurs’ growth into a football club with a unique character, one of the most famous and celebrated clubs in the world, and one that is renowned for playing the beautiful game, well, beautifully.

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Spurs reached the highest of heights in 1961, when they won the double of the FA Cup and the First Division with arguably the most stylish and revered team ever to grace English football. Those players of ‘61, with their great and dashing deeds were following in the steps of Jack Kirwan and the pioneers of 1901.

When he left Tottenham in 1905, Jack moved to Chelsea and scored 16 goals in 76 games for the Blues over three seasons. He played a season for Clyde FC in Scotland before he retired in 1909, having played close to 400 matches in English club football.

During that time, Jack also had an international career. His first game for the Irish team was against Wales on the 24th of February 1900, and it made him the first Tottenham player to play for Ireland.

He was a regular starter by the time of Ireland’s British Championship match against Scotland in Glasgow on March 21st 1903.

Ireland needed victory to have any chance of success in the tournament. The match kicked off in a strong wind and the fast and frantic pattern of play matched the weather, which the Irish Times described as “boisterous”.

Scotland were on top, as expected, early on fashioning two good chances. Ireland livened up and Jack came to the fore, “attacking keenly with some grand work on the left wing,” but Scotland retook the initiative and dominated until midway through the half, when an Irish defender won the ball and showed enough composure to play it well to Jack who, “picked it up and once more got away on the left wing.” He advanced to play the ball up into the Scottish area, where it bounced around before falling to the Irish forward, Connor, who bundled it in to give Ireland the lead. Scotland reacted by playing hard in attack and peppering the Irish goalkeeper with shots through the rest of the first half, but Ireland managed to hold their lead.

In the early stages of the second half, Scotland had the wind at their backs and put remorseless pressure on Ireland and the play went one way and then the other before settling back into a pattern of Scottish dominance. It seemed as if a Scottish equaliser was inevitable, but Jack began to turn on his skills again, earning loud cheers from the crowd for one sweetly zigzagging run and pass that put a striker free and clear to shoot the ball in,

BusConnects going around in circles

Continued from page 1.

The available forms were snapped up early and almost gone, when, less than 45 minutes in, NTA’s Hugh Creegan had to find a photocopier at the hotel to print some more. He and other officials from NTA and Dublin Bus were met with a lot of scepticism and questions from pensioners who could be there at the afternoon start. Other members of the public studying or working could and did arrive during the second half of the very early evening / late afternoon.

Everyone concerned with the No. 1 becoming spine ‘C’ heard the same explanation that day: Amendments will be made and Bus C will run the route of the current No.1 between St. John’s Church and the destination in Lucan at the other end.

That promise was verbal only, though. As Hugh Creegan, deputy chief executive officer of the NTA pointed out, “All these, are proposals for consultation and not yet a definite plan for implementation.” In a letter to Labour Senator Kevin Humphries he

specified this a few days later. “I can confirm that it is the NTA’s intention, in the revisions that will be made … to change Route C1 to run along Sandymount Road and through Sandymount village, along as the same route as the current 1 service.”

Intention is not the same as assurance, and similar amendments to other affected areas are being promised in all directions.

One thing is certain, the ‘C’ spine will not cross O’Connell Bridge, there will be no direct bus link from Sandymount towards the north side of the city.

Getting to the GPO: a customer will take a ‘C’ bus up to Westmoreland street, get off and have to board the Luas for half a kilometre, or wait for it, hop on one of the shuttle buses to take you up towards Parnell Square, totally contradicting the proposals to eliminate “too many buses in the city centre.” Also making a mockery of O’Connell Street as a bus-free zone.

The No. 47 will be scrapped, meaning no direct access to St.Vincent’s hospital if you are

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but offside was called.

Then, in the very last minutes of the game, Jack played the ball out to the wing then dashed forward, through the middle this time, showing perfect timing to get into the penalty area at the exact moment the ball was crossed in, then meet it dead on to knock it neatly into the net from close range for his first international goal.

Ireland won the game 2-0 and they earned a share of first place in the British Championship, the best they’d ever done. Jack played seventeen matches for Ireland, earning his last international cap in 1909.

After he retired from playing,

Jack embarked on a career in football management and he was appointed as the boss of Ajax Amsterdam in September 1910. In his first season he guided Ajax to victory in the Dutch second division and promotion to the top-flight for the first time in their history. Jack stayed with Ajax for another three seasons until the outbreak of the Great War. Following the war, he returned to Ireland and spent some time coaching at Bohemians before he got another management job in 1923, at the Italian club Livorno with whom he spent two seasons.

He retired totally from football in

1925 and lived quietly at his home in London, not far from White Hart Lane, where the Tottenham fans had long revered him as the survivor of the 1901 Spurs team.

Jack died in 1959, a grand old hero of football’s early times, who excelled for Spurs and for Ireland.

Jack Kirwan played the game in the right way, he played with determination and skill. He should be remembered, now and forever.

coming from the direction of Pearse Street, Ringsend or Irishtown. Suggestions in line for discussion include a shuttle service from St. John’s church towards Belfield, or to prolong spine ‘C’ up to Belfield. The main problem is the railway crossing near Sydney Parade which would impair any reliable timetable for journeys. Remember there was once a No.3 that covered the route to UCD Belfield which had to be amalgamated with the No. 2 into the No. 1 we have currently. The No. 18 it is to be replaced by orbital route S2.

There are two standard fares planned, the 90 minutes basic fare for Bus, Dart and Luas and

the short distance fare, cash fares will still be available, payable with the driver but no prices have been mentioned. Indicator poles to measure journeys will need to be installed as they are right now on the Luas.

Questions about how this will affect timetables when having to log on and off were brushed aside as not being part of that evening’s meeting. NTA and Dublin Bus officials explained by rote to their customers how the new routes would affect their journey.

The provided booklet showed plenty of examples showing how to travel from various destinations and gave as their example the rather ideal time for travel of

12pm. Midday conveniently ignores the peak rush hour times of morning and late afternoon postschool and work times.

As Friday 28th September – deadline day to submit recommendations, opinions and objections to the NTA regarding the new plans – arrived, representatives of campaigns from all over Dublin, came out to physically hand in petitions collected throughout the Summer through to September in local communities who stand to lose direct city centre routes under the proposed BusConnects plan.

Mainly, it was from senior citizens who might not have access to the offered option to submit via the online survey. Expectations are that they definitely outnumber the 12,000 who had participated in the survey back in 2017.

A comprehensive revision is now required to consider how to improve the proposals. A new outline will be presented to the public, according to the NTA, some time next year.

Page 34: Jack Kirwan at the peak of his career.

Above: The Chelsea squad from August 1905, with Jack far right in the centre row.

Left: Animated discussion at the RICC meeting.

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Special swim for Special Olympics

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n Kathrin Kobus ext spring, 91 Irish athletes can travel to the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi. They fulfilled the qualification criteria, but to make it possible help in funding the sporting adventure is needed.

Nearly half a million euros need to be raised to guarantee the necessary funding of €5,000 per athlete. This will cover training, travel, uniforms, medical expenses and if necessary equipment, according to Pamela Kavanagh, communications manager for the Irish Special Olympics team.

Radio host Brian Maher from 98FM came up with an inspiring idea to raise, at the least, the necessary backing for two athletes. He had planned to take up a big challenge, a 10k swim from Poolbeg Lighthouse towards to Forty Foot. “I know I am going to spend about five hours in the water, “ he said “but helping these athletes to fulfil their dream is something I feel passionate about. I do a mixture of pool swimming and open water swimming. I train 2 to 3 times a week in UCD and then do my open water swimming mainly

I

from the harbour master. It’s a shame, but only a temporary setback. The great news is we have nearly €5,500 raised online and a few thousand in offline donations so we definitely will reach our €10,000 target.“ “Yes, Brian is well on his way to the target, which is incredible. We have various other campaigns that will run over the next few months to fundraise the balance and we also receive huge support from corporate sponsors and volunteers as well.”

After checking weather reports and longer forecast predictions, the event is now scheduled to go ahead on October 7th. So why not take a walk out to Poolbeg Lighthouse at 10 am for the start or the trip to the Forty Foot in the afternoon to welcome Brian Maher at the finish, afterwards.

in Seapoint, but I also swim in Bray or Greystones.”

He spoke to NewsFour while he was training for the event in August before going on a Spanish holiday for a break. His aim is to raise €10,000 .

Early on Friday 14th September the committee happily an-

nounced that Edel Armstrong, already a three-times champion at the Ireland games this year, does have her funding for Abu Dhabi secured. But for the fundraising swim on Sunday… guess what happened next; Irish Weather. While storm Ali was moving eastwards and gather-

ing strength late in the afternoon of the same day, the event had to be cancelled. In a statement from both Brian and the Special Olympics official Carolyne O’Mahony, however, good news was confirmed. “We have had to postpone the swim this Sunday due to weather concerns

To support the Special Olympics team text the word “Athlete” to 50300. Minimum amount is €4.

Pictured is Special Olympic athlete Edel Armstrong and 98FM DJ Brian Maher at the Poolbeg Lighthouse in Dublin.

Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile.

Irish squad is dogged by off the field issues

n David Prendeville

reland recommence action in the UEFA Nations league with two home games against Denmark and Wales in the Aviva in October. The boys in green entertain the Danish on Friday the 13th, with the tie against Wales being played the following Tuesday on the 16th.

Ireland made a poor start to the Nations League, losing 4-1 in Cardiff. The squad was dogged by off the field issues in the leadup to the game.

Promising West Ham youngster Declan Rice withdrew from Martin O’Neill’s squad, seeing him undecided if he wants to represent Ireland or the country of his birth, England, at international level. Rice, pictured right, has represented Ireland at underage level and made his debut for the seniors earlier on this year.

With these senior caps coming in friendlies, he is still eligible to change his allegiance.

Another much-discussed issue has been to do with assistant manager Roy Keane and an apparent row he had with Cardiff City midfielder Harry Arter. Arter also withdrew from the squad with O’Neill not denying that it may be related to an altercation he had with Keane.

Subsequent to that, a WhatsApp conversation was leaked to the media which is allegedly of Burnley full-back Stephen Ward detailing to other members of the squad exactly what was said in the heated and foul-mouthed exchange between Keane and Arter. It remains to be seen as to whether or not Arter will return to the fold for the upcoming games.

In better news for Ireland,

Wolves wing-back Matt Doherty has been in superb form so far this season. He has been the standout Irish player in the premier league in the early stages of the season, more than holding his own in Wolves’ expensively assembled team. He won the man of the match award in their last game against Burnley.

Strangely, however, Doherty’s excellent play hasn’t been recognised by O’Neill who didn’t even start him in the recent friendly against Poland. Captain Seamus Coleman is obviously stiff competition for Doherty in the rightback position but Doherty plays a more attacking role in Wolves’ system and could easily slot in to the right side of midfield.

Doherty played another fullback Cyrus Christie on the right side of midfield in the game against Wales. Christie has only

been getting intermittent games with Fulham. Coleman was then injured for the Poland game but still no room for Doherty. Whoever he selects, O’ Neill will

have to stem the flow of negativity that surrounds the squad at the moment. He has a tough task against two good teams in Denmark and Wales.

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October / November 2018

n Felix O’Regan The Croke Park Experience The Club had an extra special reason to celebrate Dublin’s senior footballers winning the AllIreland final for the fourth year in a row.

Clanns’ man, Declan Darcy, has been at manager Jim Gavin’s side in all of that time along, with his fellow team selector, Jason Sherlock. That’s some track record!

Yet, despite all the commitments that go with the role of Dublin selector, Declan still has the time and energy to devote to coaching the club’s U14/15 girls’ football team – and with considerable success to boot. He is a true club man, regularly seen on the training pitch and is involved in many other club activities.

Of course, the club also took great joy in the Dublin ladies footballers also winning the AllIreland. We had no representatives on the panel this time round, due to injury to a number of our key players. However, many club members made the journey to Croke Park to support the Dubs – none more so than our U11 girls football team and their coaches.

And they were duly rewarded!

Croke Park also proved the holy grail destination for many of our under-age teams who’ve had the opportunity to play there in recent times. For the players and coaches

SPORTS

Clanna Gael Fontenoy: Cause for celebration

Page 37 Seamus McCann, Cian Morgan, Karl Morgan, Scott Collopy, Evan O’Keeffe, James Crowley, Niall Madill, Conor Power, David Walsh, Aidan Duffy, Eamonn Cullimore, Shane Gallagher, Art Stephenson, Conor Power and Freddy Allen.

Fond Farewell The club bade farewell to a long-standing supporter and friend – Kevin Munnelly, Principal of Star of the Sea school. We wish Kevin all the best in his new school in Westport and thank him for his support of the club over many years. We also look forward to welcoming him and hopefully a Westport school team or two back to the club again in future times.

alike of our U8 boys, playing on this hallowed turf was most likely the highlight of the year to date.

That experience was almost, but not quite, surpassed by an end-of season treat courtesy of BuJos in Sandymount – a tasty breakfast burger for players, coaches and parents.

Minor hurlers on a roll Our minor hurlers brought their league campaign to a close with a comprehensive win over Lucan Sarsfields. Good goal keeping by Kevin McGrath and a solid defence from Colm O’Briain, Conor

Rimmer and Freddy Allen helped to create the platform for those further up the field to press home the advantage.

The scoring was well spread around, with Patrick McNamara capping a really strong performance by bagging a very impressive 0-6 from play; Evan O’Keeffe was his usual scoring machine with 13, while Cian O’Regan contributed 0-4, Seamus McCann 0-4, Ruairi Corrigan 0-3 with 1-0 coming from each of Scott Collopy and Shane Gallagher.

The season to date has proved a very rewarding one for the team, with just one loss in the league and a shared top table position as a result. This good form has carried over into the championship, where a good first-round win was recorded against a tough Crumlin side.

In an evenly-fought contest in Sean Moore Park the visitors reached the half-time break with a two-point advantage. However, Clanns came well into the game during the second half and took a commanding lead in a period of domination during which they scored a few fine goals in quick

succession. Although Crumlin fought back during the final stages, the lads kept their nerve and control to run out, deserving, four point victors.

The team has been hugely assisted by a number of our U16 players – Aidan Duffy, Art Stevenson, Brian Barron, Cian Morgan, David Walsh, Eamonn Collimore, James Crowley, Joshua Hogan and Peter Maher – all of whom have contributed greatly to the success achieved to date. Indeed, at time of going to press, their own team shares top of the U16 league table with Ballyboden St Endas.

Squad: Kevin McGrath, Colm Kirby O’Briain, Ruairi Corrigan, Brian Barron, Conor Rimmer, Peter Maher, Des Duggan, Cian O’Regan, Patrick McNamara,

Clockwise from bottom left: Club Chairman, Bernard Barron, and Treasurer, Suzanne Murray, present a club training top and a crystal vase to Kevin Munnelly to mark his departure from Star of the Sea School.

Clanns U8s in celebratory mood thanks to BuJos on Sandymount Green.

Left to right: Peter Maher, Paddy McNamara and Des Duggan in the thick of the action against Crumlin.

Clanns U11 girls’ team in Croke Park cheering on the Dublin ladies football team to All-Ireland victory.

Left to right: Clanns man and Dublin selector, Declan Darcy, with Jim Gavin when the Dublin football manager visited the club to talk to coaches and players.

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Wanderers wonder women

A

n Kathrin Kobus nne Grumelard came to Ireland from France more than 10 years ago for work, and since she’d been a sporty woman all her life she was looking for something to do to stay fit. “I did gymnastics and had played handball before and also tried Capoeira, which is a Brazilian martial dance, for a while. But I was looking for a team sport again.”

Five years ago something happened: “It kind of started with a poster in the Google gym, there were many girls from Google, Facebook, AirBnB, hence the different nationalities. Then a lot of word of mouth, we always say if each player brings a friend, we double the team. I was indeed one of the first ever attending training, there aren’t many still playing from that first team, I’m afraid.”

There is lots of coming and going staying true to the club name Wanderers. The current players really do come from all over the globe. There are Irish of course, French, German, Spanish, American, Portuguese and Malaysian players in the squad.

After being the team captain until the end of last season, Anne is now officially the women’s rugby development officer for the club. During the summer Wanderers joined together with their neighbours Old Belvedere for the ‘Girls, Give It A Try’ ini-

tiative. She still plays on, now an experienced member of the squad with four seasons behind her.

“We successfully topped the Leinster Division 4 League in 2015-16, bringing us to our first ever league final, which we unfortunately lost. But that gave us the drive for the next season, we grew stronger and stronger and won the Leinster Division 4 League for the first time in our short history. After such a successful season, we were rewarded by going on a Rugby Tour in Portugal. This past season 2017-18 was the first year in Division 3 and we did very well by finishing in the top four of the league (out of eight) and lost only in the semi-final against the League champions Balbriggan.”

The preparations for the new season began mid-August with an intensive boot camp week

and at the end of that came a day out and get-together in the Irish Sea before a friendly match against CYM, “just to blood the new players.”

Team captain for this fifth year is now Madeleine (Maddie) Robinson. “I came back after an ankle injury and had actually planned just to be on the sidelines for a bit. But I watched the girls playing, and the next

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October / November 2018

session I was stuck back in with them.”

Wanderers Womens are more like the new kids on the block regarding rugby. “Competition is fierce in D4 [and D6]. Old Belvedere is just around the corner, Railway Union as well and both have a long-established team. They play in the All Ireland League. Then not too far are CYM in Terenure and St

Mary’s in Templeogue.”

The Wanderers played their first friendly game against CYM to give the newcomers a taste of what it’s like under competitive conditions. “That’s always better than just the training sessions.”

Only a few weeks later, mid September, the season got underway with an away game at Clontarf. The Wanderer ladies might not have come out on the winning side on that Sunday, but the season is just beginning, and every one is in high spirits to give it a best shot for the top spot come Spring 2019.

For team information, training times etc, contact recruitment officer Anne Grumelard wandererswomenrfc@gmail. com Above: Clontarf v Wanderers.

Left: Forty Foot jump.

Get fit and stay fit

T

n Kathrin Kobus he park runs are a regular feature in the community and have been now for nearly a decade. Every Saturday morning running enthusiasts meet up, dressed in running gear, aka suitable shoes and weather appropriate clothing.

Optional accessories are running companions like the family dog on a shortish leash, or as an extra special challenge to run whilst pushing the buggie.

Ashley Hays is heading the group of volunteers in charge of

SPORTS

organisation. “We meet every Saturday, I mean every Saturday, except, well, during the big freeze this year, that’s when we had to cancel.”

All the park runs depend on the initiative of the volunteers who come out to mark the course or organise pacemakers because some

runners have set their own goals for achieving a time frame in which to complete the 5K, as they are in training for larger distance events like half or full marathons.

Around 90 runners were at the start on September 8th at Blackberry Lane corner on Sandymount beach. Special guest Dublin’s Lord Mayor Niall Rivers was in attendance. “I’ve lived here, basically close by, but have never done the run,” he told NewsFour, adding that he’d done another 5k run the previous Saturday at Mountjoy Prison, and had also done a couple of marathons in years past. “But being here I want to encourage people to take up regular physical exercise like these runs.”

He only removed the chain of office right before the start and the group with pacemakers and tail runners set out towards the first loop around Sean Moore Park, before heading up along the nature walk and up the steep hill before coming back down again with one more loop of the Sean Moore pitches and back to the finishing line.

The turnout was slightly lower due to the schools and kids activities just returning back on to the family timetable. Just under a hundred runners with even some tourists joining in like the runner from Melbourne (pictured left) who was just in Dublin for the weekend. She saw the ad for the race and decided to do it and

had her selfie taken with the Lord Mayor before travelling off again on the following Monday.

To join up for a parkrun register for free at www.parkrun.ie. You’ll get a barcode, print it out bring it with you on the day, so that your time and place can be registered. The parkrun always starts at 9.30am but runners should be there at 9.20am for the pre-race briefing.

Photos: Kathrin Kobus.

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SMALL ADS AND NOTICES

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