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�� Christmas in Waterford Having a quick getaway in December is such a treat, don’t you agree? For one thing, going ‘Christmas Shopping’ is the perfect excuse to escape from the kids, check into a hotel and relax for a few days. So why not consider Waterford City for a short break in the run up to Christmas? Spend a few days relaxing in the city, potter around the shops, listen to the carol singers and tick those gifts off your Christmas list. With plenty of yuletide festivities, including a beautiful carousel ride for young and old, a trip to Waterford City will get you in the perfect mood for the festival season. Check out www.ChristmasInWaterford.ie for more details.

And in 2012... There’s heaps to look forward to in 2012 in Waterford City. From the annual madness that is the Spraoi International Street Acts Festival in August; to the food extravaganza of the Waterford Harvest Festival in September; make a plan to visit Ireland’s oldest city in 2012. Visit the sparkling House of Waterford Crystal and watch master craftsmen at work, then stroll across the street to the beautifully restored 18th century Bishop’s Palace. Climb the jagged steps of Reginald’s Tower to see the Viking Exhibition, and wonder at the medieval undercrofts beneath Choristers’ Hall (opening summer 2012).

Waterford on Ice Get your skates on at Waterford on Ice this Christmas. It’s seriously good fun and perfect for all the family. The ice rink is situated on Waterford Quay, so there’s plenty of parking and shopping available as well. Book online at www.WaterfordOnIce.com. Group bookings available at 1890 987 887. Please note polar bears and penguins are not admitted.

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CONTENTS

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graham keogh

DEC - FEB 2012 VOLUME: 1 ISSUE: 4

I M E L D A M A Y P20

8 GO FOR IT A rundown of what’s hot and happening throughout the country. 16 GO NEWS Up-to-date train news from Iarnród Éireann. 20 COME WHAT MAY As her career continues to go from strength to strength, Dubliner IMELDA MAY opens up to Go Rail about her meteoric rise to fame. 24 AN IRISH MAN ABROAD DARA Ó BRIAIN on hectic schedules, Irishness, and not being the heir to Terry Wogan's throne! 26 NO ORDINARY JOE Liveline presenter JOE DUFFY on his new book, working for RTÉ, and his love of model railways.

30 THE LIFE OF REILLY As they celebrate the release of their third album, The Coronas' DANNY O'REILLY tells us why he'd never go solo. 34 GO SPORT Irish and Leinster prop CIAN HEALY looks back at the World Cup and previews the RaboDirect PRO12 and Heineken Cup. 38 GO BUSINESS Croke Park's stadium director PETER McKENNA on steering the famous landmark through modern times. 41 A TRUE GEM Singer-songwriter GEMMA HAYES tells us why she still loves the Dublin-Limerick train journey.

42 GO EAT Offaly comedian NEIL DELAMERE enjoys some Italian cuisine at Dunne & Crescenzi. 46 A CRAFTY ONE STUART CLARK samples some ﬁne Irish artisan beers ﬁt for the festive season. 50 GO FASHION Start the new year in style with our fashion tips. 54 GO HEALTH Simple steps to starting 2012 on the right track. 58 BRINGING UP BABY Part two of our guide to keeping your baby healthy and happy. 62 REVIEWS Our team of reviewers cast their eye over the latest albums, books and DVDs.

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CREDITS DEC - FEB 2012 VOLUME: 1 ISSUE: 4 MANAGING EDITOR

Máirín Sheehy

COMMISSIONING EDITOR

Roisin Dwyer

CONTRIBUTORS

Stuart Clark Roisin Dwyer Craig Fitzpatrick Craig Fitzsimons David Hanratty Jackie Hayden Maeve Heslin Roe McDermott Celina Murphy Anne Sexton Olaf Tyaransen

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Hot Press 13 Trinity Street

DEAR CUSTOMERS A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Dublin 2

DESIGN

David Keane Andrew Duffy Kelly Gaffney (intern) Laura Cailloux (intern)

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Maeve Heslin

STUDIO MANAGER

Graham Keogh

PRINTED BY

Boylan’s Print

ADVERTISING

Trish Murphy

As the Christmas and New Year is upon us, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support throughout 2011. Despite the challenge of the economic environment, we have been able to deliver real improvements and new initiatives to customers during the year, including: The introduction of Wi-Fi on the Dublin-Cork route, with other routes to follow A range of fares promotions online and in stations, including our popular half-price Saturdays online offer during the summer, and family ticket sales New customer consultation process for

schedule revisions The ParkByText service has been introduced to station car parks Our new, more user-friendly website will go live shortly and the new integrated ticketing system called Leapcard is about to be introduced for customers in the Greater Dublin area. We look forward to improving our service to you still further. I wish all our customers a Happy Christmas and my very best wishes to you for 2012. -

Dick Fearn, Chief Executive, Iarnród Éireann

Suzanne Dwyer

PUBLISHER

Niall Stokes

GO RAIL IS PUBLISHED FOR IARNRÓD ÉIREANN BY:

Osnovina Ltd 13 Trinity Street Dublin 2

TELEPHONE

(01) 2411 500

FAX

(01) 2411 538

gorail@hotpress.ie

LETTERS

The Editor, Go Rail Magazine, 13 Trinity St Dublin 2

While every effort has been made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, the publishers cannot accept any responsibilities for errors. The views contained in this magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Iarnród Eireann. All material © Osnovina 2011. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material without permission of the publishers is strictly prohibited.

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Credits GoR 1.4 1

WELCOME ABOARD. IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU!

his is the Christmas and New Year issue of Go Rail. By the time our next magazine is loaded up onto the trains, and distributed for your delectation, it will be 2012 – and we’ll be into the countdown to the Euro '12 finals in Poland and the Ukraine. The draw pitted us against the World Cup winners Spain, Italy and Croatia. For a few weeks next summer, the tournament is likely to have the nation in its thrall. But, first there is the small matter of the Christmas and New Year celebrations to get through. It is a time of year when trains play an especially important part. All over the country, people are on the move back to the bosom of their families. Emigrants return home. Students converge on the villages and towns they grew up in. Workers with a few days off also make the pilgrimage back to their roots. Some of you reading this now will be making that very trip. There is a moment for reflection as the train pulls out of the point of departure and rolls down the first stretch of track. Most of us love that feeling of finally being on our way. There is the prospect ahead of reconnecting with loved ones and families. Of catching up. Of sitting by the fire, talking, singing – and giving good cheer in a spirit of togetherness. At its best, Christmas is a time for sharing warmth, friendship, fun and love. It is a time for respite and renewal. And then, our batteries recharged, we celebrate the new year and begin to look ahead, to make resolutions, hatch plans and start the engine up again. There is no point in being unrealistic. These are hard times for a lot of people. If we are left alone to

fend for ourselves, the mountain is difficult to climb. But if we pull together, create a sense of team spirit and mutual supportiveness and solidarity, then we are much more likely to fight our way successfully out of the present difficulties and discover the inner calm and security that almost everyone craves. In a sense, a tournament like Euro 2012 can be seen as a distraction, a way of taking people’s minds off the economic crisis and all of the pressures and potential traumas that go with it. But it can be more than that too. In football, team work is everything. For a country to be successful in sport, the first abiding principle is that everyone who is part of the team has to work together, support one another, give 100% for the common purpose. Going into the new year, this is exactly the kind of spirit we need as a country. On its own it is not a solution to the wider economic crisis, but this much is certainly true: if we can find it within ourselves to pull together, we will be far better off than if everyone pursues their own narrow self interest. So when the train pulls into the station, have a look around you. Is there anyone that needs a hand carrying their stuff off the train? Is there an elderly person who could do with a steadying arm to lean on? In terms of making this world – our world – a better place, small gestures often make a big difference not least because they are infectious. And the best time to start making that extra effort to help and support others is now... To all our readers: we wish you a great Christmas and a wonderful new year. See you in the Spring... Máirín Sheehy, Editor

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A R U N D O W N O F W H AT ’ S H O T & H A P P E N I N G B Y DAVE HANRATTY AND CRAIG FITZPATRICK

DAYS AT THE RACES

When you’re finished with the Christmas dinner, preparing to ring in the New Year and looking for a great way to spend the holiday period, a trip to Leopardstown is always a good call. This year’s Christmas Festival at the renowned South Dublin racecourse at the foot of the Dublin Mountains is sure to offer all the usual entertainment, be it racing or otherwise. The four day event boasts a fantastic fixture list of the finest National Hunt racing, and the plethora of restaurants, lounges and bars will keep you occupied when your eyes aren’t on the horses. It kicks off on St. Stephen’s Day, possibly the biggest racing day on the calendar, with the Paddy Power Handicap Chase planned for December 27. Then it’s on to Ladies Day before the Istabraq Festive Hurdle rounds things off. A true family event, all children under-14 have free entry. Leopardstown.com tells the full story.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! A national institution and an international attraction, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival has lured some of the biggest names in the movies to Dublin since 2003, with big screen superstars such as Quentin Tarantino, Charlize Theron and Daniel Day Lewis gracing the red carpet. Over 11 days and nights, the festival transforms the nation’s capital into the envy of Hollywood itself, with over 120 films screened. More than a showcase for the world’s finest filmic talents, the festival is a citywide event, taking in Dublin’s most popular cinemas. Many films receive their premiere Irish screening at the festival, and with a huge emphasis on homegrown talent, it’s both a proving ground for new blood and a celebration of the best Irish film has to offer. MARK NIXON

Bressie

RINGING IN THE NEW

FOR BEST VALUE FARES ON ALL INTERCITY SERVICES CHECK OUT IRISHRAIL.IE

For the ﬁrst time ever, the city of Dublin is planning a spectacular outdoor show to ring in the New Year. The New Year’s Eve Electrifying Countdown Concert on College Green will feature Irish folk/pop singers Paul Brady, Damien Dempsey and Bressie, as well as the unforgettable Riverdance cast who will attempt to break the record for biggest line dance. The delightful Michele McGrath from pop group Industry has MC duties for the over-18 event that will even include an appearance by the Sam Maguire Cup. If the ancient Mayans are right and this is the last chance mankind has to celebrate New Year’s Eve, a night of Irish music and Riverdance doesn’t sound like such a bad way to say goodbye to 2011. Tickets for ¤10 are available at ticketmaster.ie.

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INTRODUCING

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The SMITHWICK’S word and associated logos are trade marks © Diageo Ireland 2011

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(Above & below) 'Mad Hatters' at the Ga

GOFOR IT

ICE, ICE BABY

Time to dust off those skates and Mickey Mouse cartoon ears – Disney On Ice will run over the Christmas period (December 26 – January 2) in the Citywest Hotel, Dublin, offering a fun-ﬁlled spectacular that’s ﬁttingly festive. This year Disney present Worlds On Fantasy, a show which will include beloved characters from Toy Story 3 and Cars, as well as the likes of the Little Mermaid, Tinker Bell, Micky, Minnie, Donald Duck and Goofy. Set over four magical locations, stunning special effects will combine with intricate choreography and expert skating on the ice. Fun, as they say, for all the family. A range of tickets are available from ticketmaster.ie with rinkside seats costing €37.50. For families who are traveling from around the country and don’t fancy a long evening trek home, an overnight stay (with breakfast) in Citywest costs €80.

GOOD VIBRATIONS After the momentous, emotional and thoroughly entertaining event that was the 25th Vibe For Philo, a lot of consideration has been given to how Vibe 26 can top what came before, whether that is an impossible task, and if it should be held at all. The resounding feeling from the public was that the show that honours the late, great Philip Parris Lynott must go on. After the success of Still In Love With You: The Philip Lynott Exhibition, organisers have turned their attention to the supporters calling for “One More Vibe.” Titled ‘Are You Ready?’ and carrying a party ethos, 2012’s Vibe For Philo will take place on January 4. Consider it more of a post-Vibe celebration of everything achieved over the last few years, of the fans, friends and family that come from around the world to pay their respects. In essence, a proper party. Philo would surely approve.

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ad Hatters' at the Galway Races

EXHIBIT A There’s fun for all the family at the National Gallery of Ireland as children’s literature is brought to life. Fables and Fairy Tales – Illustrations From The Collection (December 19 – March 25) boasts a wide range of prints and drawings to accompany fairytales, poems and stories by John Butler Yeats, Richard and Charles Doyle, Paul Henry and Harry Clarke. The incredible images, a mix of rough sketches and finished works, date from the 1870s to the 1920s and perfectly capture a sense of childlike wonder. Also on display throughout 2012 are some of the gallery’s most prestigious works, as part of the new Masters From The Collection exhibition, a celebration of European art from the early Renaissance up to the 20th century.

THE JOY OF SIX As if the curtain-raiser for the 2012 Six Nations wasn’t mouthwatering enough already with Ireland kicking off under their own roof against the team they beat to lift the trophy in 2009, there is an added element to what is always a heated clash. That team, Wales, earned some measure of revenge last October at the World Cup in New Zealand, comprehensively putting a shellshocked Ireland side to the sword. It was a fully deserved

victory, one which left captain Brian O’Driscoll with no excuses and a desire for retribution. There can be no better tonic for Ireland’s ills than to bounce back with a victory against Wales on February 5, and with the careers of O’Driscoll and Ronan O’Gara entering their twilight years, this could be one of the final times that two of the finest to ever don the green jersey get their chance to cover themselves in glory on the big stage.

A VERY MOUNT JULIET CHRISTMAS The stunning surroundings of Kilkenny’s Mount Juliet Estate are expected to play host to over 20,000 visitors this Christmas. The decorations are up, the trees are lit and the lights are glowing from the front gate all the way in. The Christmas Village opens to the public from 12 noon to 9pm, every day between December 10 and 23. With 48 stalls packed with artisan produce, gifts, crafts and the homemade produce Mount Juliet has become famous for, you’re spoiled for choice. Children of all ages can look forward to the greatest railway journey of all as they prepare to board the Santa Train. Taking in story-time with Mrs. Claus, Santa’s workshop and a visit to Santa’s grotto, this is one train you’ll want to catch again and again. All aboard!

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GOFOR IT GRAHAM KEOGH

SHOW ME THE

MUSIC Three years ago, an idea emerged, fully formed and hungry, with the intention of uniting music fans from around the country – and further aﬁeld – all under one roof. And thus, The Music Show was born. Having comfortably established itself in the hallowed halls of the RDS, The Music Show has gone from strength to strength in a very short time indeed. The 2010 edition saw over 12,000 eager music lovers take part, engaging in everything from instrument master-classes to thought-provoking seminars from some of the most respected names in the business, including Bob Geldof, Louis Walsh and Steve Lilywhite to name but a few. But The Music Show is more than a great educational and fun experience, it’s also one of the biggest parties of the year. To date, the Live Stage acts have included acts such as Imelda May, Damien Dempsey, Villagers, The Cast Of Cheers, Fight Like Apes, David Kitt, Cathy Davey, Republic of Loose, The Coronas, Declan O’Rourke, Mick Flannery and Fionn Regan. With rumours circulating that the 2012 Live Stage will be the most impressive yet, this is one gig you can’t afford to miss out on. So get down to the RDS on February 25 and 26 and be part of the greatest interactive music event the country has ever seen.

THE SNOW MUST GO ON

IT S A SIN

Following a hugely successful run in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, Ireland’s most daring trickster takes his latest – and quite possibly greatest – creation on the road. As its title might suggest, 8 Deadly Sins is a particularly devilish concept. Apparently not content with using the established seven deadly sins to delight and terrify his audience, Keith Barry has unleashed the power of the previously unrevealed eighth deadly sin. Aided by his capable assistant Evagrius Ponticus, the 2009 ‘Mentalist of the Year’ transports the nature of the titular sin into the minds of those gathered before him. After one week, that knowledge evaporates, remaining only with the devious magician. But Barry is nothing if not charitable, offering audience members the chance to go home with a large cash prize, should they dare to get involved in his most dangerous escape act yet. Don’t miss 8 Deadly Sins when it stops of at INEC, Killarney on January 1 and the University Concert Hall, Limerick on February 8.

WORLD GONE TRAD

By now you’re likely to have gotten your mitts on Fallen Empires, Snow Patrol’s latest studio effort and possibly their greatest to date. Experimental and sonically daring without sacrificing the strong melodies and grand musical statements that marked them out as the biggest Irish band since U2, you get the feeling its songs will sound right at home in a live arena environment. Confirmation will surely come in the new year, as Gary Lightbody and his merry band take to the O2 stage in Dublin for two nights (January 20 and 21). Expect plenty of new stuff, seamlessly slotting in alongside the old favourites – we can picture the sea of mobile phones held aloft during ‘Run’ and ‘Chasing Cars’ already. Tickets for the O2 dates start at ¤44.05. If you find yourself north of the border, the band are also set to play Belfast’s Odyssey Arena between January 23 – 25.

What better way to start the New Year than by reflecting on your roots, and enjoying the great traditional music that is such an important part of our heritage? Now entering its seventh year of existence, the Temple Bar TradFest is a firm fixture on Ireland’s cultural calendar. The 2012 edition will have the biggest festival programme yet, packing the usual five days and nights with more high quality trade performances, showcases and workshops than ever before. The jewel in the TradFest crown will be the two shows from The Dubliners in the historic surroundings of Christ Church Cathedral, doubling as a massive celebration of the band’s 50th Anniversary. Casting an eye over the other headlining acts, the line-up looks very promising indeed. Down the road at Dublin City Hall, Franke Galvin will play on Friday January 27, showcasing his prodigious fiddle playing. Elsewhere, multi-instrumentalist Michael McGoldrick will kick off the festivities with Ed Boyd and John Jo Kelly at the Cathedral on January 25. And you can expect street theatre, film screenings, children’s entertainment and over 200 free events. Go to www.templebartrad.com for details.

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05/12/2011 19:22:53

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05/12/2011 17:49:08

GOFOR IT

ARE YOU

DANCING? Coming off the back of one of the most successful West End runs in years, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is about to take up residency for one month in the Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin. A lauded adaptation of the iconic 1987 film that made the late Patrick Swayze a star, all the songs, dialogue and dance sequences are retained on stage with an extra scene or two thrown in for good measure. It’s all part of the production’s first ever tour of the UK and Ireland. Penned by Eleanor Bergstein (who created and wrote the original film version), Dirty Dancing has now run for five years, during which time it has been seen by five million people and broken countless records. A musical par excellence. Further info can be found at www.dirtydancingontour.com.

LINE IT UP

Real quick, how many passenger journeys do you think are made on the Luas per year? Time’s up! The answer? Over 27 million. And counting! With the addition of new service lines, the Luas’ reach continues to grow. And with the availability of Park and Ride facilities, the full range of Luas services has never been better. Park and Ride allows travellers who live far away from a Luas stop and thus might not ordinarily hop aboard the zippy tram system to travel in style and spend as much time out of the car as possible. The Park and Ride system is available at a range of locations on the Red and Green lines and has proven extremely popular with the public. Now the people of Carrickmines get to see what all the fuss is about with the opening of the newest Park and Ride facility on the Green Line Cherrywood extension. The new facility boasts 352 parking spaces, including 12 disabled spots. In addition, there are four Electric Charging Bays to avail of, with more Bays planned to open shortly at Luas and Iarnrod Eireann locations. For details of Luas Park and Ride locations see www.luas.ie.

Martin Harvey and Hannah Vassallo

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05/12/2011 17:49:47

GRAHAM KEOGH

JUST FOR

LAUGHS

MINE YOUR STEP SANTA! The historic mines of Arigna, Co. Roscommon are home to the most unique Christmas experience on offer as Santa Claus brings his grotto deep underground to deliver a very special encounter. The Mining Experience Centre at Arigna was developed to preserve the energy heritage of the Arigna Valley and to ensure that the mines keep a link to their past. Visitors get the chance to explore and see what life was like for a miner in the 1700s but this December, Santa

“Terry Wogan’s heir apparent”, anyone? A recent quote that reflects both the wit and warmth of our Dara, and the extent to which the British have adopted him as their own. The big man from Bray may have started out as a student of physics and maths at UCD and gone on to present children’s TV on RTÉ, but today he is a ubiquitous figure on televisions across the British Isles, due to appearances on Mock The Week and QI. Lest you fear we’ve lost him entirely to our friends across the sea, he makes a welcome return home in the New Year. His lengthy run in Vicar Street, the finest venue in the country for comedy, begins on January 5. If you’ve seen an Ó Briain gig before, you’ll know it mostly consists of off-the-cuff banter between comedian and audience so be sure to bring your best goodnatured heckles. And if you don’t find yourself in the capital, Ó Briain will take to the INEC stage in Killarney on January 21 and returns on February 23 for a performance at Mayo’s Royal Theatre. Tickets are available from www.ticketmaster.ie.

Claus will transform the famous locale into a winter wonderland. The 9th Annual Santa Underground takes you deep into the heart of the mines, offering the most authentic grotto experience imaginable! And the fun doesn’t stop there as Santa is bringing along magicians, puppet shows and other exciting activities. But don’t forget, Santa is a very busy man so make sure to catch him on the following dates: December 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22 and 23.

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05/12/2011 18:42:39

GONEWS

SMART TRAVEL

FOR A SMART ECONOMY

Peruse the Web at your leisure while travelling in comfort on the Dublin-Cork line

Free Wi-Fi is now on the Dublin-Cork train ﬂeet.

he roll out of free Wi-Fi to rail customers all over Ireland has begun.

Free Wi-Fi is now installed on all 67 carriages on the CAF Intercity ﬂeet on the Dublin-Cork route, with further expansion to Intercity railcars, DART and Commuter to follow. This will mean that free Wi-Fi is available for Dublin-Cork customers on the following trains: Mondays to Thursdays: All trains in both directions except 08.00 and 09.00 Heuston to Cork, and 11.30 and 12.30 Cork to Heuston (which are operated by Intercity railcars, see below for Wi-Fi plans). Fridays to Sundays: All trains in both directions. The contract to equip the Dublin-Cork ﬂeet and provide customers with broadband Wi-Fi was

awarded to Irish company FleetConnect, based in Dublin. Connection to the system is easy, with onscreen assistance for customers on board. Simply turn on your laptop, connect to ‘IRISHRAIL– WIFI’ and open your internet browser. If you encounter any problems, just call the Wi-Fi Support team on +353 (0)1 880 9600 (Monday – Friday 06.00 – 23.00) or email support@ﬂeetconnect.ie. WI-FI ON OTHER ROUTES In addition, Iarnród Éireann is planning further expansion of Wi-Fi to other services. By mid-2012, the company aims to have Wi-Fi available on the following ﬂeets: – Intercity railcars (operates Dublin to Sligo, Westport, Galway, Limerick, Tralee, Waterford &

Rosslare; plus Cork-Tralee), – DART & Commuter, – Dublin/Belfast Enterprise. The introduction of Wi-Fi on Intercity railcars, DART and Commuter is being supported by the National Transport Authority. Iarnród Éireann and Translink are working jointly to introduce Wi-Fi on Dublin/Belfast Enterprise services. With the proliferation of internet-ready Smartphones and tablet PCs, today’s rail passengers will be able to stay connected with friends, family and work colleagues, and they can be productive, informed and entertained during their journey. The roll-out of Wi-Fi across DublinCork services is the latest service enhancement on Intercity rail services in Ireland. Recent improvements have included: – New trains introduced on all routes over the past six years, – More frequent departures, – Online promotional fares at irishrail.ie from €10 each way on all routes.

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05/12/2011 16:56:09

PRESERVATION ONCE AGAIN

In the Royal Saloon at Heuston, former President Éamon de Valera chats with Senior Train Hostess Marie Nolan while CIE General Manager Frank Lemass looks on

The last of the historic State Coaches has been passed over to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.

n exhibition of the country’s historic State Coaches was held at Heuston Station across the October Bank Holiday weekend, with President Mary McAleese – in one of her ﬁnal ofﬁcial functions – opening the exhibition to the public.

Two special carriages, known as State Coaches, have transported presidents, royalty, emperors and others for a century. State Coach No. 351 operated on Ireland’s rail network from 1903 up to the early ‘70s, and State Coach No. 5408 from the ‘70s to the ‘00s. Almost 1,000 members of the public visited the coaches to view the ﬁne features and magniﬁcent craftsmanship onboard, including Connemara marble and Waterford Crystal, and discover a rich slice of Iarnród Éireann railway heritage. Those who have travelled on the coaches include: King Edward VII, President Mary McAleese, President Eamon de Valera, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the USA and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. As No. 5408 is now joining No. 351 in “retirement”, and is being presented to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI), President McAleese will be the last Irish president to have travelled in a State Coach. Iarnród Éireann and the RPSI also created a special exhibition of photographs and mementos of the State Coaches and members of the RPSI were on hand to provide guided tours of the Coaches throughout the October Bank Holiday weekend. Speaking at the opening of the State Coach exhibition, Dick Fearn, chief executive of Iarnród Éireann, said:

Former President Mary McAleese

“As we renew our railway, older facilities such as these carriages pass from use. While we focus on renewal, we remain committed to our responsibility to help preserve the rich heritage of Ireland’s railways. We are fortunate in seeking to meet this commitment to be able to work with partner organisations such as the RPSI. As we pass stewardship of 5408 to the RPSI, to go alongside State Coach 351, we know that our railway heritage, a heritage linked with that of the country itself, passes to partners who will ensure that it is preserved to be admired and celebrated by generations into the future.” Reminiscing of her own travels on board the State Coaches, President McAleese paid tribute to all involved in providing rail services across the network, but confessed that the brown bread served on board was her personal highlight, and sought out former catering staff for the recipe! Further information on the RPSI and Railway Preservation in Ireland, including details of steam train trips is available from their website, rpsi-online.org.

17 Train News GR1_4 2

05/12/2011 16:56:14

LET IT SNOW

DAVID GERAGHTY

GONEWS

DESMOND J BYRNE DESBPHOTOS.COM

The elements were no match for the Heuston-Cork express

Plans are well in hand to ensure that Ireland’s rail service will beat any big freeze.

arnród Éireann has been preparing itself in case we’re headed for a hattrick of ‘Big Freeze’ winters.

The prolonged snowfall of November to December 2010 in particular presented an enormous challenge, but the country’s rail network remained open for business, with over 97% of trains running successfully over the four weeks of “snowmageddon”! However, rail bosses have committed to strengthening services still further, should a similar weather event arrive this winter or in future years. Last winter, staff were deployed to focus on key junctions and points in the network, defrosting and unblocking points affected by ice and snow. This programme will continue, with a longer-term investment in point heaters at key areas around the network – these heaters will be installed during 2012. Iarnród Éireann also consulted with ScotRail, who have extensive experience of extreme winters, to take some short-term steps which are now in place. A lot of the focus is on the trains themselves, to improve reliability during prolonged freezing conditions. Measures taken include: – Pipework and valves trace-heated, – Protection measures against snow and ice, – Depot insulation, – Heated side-skirts and coupler covers for trains, not unlike lagging jackets for the underframes.

The DART ploughs a majestic path along the Dublin coastline

Formal procedures are also in place to get extra resources to clear station platforms and car parks during snow events, and to liaise with local authorities to ensure access to train stations is prioritised. Back-ofﬁce staff will also be used again to assist in station information, and phone information lines, with the company’s social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook also used to assist customers in their travel should conditions worsen. At time of going to press of course, we’re enjoying the mildest November in years, but the planning undertaken for extreme cold weather is an investment in service reliability that will pay dividends for customers if and when the conditions of the past two winters return.

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05/12/2011 16:56:17

SAVE MONEY

WITH IARNRÓD ÉIREANN D

id you know your train ticket is much more than a means of getting from A to B? With Rail Rewards, it also gets you discounts on a variety of quality products and services.

Iarnród Éireann has teamed up with hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, shops and services to help our loyal customers save more. Whether you travel on a Commuter ticket, or have your Intercity return in your hand, you’ll get the beneﬁt of Rail Rewards. Simply show your train ticket to get the discount. Here’s just some of the deals you can get with Rail Rewards right now: – 20% off family admission to The Aquadome, Tralee, – 15% off your bill at Captain Americas, Dublin and Cork (Monday to Friday), – 10% off your PC repairs with Computronics Solutions (for repairs over €100), – Special package for Iarnród Éireann customers at The G Hotel, Galway, – 10% off Glide Tours in Dublin – try out a Segway! – 10% off shopping at Kildare Outlet Centre (and don’t forget the free shuttle bus from Kildare Station), – 10% off accommodation and spa treatments at the Midleton Park Hotel, – €4 off admission to Sealife Bray with a valid DART ticket. This is just a sample of the discounts you can get. So before you book a meal, or a weekend away, or head out to the shops, log on to irishrail.ie and see the full range of Rail Rewards on offer.

Kildare Outlet Centre

IT’S EASIER R

ail Gourmet has provided the catering solution for Iarnród Éireann since 2007. We pride ourselves on delivering quality products, value for money and first-class customer service onboard. As Ciaran Foley, general manager of Rail Gourmet Ireland, explains: “Rail Gourmet has developed a relationship with Iarnród Éireann and its customers over the past five years. During this time, we have identified the needs of Iarnród Éireann and our customers and we strive to meet these needs on each service. The onboard catering environment is a diverse and dynamic industry to work in and can be challenging. However, with a skilled and experienced work force we believe we consistently deliver on our message of “First Class – Consistently”.

ONBOARD

Rail Gourmet Services include: – Trolley service directly to each passenger’s seat on all routes, offering hot/cold beverages, fresh sandwiches and snacks. – Breakfast service on selected morning services offering a wide variety of breakfast options, including freshly-cooked full Irish breakfast. – Gastro service on selected services offering hot meals and snacks. Our product offering includes hot/cold beverages, fresh sandwiches, hot snacks, confectionery, crisps, cakes and pastries, wine, beer, spirits, newspapers – something for everyone! We source product locally where possible so as to provide customers with a fresh and quality product. We offer value for money through competitive pricing and promotional

activity. Rail Gourmet also provides catering services for groups travelling on Iarnród Éireann. This service can range from providing hot beverages and sandwiches to offering a four-course meal on board. Rail Gourmet can cater for small or large groups and we work closely with groups to meet individual requirements. Ciaran adds, “Of course, none of this could be achieved if it were not for our dedicated team of staff. We currently employ approximately 175 people in Ireland, all of whom have the skills and experience to provide ﬁrst-class service to all customers”. So when travelling next by train, why not indulge yourself with something from our menu and experience the ﬁrst class service on offer with Rail Gourmet!

19 Train News GR1_4 4

05/12/2011 16:56:36

GOFEATURE OUR DAYS Y B AY M

MERRY With a Christmas tour of Ireland to look forward to, IMELDA MAY talks to STUART CLARK about Amy Winehouse, President Higgins, The Chieftains, a sloth called Lola and her new pals, the Obamas. MAIN PHOTO: GRAHAM KEOGH

’m not sure if there’s a record for the most other famous people met, but if there is Imelda May would definitely break it. Since erupting on to the scene with 2008’s Love Tattoo, the Liberty belle has shared oxygen with Jeff Beck, Lou Reed, Conan O’Brien, Jools Holland, David Gilmour, Meat Loaf, Elvis Costello, Terry Wogan, Hayley Westerna, Jay Leno, Noel Fielding, Wanda Jackson and Graham Norton, to name but a baker’s dozen. Her finest bit of celebrity hobnobbing took place though on May 24, 2011. “Yes, that’s when I got to meet Barack and Michelle Obama,” she tells Go Rail backstage in Oxford where in two hours time she’ll be entertaining another sellout crowd. “He gave me some special presidential M&Ms, which will never be opened, and Michelle, who’s an absolutely gorgeous lady, chatted to me about Chicago and all the legendary musicians who come from there. I’d say you’d get some great tales if you went out on the tear with her! “The whole day was amazing. We flew in specially to do the welcoming concert for them on College Green. From the stage you could see all the CIA men with the little microphones up their sleeves and the snipers on the roofs just in case. It was a massive operation. “The meet-and-greet,” she continues, “took place in the Bank of Ireland Mint Room, which was an experience in itself.

Before the President arrived, I had lovely chats with Gabriel Byrne, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Saoirse Ronan, The Coronas and all these other brilliant people.” Sadly, Imelda was unable to make it two Heads of State in a fortnight. “We were asked as well to play for the Queen, but unfortunately we already had a gig booked at Sunderland football club so we couldn’t disappoint them – even for Her Majesty!” she laughs. “On the plus side, my husband and lead guitar player Darrel is a massive Sunderland fan and got to have dinner with Niall Quinn. That was his highlight of 2011!” As well as promoting her new Mayhem album all over the planet – more of which anon! – Ms. May has also been shacked up in the studio recently with Irish music royalty. “I got a call from Paddy Moloney saying, ‘Do you want to sing on a song on The Chieftains’ 50th anniversary album?’ The answer being a shrieked, ‘YES!!!!!!!!’ Then he said, ‘Do you want to play bodhrán on it too?’, which I wasn’t sure about ‘cos these are the greatest traditional players in the world, but I gave it a lash and it turned out okay. I roped the lads from my band in as well, so you had the double-bass and the guitars dueling with the fiddles and the tin whistles. I think it’s great that The Chieftains have been around since 1962 and are still into experimenting with new artists like myself.” There was another meeting of great musical minds during the summer when Imelda guested on the new Mary Black

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GOFEATURE

I'M TEN YEARS OLDER THAN AMY SO I HAD MORE LIFE EXPERIENCE UNDER MY BELT WHEN ALL THIS CRAZINESS - AND IT IS CRAZY - STARTED album, Stories From The Steeples. “We got on like a house on fire, we really did. Mary sung her part so fabulously, I thought, ‘She doesn’t need me warbling all over it!’ but again I gave it a lash and it turned out really well.” Having conquered Ireland and the UK – lest we forget she has not one, but two Christmas shows coming up in the 14,000-capacity Dublin O2 – Imelda has been turning her attentions of late to the United States, where her star is very much in the ascendant. “I got a massive break last year when Jeff Beck, who’s a very dear friend of mine, asked me to sing on his Emotion & Commotion album, which got to No. 11 in the American charts. I was also part of the Les Paul tribute he did at the Grammys in Los Angeles, so suddenly everyone was wondering, ‘Who’s this funny Irish girl?’ Mayhem’s only just come out there, but there’s

already huge interest in it.” Indeed, “this funny Irish girl” has recently sung up a rockabilly storm on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Conan and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. An invite from David Letterman and Imelda will have the complete set. “I met all sorts of really cool people like Julie Bowen from Modern Family, Piers Morgan and Richard Patrick Harris who was Doogie Howser MD way back when. Best of all though was being on Jay Leno with the animal trainer David Salmoni and getting to make a fuss of the lion cubs, baboon, pelicans and sloth called Lola he had with him. She was so cute!” Having shared a lot of the same influences – Billie Holiday, Wanda Jackson, Etta James etc. etc. – I imagine Imelda would’ve been saddened by Amy Winehouse’s death in July. “Ah, what a talented girl,” she sighs. “People

ask me about Amy a lot, but I can’t provide much insight because our lives were worlds apart. She went to the Brit School where the emphasis is very much on success, while I was in the pubs making my mistakes in front of about 20 people. I’m ten years older than her and been gigging for 21 years, so I had more life experience under my belt when all this craziness – and it is crazy – started. I’m at an age where I’m grateful for my success, not freaked out by it. I also produce my own records and decide 100% who I work with, so I’m in control of my own destiny. From what I’ve read about Amy, she wasn’t.” Although by her own admission not much of a political beast, Imelda was delighted last month when Michael D. Higgins was handed the keys to Áras an Úachtaráin. “I’m thrilled there’s a poet in the Phoenix Park!” she proffers. “You’ve got me up on my pulpit now – the arts aren’t nearly supported enough in this country. The first thing that gets cut in schools is the arts. Politicians think, ‘Ah, it’s just the frilly bit on the side’ but how much are our music, film and other entertainment industries worth? Billions! Never while I was at school was music mentioned as a career option, yet there are thousands of people making good livings from being producers, studio engineers, live sound men and women, managers, agents, PR people, journalists... the list goes on. I think having Michael D. as president will put the arts more centre-stage.” While we’ll probably have to wait until 2013 for a follow-up to Mayhem, there’s good news for Imelda fans desperate for new material. “I’m very proud to have become an ambassador for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Ireland who told me about this little boy who wanted to be a rock star,” she reveals. “He’s been through an awful hard time, so they set up a big stage and made his dream come true. I wrote a lullaby called ‘Make A Wish’, which everybody worked on for free and I’m hoping will raise lots of money for the foundation who do brilliant work.” As if that wasn’t enough to be getting on with, December 22 also finds Imelda making her DJ debut on BBC Radio 2. “I don’t know what time it’s going out, but myself and Darrel have recorded a pilot for what will hopefully be our own series,” she enthuses. “I’m the heart choosing the songs, and he’s the brain telling people when it came out, who’s on it and all the rest. It’s mainly rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly with a few additional surprises!” While meeting the Obamas is pretty hard to top, Imelda’s proudest moment of 2011 was being asked by her long-time champion Jools Holland to kick off the shindig at which he received his Music Industry Trusts Award. “Prince Charles wasn’t able to be there in person, but sent a message calling Jools ‘a fullblown national treasure’, which is spot-on. He could have had virtually anyone in the music business play for him, but went for myself, Rumer and Paul Weller. I thought we’d just do it and disappear but he said, ‘No, I want you on me table.’ It was great to see everybody in the room getting up and applauding him.” So it’s a year Imelda will remember for a long time to come... “Ah, for always,” she enthuses. “We’ve worked hard, played hard and had loads of laughs along the way. Happy Christmas everybody!” Imelda May gives her Mayhem album a live airing in the O2, Dublin (December 16 and 17); The Forum, Waterford (19); INEC, Killarney (22); The Big Top, Limerick (23); and Theatre Royal, Castlebar (31). The ‘Make A Wish’ charity single is out now.

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There’s so much more to Christmas shopping in Dublin City Centre. There’s the ‘night before Christmas’ buzz that makes you feel like a kid again. There’s the crunch underfoot and the nip in the air. There’s carol singing and merriment. And old friends around every corner full of goodwill and cheer. So go into the City Centre this Christmas and turn that shopping trip into a journey of discovery.

Let the City Centre surprise you

G28750 DCBA Christmas Map Phoneix A4 Scamp JJ.indd 1 Untitled-2 1

01/11/2011 16:01 05/12/2011 13:23:00

GOFEATURE

DARA Ó BRIAIN THE NICE GUY WHO FINISHED FIRST

He is the beloved host of the BBC’s Mock The Week, regularly appears on our screens on The UK Apprentice: You’re Fired, Stargazing Live, and Three Men In A Boat, not to mention sundry gigs as a panellist on numerous quizzes. You can also guarantee he will spend a good chunk of the year on the stand-up circuit. Just how does DARA Ó BRIAIN do it? WORDS Roisin Dwyer PHOTO Graham Keogh

s we meet for a chat in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel, Dara Ó Briain has several other interviews to attend to as well as a Late Late Show slot to prepare for. And of course, above all else, there is the pressing matter of where to watch this evening’s European Qualifier with Estonia. There is not a minute in the day unaccounted for.

Despite these pressures, the Bray comedian is faultlessly pleasant and polite during our exchange. This professionalism and genial manner, in addition to his prodigious talent, has surely contributed to him being dubbed ‘Terry Wogan’s heir apparent as Britain’s favourite Irishman’. “That I think is a bit of guff, Graham Norton is Terry Wogan’s heir apparent,” he smiles. “I think it’s a bit of a misnomer, I feel it’s a bit weird when people say that, because Terry Wogan wasn’t a stand-up. I’m going after Dave Allen’s legacy.” When I protest that the comparison is meant to reflect the fondness and goodwill of the British towards him, he is still reluctant to accept the compliment. “It’s a sweet thing for people to say, but it does tend to overlook Norton who is the chat show king on BBC at the moment and does the Eurovision,” he points out. “I remember years ago standing at a bus stop when I had just gone over to London. I was waiting for my £1 night bus to get me home to the box-room in Ed Byrne’s house I was living in, and I was feeling a bit mopey, the whole grind of being on the circuit and all that. I looked up from my bus stop and there were two billboards with Graham Norton lying across them. So frankly I find it funny when people presume I am in any way at that level!” he laughs. Having moved to London ten years ago and done such a good job of endearing himself to the locals, we query Ó Briain’s sense of identity. Does he in anyway feel like a Brit? “God no, I’m still very, very Irish,” he states. “I find it actually slightly irritating on Twitter

when people go, ‘Sure you’re only a Brit now’ which I think is a bit weird. I am still very Irish, I still speak the language. I am not here day to day and I also don’t feel I should vote, because I think that would be inappropriate, for ex-pats to vote, I am against that.” Our interview coincides with Michael D.’s inauguration and Ó Briain expresses his delight with the result. He followed the race closely and admits he “did some urgent tweeting which I feel you must in these situations!” He also watched the Queen’s visit with keen interest. “We’ve never seen her smile in all the years I have been in England and she was beaming from ear to ear here,” he grins. “The thing that was most striking was she was smiling, then a week later Obama was smiling during his visit and the day after that Obama met the Queen in London and neither of them were smiling. We just seem to have an anti-authority undercurrent to our form of pomp which comes across very, very well.” He has, however, embraced his adopted home. Indeed, his affection for Britain and its residents is a subject that he deals with in his latest book Tickling The English, which through the prism of a tour diary allows Ó Briain to riff off humorously on his experience in the UK and highlight its cultural quirks and eccentricities. “It’s a fine country, very professional,” he asserts. “There’s a great pool of talent that is just a pleasure to be around. If you’re working with Stephen Fry one day and Ian Hislop the next, it’s like, ‘How great is this?’” One of the newer additions to his CV is his co-hosting slot on Stargazing Live with ex D: Ream keyboardist Professor Brian Cox. The programme allows Dara to put his mathematical physics degree from UCD to some use. “As part of that qualification I studied cosmology and relativity,” he explains. “I am doing more science broadcasting for the BBC over the next year or two and we’re doing a maths show for Dave next week. My nerdier side is given more rein now than it was, it is nice to be able to flex those muscles again. Was Dara a D:Ream fan?

“Yes, I think they’re on a compilation I have, in fact I think it was on my gym mix. But I have removed it now as it‘s a bit weird!” Ó Brian also managed to make time to break a world record recently, earning himself a place in the famous Guinness tome for ‘World’s Highest Comedy Show’. “Yes, myself, Jack Whitehall and John Richardson did the gig,” he notes. “I remember idly thinking, ‘Is there any way I could get into that book?’ and I thought I’d have to do something unbearable involving endurance or genuine skill. But this just fell on my lap! I have a cert which I will get framed, there’s a lot of things you think, ‘Aw I’ll get that framed’, but that will go up on the wall.” In the midst of all this mayhem, Ó Briain is also working on his new stand-up show, which will wing its way to these shores in the new year. “I have a disinclination to talk about what the show is about, simply because comedy shows are more like albums than they are theatre shows,” he explains. “You wouldn’t ask a band what the album’s about, because they’d find it a bit weird…’ So Beyoncé, what’s it about? It’s about, says Beyoncé, ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’ “So the show may have an overarching theme but it will be generally some usual nonsense,” he continues. “Weirdly, some time-travel features in it. There is some discussion of the riots, some silliness about Disney princesses, but really those are merely fragments.” So what does 2012 hold for Dara? “The tour will go on until November or December, so everything is woven around that,” he concludes. “I do another Apprentice, another Stargazing Live, another Mock The Week, another Three Men In A Boat and about 150 tour dates. The issue for me now is what am I doing in 2013, because that will be the first chance that I get a bit of a break.” Godspeed sir! Dara Ó Briain tours Ireland throughout January and February. See www.daraobriain.com for details.

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05/12/2011 16:59:45

GOFEATURE

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05/12/2011 16:55:46

NO ORDINARY

JOE Not content with presenting one of Ireland’s most listened-to radio shows. JOE DUFFY has now hit the best-sellers list with his pulling no punches autobiography. Family, inequality and critics are all on the menu as the RTÉ man meets OLAF TYARANSEN. PHOTOS Ruth Medjber

roadcaster Joe Duffy looks ever so slightly wary as Go Rail approaches him in the residents’ lounge of the Galway Radisson Blu on a bright Saturday morning. It’s only to be expected. On page 196 of his newly published autobiography, Just Joe, the controversial Liveline presenter warns, “Beware of print interviews, where you cannot control what ends up on the page.” He laughs when I mention this. “I think I was advocating the power of the unedited radio interview, where you’re live and what you say is what people hear. You know yourself.” The power of live, unedited radio can sometimes prove an expensive weakness, as RTÉ discovered to its cost a few years ago, when a caller to Liveline libelled PR consultant Monica Leech live on air. Surprisingly, despite the hefty payout to Leech, the show still doesn’t have a time delay, and its 55 year-old presenter doesn’t have a kill-switch in the studio. “There was a big committee set up, but I haven’t heard back from them,” he says, shrugging. “I don’t have the control over the callers or microphones – I can cut off my own mic, which is a wonderful thing to be able to do – but I can’t cut off the callers. That’s the sound operator outside.” Duffy’s in town on the Just Joe promotional trail. While it’s not quite a rags-to-riches tale, the debut author is impeccably dressed this morning, wearing an expensive grey suit, silk scarf and crisp cufﬂinked shirt. He’s doing a signing at Easons at midday and will be travelling to

Mullingar for another one later in the afternoon. Very much a people-person, he tells me that he enjoys the book signings. Not only does he get to meet his audience, but some of them may have decent story leads for Liveline. “I do like meeting people and going around signing books or whatever,” he says, pouring a cup of tea. “What a lot of people are doing is handing me – I shouldn’t say ‘envelopes’ because that did in [presidential candidate] Sean Gallagher! – but handing me envelopes with their stories and saying, ‘Can you give me a ring about this?’ and that’s ﬁne. After each signing, I have a bag with me with about six or seven different letters.” It seems everyone wants to ‘talk to Joe’ (as the Liveline promo goes). Obviously with a daily listenership of 400,000, this simply isn’t possible, but now they can at least read him. Opening with a lengthy, and occasionally somewhat grim, account of his family history, Just Joe chronicles the life and times of “the boy from Ballyer” who went on to become one of RTÉ’s biggest and best-paid stars. While some of his memories of growing up as an impoverished working-class Dub are fairly clichéd, he’s commendably honest about his late father’s alcoholism and his younger brother Brendan’s ongoing struggles with drug addiction. He tells me that his troubled sibling has read the book and doesn’t have a problem with it: “The last conversation I had with him was two days ago, and it’s a conversation we’ve had time and time and time again. As I say in the book he is easily the brightest in our family. In terms of ability, he’s

very artistic, very creative. He made good choices along the way and he’s made bad choices, and at the minute he’s in one of those areas where he’s not making good choices for himself. He has got the ability to make good choices, and he does know how to access services, and he does know how to access help.” Duffy’s own personal struggles weren’t with drink or drugs – rather they were with Ireland’s class system. Determined to break out of the poverty trap and make something of his life, he studied hard at night classes after doing his Leaving Cert, and eventually went to Trinity in his early 20s, becoming one of the first from his neighbourhood of Ballyfermot to do so. Fuelled with a strong sense of selfrighteousness and anti-authoritarianism, and a natural-born campaigner, he ultimately became president of the Union of Students in Ireland. At one stage, he served a fortnight in Mountjoy for his involvement in a protest over the threat to take medical cards away from students. “I think they completely misunderstood us,” he says of the Trinity authorities. “They completely over-reacted, for a start. Every time we did anything they ran to the High Court!” After Trinity, he became a probation officer for a time before unexpectedly landing a job as a producer in RTÉ. While his career at the national broadcaster hasn’t been without its hiccups – he was unceremoniously dropped as roving reporter for The Gay Byrne Show in 1996, and bounced peripatetically from gig to gig for a time – he certainly hasn’t fared badly there. Having filled in for original presenter Marian Finucane at various

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GOFEATURE points, he eventually took over the Liveline mic permanently in January 1999, and has since very much made the show his own. While its detractors dismiss it as ‘Whingeline’, he’s obviously doing something right. According to the most recent JNLR figures, it’s the second most popular radio show in Ireland. While some of the criticisms hurt, he knows it’s all part of the game. “You’re never as good as critics say you are, and you’re never as bad as critics say you are,” he says. “I think the biggest downfall for people in our business is hubris, believing your own publicity.” On a personal level, Duffy doesn’t seem to have any demons left to slay. Happily married to June Meehan, he’s the proud father of 16-year-old triplets, and reads, paints and collects model fire engines as hobbies. When not relaxing at home in Clontarf, he “lives, sleeps, eats and breathes Liveline.” While he obviously loves his job, it’s not without its insecurities. “There’s a story I tell in the book, about the fella I was in college with who was away in Sweden for years and he rings his mother and says, “What’s Joe Duffy doing now?” and the mother says, “He just answers the phones in RTÉ.” You live in that insecurity but then you ask yourself, “Hang on, Joe, if you’re so worried about insecurity, why are you in this job?” Broadcasting is so full of insecurity because nobody knows what works properly and what doesn’t work. That’s where I find myself. There’s no grand plan. There has never been a grand plan.” Just Joe is published by Transworld Ireland.

As a conversation on the joys of train travel winds down, the familiar voice of Liveline offers up a little known personal fact. “I go to model railway exhibitions a lot,” Joe Duffy says, unprompted. “I just like models. I collect mocks of fire engines, and any of those exhibitions are always built around model railways. We did a piece on the radio about the Fry Model Railway up in Malahide recently. It shut down and they lost their premises, so we tried on the radio show to find them new premises. No location has been confirmed yet, but hopefully it’ll see the light of day very soon. The Fry Model Railway is a national treasure, it really is.” Going on what the seasoned RTÉ broadcaster and avid rail enthusiast says, there is a huge amount of interest in all things model and miniature on this island of Ireland. “It’s incredible,” he explains. “I was surprised myself at the level of interest. I went to an exhibition in Clontarf at ten o’clock one Sunday morning and the place was jammed. You could not get into the car park. Sad, isn’t it?! (laughs)". So does Joe return to a humble abode overrun with small-scale tracks? He might not quite don a cap and play conductor, but he does have his own collection: “As much as I can squeeze in without being thrown out!” His enthusiasm for the locomotive isn’t restricted to mock-ups. “I went up to see the presidential carriages at the White Abbey Museum up the north. That’s a fantastic museum. The carriages were on display at Heuston before they headed north, so I saw them there and also looked around at all the new rolling stock. Iarnród Éireann is now a completely different company to the one with the wooden carriages we grew up with. I love train travel. And, number one, it’s safe. The safest form of transport in the world

MODEL CITIZEN Joe Duffy on the enduring fascination of railways.

and Ireland, thank god, has had a fantastic safety record, which is not remarked on enough.” Joe Duffy resides in Clontarf with his wife and teenage triplets. A beloved Dubliner as well as a venerated radio personality nationwide, it was in his early stomping ground of Ballyfermot that his fascination with railways took root. “I grew up beside the Inchicore works in Ballyfermot. It was 73 acres, a massive site, and thousands of men worked there. A lot of them were from Ballyer and there used to be a little link lane between the Inchicore works and the bottom of Ballyfermot Road. We used to call it the Khyber Pass, don’t ask me why! “At half ﬁve every evening, thousands of men used to stream through that gap on bikes. Because it was a mechanical works, we’d get ‘steelies’ from there – ball bearings for playing marbles. So if we knew anyone whose da worked there, they were our best friend for a few days every year. I’ve been into the Inchicore Works a few times and it is fascinating. “I was going through there a few weeks ago on the train from Cork and I was thinking that you could nearly do tours of it, it has such a great history. It’s nearly 160 years old and still operational. The railway ran at the back of our house, the Dublin-to-Cork line along the canal and the back ﬁelds of Ballyfermot.”

His affection for that part of the city and its track-laden landscape is evident. While Duffy is too busy to get away from Dublin often nowadays, he loves the prospect of getting the train. His choice of destination is, somewhat inevitably, tied in part to family. “My brother works for Keelings Fruit down in Wexford, so I’d get the train there quite a bit.” Its proximity to Dublin also appeals to his daughter and two sons, who are at an age where independence is important. “I’ve three 16 year-olds now, so it’s close enough for them if they need to get back to Dublin for sports or whatever. They’re not stranded!” Naturally, the inherent splendour of the southeast is a big part of the attraction as well. The trip alone appeals to Joe. “That train journey must be the nicest in the world. It goes through the city, which is great for looking in people’s back windows, and then heads out to the coast, around Bray Head, teetering on the cliffs, down to Greystones… it’s magnificent around Arklow, going over the river and then literally down through the streets of Wexford. It finishes at Rosslare Harbour, so you could go from Dublin to France. Hop on a ferry. I’ve travelled on the trains in France a bit.” Most of the time, however, Duffy is content to stay on home soil. With Wexford having so many beauty spots, which would be his ideal location for a holiday? “I’d say my favourite town is Gorey. It’s a lovely town. They have Marlfield House and the Seafield Hotel, which is a fantastic place, even just for popping in. A lovely pool and leisure centre. Excellent food. Between the Seafield and the Marlfield, which are within ten minutes of each other, you have two of the best eating places in the country.”

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his isn’t the first time I’ve met Danny O’Reilly, but each time I do I’m surprised by his friendliness and warmth. When The Coronas’ frontman walks into the Library Bar in Dublin, he greets me with a big hug, asking me what I’ve been up to. Something tells me his story will be a bit more interesting, however, seeing as my glamorous lifestyle centres around my laptop, endless cups of tea, and the almost daily realisation that I’m still in my pyjamas at three in the afternoon; while he’s been over in LA recording The Coronas’ third album Closer to You with Tony Hoffer, known for his work with Air, Beck, The Kooks and Belle & Sebastian.

“Yeah, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks!” O’Reilly enthuses. “Going to LA was a bit of a gamble, to be honest, we had no idea what to expect. We’d never met Tony before, just emailed and spoken on the phone, but his CV spoke for itself, so we were thrilled to be working with him.” Released in November, O’Reilly’s confident that their new album marks a certain evolution and maturity for the band. Personally, I’m intrigued by ‘What You Think’, a track that’s steeped with frustration and whose repeated refrain of “I’m tired of what you think/I’m not going to compromise for you” has an undeniable edge to it. What was it that managed to get the easy-going Terenure lad so worked up? “It’s about nay-sayers I guess, people putting us down, that whole musical snobbery thing. We’ve always faced criticism about being lightweight, and

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we always knew from day one that people were going to have a go at us for being a pop rock band. You just get over it! I mean we still get abuse, I get people coming up to me saying, ‘That ‘San Diego Song’, it’s the worst song I’ve ever heard!’ But it honestly doesn’t bother me. If it did I wouldn’t be here doing this. The only thing that would bother me is people saying that we’re somehow pulling the wool over our fans’ eyes, that it’s a formula and we sit around going, ‘Oh, well people like slow ballads’ so The Coronas go write a song like ‘Someone Else’s Hands’ because we know it’ll touch a chord. That annoys me because our stuff comes from an honest place. We’re not manipulative.” I’m a little taken aback when he admits that one of the tracks, ‘The Blind Leading The Blind’ is about him considering moving to London – on his own. Behind the band’s unique bond was the

fact that they grew up together, were childhood friends and were largely inseparable, and now their frontman is leaving the country. This isn’t the start of a Bressie-like move into solo work? “No, no, not at all! The only time I ever thought about going solo was just before Dave [McPhilips] joined the band and we were a threepiece. And I think that if you’re a three-piece you have an amazing frontman who’s just a whiz at pedals and guitars or samples and all that stuff, and I’m definitely not. So I felt we had gone as far as we could go as a three-piece – I never said this to the boys. And Dave always says he came in just at the start of the party because he didn’t have to do any crap gigs, because when he came in we already had a following. But the way I look at it, he saved the ship. I don’t think we could have gone further. But it wasn’t just about finding a fourth member. The way we work as a band,

how we get on – it wasn’t getting a guitarist, it was getting a Corona. And now I wouldn’t do it any other way – if you go solo, when it’s good you don’t share it with anyone. And when it’s bad you can’t share the blame! I dunno, maybe in ten years I’ll do a solo album for the craic, but probably not. I’m a Corona, that’s the way I like it.” So if his relocating isn’t a career-focused move, it is safe to assume it might have something to do with a certain blonde-haired MTV presenter? The singer doesn’t even try to suppress the earto-ear grin that instantly spreads across his face. “Maybe... yeah!” Though he’s been seeing Laura Whitmore for a year now, it’s only recently that their relationship has started to attract real attention, most likely due to Whitmore’s rising profile in London. The Bray beauty is not only a successful presenter and DJ, but has become the face of two clothing campaigns, RoC skincare products, a spokesperson for charity, and was recently voted ‘Sexiest Woman in Ireland’. You go, girl! But while the Irish singer has always been a somewhat shy character, never seeking out press or attention, Whitmore’s personal life has fast become a source of fascination for many. And as she tweets about her loving boyfriend or mentions him in interviews, it means that O’Reilly’s life is coming under closer scrutiny. “I try not to worry about it, but it’s been a bit of a learning curve,” he says. “You do get a bit worried about what you say publically I guess. With social media especially, if people can get a story or deliberately misconstrue something, the material is there waiting and they will. But I think you just have to have a thick skin about it. I think Laura deals with it brilliantly; she deals with the attention with such integrity, she’s so down-toearth and hasn’t changed at all. So she can talk about me in interviews all she wants – I’m just proud she’s doing well.” We all know that ‘The Joker’ from The Coronas’ debut album was a love song to Danny’s exgirlfriend. Given his loved-up state, is it safe to assume that there’s a track or two about Miss Whitmore on Closer To You? He laughs. “God yeah, about 80% of Closer To You is about Laura – sure how do you think I won her over!” But Laura isn’t the only woman who’s acted as a huge inspiration for the star – O’Reilly has also been collaborating with his mother, singer Mary Black, on her new album Stories From The Steeples, which features three songs from the pen of her son. “Mam has always encouraged me, from an early age and she’s the one who got me to write and I suppose our projects together have been building a bit. The Coronas had an old song that didn’t make it onto our album called ‘Indecision’ which she later changed to ‘Stand Up.’ She just really liked it and recorded it for one of her albums. Honestly, it was nothing to do with me being her son, Mam’s always recorded other people’s songs and she just loved that song. And then a couple of years ago there was a song on Tony Was an Ex-Con that she liked called ‘Faith In Fate’ that again she liked, so we recorded together. So this time around she was collecting songs from her new album and there were two songs that didn’t make our album which she liked, so she stole them!” I don’t think Irish mammys technically “steal” anything. O’Reilly laughs. “Yeah, you’re right. I owe her everything – if I can repay her with a few songs I’m actually being jammy!” Closer To You is out now.

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SATURDAY 25 TH & SUNDAY 26 TH FEBRUARY 2011. RDS, DUBLIN Come on down to TRY AND BUY all of the latest INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT LIVE STAGE featuring Ireland’s top acts INSTRUMENTAL MASTERCLASSES from the leading pros Get close to the artists in PUBLIC INTERVIEWS, SIGNINGS and APPEARANCES

IRELAND S BIGGEST EVER EXHIBITION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

THEMUSICSHOW.IE

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The rough diamond in Leinster’s rugby crown, CIAN HEALY, in conversation with CRAIG FITZPATRICK, looks forward to their forthcoming domestic and European campaigns, as well as discussing Ireland’s World Cup adventure in New Zealand and why it never pays to live in the past.

ou only need a handful of words to capture the essence of Cian Healy, who at the still-tender age of 24 is now an established cornerstone of both the Leinster and Irish rugby teams. Tender shouldn’t even enter the frame – in terms of physicality, Healy resembles a human battering ram. A perfect specimen of a prop, at 6 foot even, he’s almost square in dimensions, a mountain of a man that won’t be moved with ease once he crosses that chalked line. In terms of character, stoicism is the order of the day. He’s a keen student of his craft, but not overly absorbed with reflection. Ireland’s great white hope for the guts of the next decade, Healy is one of the biggest reasons why being tossed out of the World Cup in September doesn’t mean we can’t rustle up a few more Grand Slams in the not-too-distant future. Healy, undoubtedly, will be there faithfully at the frontline for both province and country. You might suspect that he wouldn’t be all too comfortable with harking back to Ireland’s initially promising, but ultimately underwhelming World Cup campaign in the southern hemisphere. Nevertheless, he has his thoughts on the matter, and is keen to take plenty of positives from it. Cian previously commented that, on our day, there wasn’t a team in the world that Ireland couldn’t beat. After a great start, which included an unforgettable win over Australia, the dream died in the quarter-finals, as we were unceremoniously trounced by a skilful and spirited Welsh side. What did he take away from his trip to New Zealand? “Opportunities, y’know?” he shrugs goodnaturedly. “I got to play against some top quality players. It’s something you don’t always get with the Six Nations or Autumn Internationals. You don’t always get to have such big experiences. Every game over there was so huge, sometimes the campaigns over here are a little bit smaller. Having such big build-ups was really great and there was great atmosphere over there as well.” There’s no doubting Healy’s personal highlight. It was in Eden Park on that magical night against the mighty Aussies, with his man of the match performance against one of the toughest teams he’s faced to date. “Australia probably would have been my highlight, yeah. I’d not played for a while because of my eye, so at that stage I was just dying to get back into the mix. I was biting at the bit to get out on the pitch, it was nearly like being given my first cap again, I was so fired up going on.” That one ended in triumph, so where did it all go wrong once we met Wales in the knock-out stages? They’ve proved quite the bogey team for the boys in green in recent memory. “Yeah,” Healy agrees. “They’re really after coming on in recent times. And they were completely nailed down with their study for that game, they knew where to cut us off and stuff like that. When a team’s that well-drilled on the opposition you have to hand it to them, it’s a tough thing to do.” With the international duties done and dusted, Cian and the rest of the crew had little time to relax before their season proper started once more. He speaks fondly of returning to the Leinster camp, getting back to business.

Cian Healy is tackled by Welsh defenders during the Rugby World Cup quarter-ﬁnal

“It was a good feeling, it was good to be back. The other lads said it was a nice fresh injection into the squad to have everyone back together as well. We’ve been drip-fed players as they come back in, recovering from knocks or being given ‘x’ amount of days off, so we’re starting to get back into the swing of it now as a full squad and are already back into rotation. Players have to be rested and that means other opportunities are given. It’s just back to normality really.” Business as usual, but not quite. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the Celtic League, comprising Irish, Scottish, Welsh and, since last season, Italian teams, has now been rebranded as the RaboDirect PRO12 and carries a great deal more clout than it once did. This is in no small part due to the continued success of the Irish provinces in European competition (Healy’s Leinster are the reigning Heineken Cup champions). This status, coupled with the increased professionalism in the Irish system, means that the old inferiority complex in relation to the English and French is long gone. It also means the old practice of top players neglecting the early stages is over – every player, Healy included, wants to tog out for every match. When I speak to Cian, he’s recovering from the glute injury that delayed an instant return, but has him raring to go against Treviso that weekend. “Of course I want to play every game. The week before last was the first game I missed in a long time. The physio was only just saying to me that he thinks that was the first time in my career that I’ve actually been out for one of these games injured. I like to get the mileage up on the legs, keep playing and keep in the mix fitness-wise. Whenever I’m given the opportunity to play I’m dying to get out there. The resting thing is a bit annoying but you’ve got to let the staff do what they’re doing. They’re professionals and know when they’re telling us when it’s right for us to rest. You’ve just got to take it and prepare yourself for the next game, the next chance.” It is the Monday afternoon before a weekend which he plans to spend smashing into Italian stallions for eighty entire minutes. What’s the prep like? “With the six-day turnaround, you have two pitch sessions and two gym sessions, a few small bits in between that and then a team run.” Does he get apprehensive when returning from a knock, a little more tentative on the pitch?

“Not personally, no, but I’d say that would be the case for a few people. They’d be thinking about it when they head back out there. Luckily, I’m able to put something like that behind me handy enough, I have that down. I’m just working away, with a bit of training to get the cobwebs off. Should be in good nick.” And so it proves – Cian and comrades go on to turn over Treviso with relative ease (30-20). It leaves them, at time of going to print, tied at the top of the RaboDirect PRO12 with Welsh powerhouse Ospreys. European champions Leinster may be, but the lads have been the bridesmaids and not the brides when it comes to the Celtic League itself over the last two terms. While Heineken Cup glory is the ultimate aim, and memories of their historic second-half comeback against the Northampton Saints are still fresh in the memory, two consecutive Celtic League final defeats must smart. Time to make amends? “You want to win when you get into that final game at home,” he concurs. “It’s a whole squad thing that you have to work at for a whole year. None of it means you deserve to be in a final or anything, but you keep ticking over and it becomes a week-by-week sort of scenario. Getting yourself up each and every week. You’re not thinking, ‘Oh, I want to be in that final’, it’s more just wanting to win as many games as you can as you go along. When and if you get there, you can deal with a final then.” You suspect Leinster’s chief rivals will be the high-flying Ospreys, but Cian could likely talk at length about each team’s strength. For him, victory lies within. “Every team is getting stronger and the defences are getting better all the time. I’d never really write anyone off. So it’s just a case of going out and doing your job. If you do your job well enough you win.” The cocksure attitude and confidence he displays has characterised the Irish team for over half a decade now. And it’s no happy accident. Ronan O’Gara might have talked of English arrogance back in ‘06, but it’s water off a duck’s back for the younger players coming through. “Five years ago I was in school so I wasn’t really paying attention to any of that!” he admits. “It hasn’t really been an issue for me. I’ve been lucky enough that when I came through playing for Leinster they were coming up to a real nice

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Some key clashes on Healy’s horizon.

LEINSTER V BATH – HEINEKEN CUP: DECEMBER 17, AVIVA STADIUM Coming just six days after Leinster travel across the water to Bath, the reverse fixture at the Aviva Stadium could potentially hold all the cards to Leinster’s progress in the Heineken Cup. Both sides are expected to qualify, but there’s more than just bragging rights up for grabs over their two meetings. For Leinster and Cian Healy, it’s essential that they finish in first place. As Healy knows, momentum in the Heineken Cup is like having an extra man lining up beside you. A first-place finish will not only strike fear into potential opponents, it would give Leinster the crucial home advantage going forward. While it is no guarantee that the top spot will be decided on December 17, it is certain that both teams will treat the occasion as if it were the cup final itself.

Ireland’s Cian Healy in action against Wales during the Rugby World Cup

place, starting to win things. You kind of breed the winning culture. [Former Leinster head honcho] Cheika had that and Joe [Schmidt, his successor] has come in and is really spurring that on even further. It’s not something that happens overnight, it’s something that’s been in the pipeline for years, long before I was there. It’s a whole building process to be better than the other teams and beat other teams in Europe.” Stirring words that should comfort those worried souls who felt our World Cup exit marked the end of a golden era for Irish rugby. Healy is clearly confident that he’s not the last young talent to (metaphorically) kick-in the dressing room door and claim a place. “The Academy is doing crazy work, it’s unbelievable. You really have to hand it to them. They’re in and out of the gym, they’re on the pitch, training with the senior teams. It’s great to integrate everyone so early as well. Before you’re even playing games, you know what’s going on. You know all about the culture that’s bred into the team and what the team stand by. Things like that are big when a player does get their opportunity. They know what to do and they’re not getting that ‘rabbit in the lights’ thing.” Still, the feeling in September seemed to be that, on an international level, it was the last chance saloon for a few of the older guard. Was there that sense in the dressing room? “I don’t know to be honest. It wasn’t really talked about. We put that behind us. It’s not something that you want to think about, it can get you down. I’m sure a couple of the lads have thought about it, that this might be their last World Cup. But I don’t think that anyone from that team is ruled out from any further international stuff. Everyone’s in pretty prime condition, there’s no one that’s dragging their heels, so there’s no reasons they can’t get selected for future internationals.” And who can blame them for wanting it to continue as long as possible? When speaking to Healy, it is obvious that he lives for the roar of the crowd. “You can’t beat a big occasion. It’s an honour to get out there in those type of stadiums – a filled Croker or Lansdowne. Or a filled RDS. That has an unbelievable atmosphere and it might be a better feeling

than any of them actually, because the support’s just been building and building. And no matter what size the games, we get full crowds at them these days.” Over the last decade, the game’s popularity here has grown immeasurably. The outstanding rugby achievements of our home sides have made the country proud, and put the Irish football team in the shadow, though their qualiﬁcation for Euro 2012 might redress the balance. Was Healy watching Keane, Given and the boys triumph over Estonia? “I had it on Sky Plus so I just ﬂicked through it afterwards,” he smiles. Healy isn’t the world’s biggest sports fan outside of rugby, opting instead to paint, or DJ. “I wouldn’t know much about football but it’s brilliant for the lads to get through, I’m sure they deserved it. It’s good to see the Irish getting themselves up the pecking order. Hopefully they can go on and do better things.” Regardless of crowd sizes or whether he’s pulling on the Irish or Leinster jersey, the Clontarf man is very much focused on the game at hand. In truth, when you have several almighty brutes thundering towards you at speed, it’s probably hard to concentrate on anything else. “There is a difference, but you still do what’s expected of you. You’re getting picked for Ireland based on how well you do at Leinster, so you’re not going to change how you play, you’re going to go out exactly the same. It might bring a different thing emotionally but you see that the better players are able to separate that emotion and just get their job done. You think about the occasion after the game.” Not that Healy is one for sentimentality. Instead of wrapping up with a look back at all he’s done to date, what does he see in his future? “I’ve achieved a good few things so far,” he says, as humble as he can possibly be. “I would have loved to have been a part of that Grand Slam team but there’s plenty more opportunities around the corner. I’m not really a person who looks back at anything though. I have a couple of medals but they’re down in the house with my mom, I don’t hang on to them. It’s all about going forward. If you’re gonna hang around in the past, you’re going to get left there. You’ve gotta stay going forward.”

LEINSTER V ULSTER – RABODIRECT PRO12 LEAGUE: DECEMBER 26, RDS ARENA There’ll be no rest for the wicked at the RDS Arena on Stephen’s Day as the mighty men of Leinster face off against a powerful Ulster side. Such a titanic clash coming just one day after Christmas seems somewhat cruel but what could be more mouth-watering than 30 angry men denied an extra helping of Christmas dinner? Ulster’s form has been shaky at best, with Brian McLaughlin’s men eager to turn things around against a game Leinster side that has looked impressive if not impenetrable in the league to date. It’s a big ask for Ulster, especially given Leinster’s home advantage, but the RaboDirect PRO12 league is nothing if not unpredictable. Expect festivities to be put firmly on hold until the final whistle blows. IRELAND V WALES – SIX NATIONS: FEBRUARY 5, AVIVA STADIUM When Ireland crashed out of the 2011 Rugby World Cup at the hands of long-time rivals Wales, there was little room for sentiment. The heroics of a famous victory over Australia in the group stages were quickly forgotten, while excuses were nowhere to be seen. The message was clear. It was time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and prepare for the Six Nations. Ordinarily, the opening match of the tournament is a heated affair no matter what team Ireland line up against, but with Wales making the trip to Dublin, it’s likely to be a memorable battle and one Ireland simply cannot afford to lose. Pride, dignity, call it what you like. Either way, this is the perfect opportunity to kickstart a massive campaign. With Ronan O’Gara rolling back the years in the Heineken Cup with devastating last-minute drop goals against Northampton and Castres, confidence in the camp is high. Time to make it count. LEINSTER V OSPREYS – RABODIRECT PRO12 LEAGUE: MARCH 23, RDS ARENA Few things are more entertaining in sport than when team-mates for the national team stand opposite one another in the name of glory. For Cian Healy, there will be no love lost, no quarter or inch given and certainly no messing around when he comes up against friend and countryman Tommy Bowe. The quicksilver Bowe has emerged as one of Ireland’s greatest rugby players of the last few years, displaying the pace, courage and intensity that has kept him in good stead at Ospreys. There has been almost nothing to separate Leinster and Ospreys thus far in the RaboDirect PRO12 league so you can expect a cagey, full-blooded affair with the winner likely to feed off the momentum that only victory in a top-of-the-table clash can offer.

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A seasoned sporting ground that holds a place in every Irish heart, thankfully, in 2011, CROKE PARK is anything but an ancient Celtic relic. In fact, it’s now one of the finest stadia in all of Europe. CRAIG FITZPATRICK meets PETER McKENNA, the stadium director charged with steering Croker through these modern times. MAIN PHOTO Andrew Duffy

hen we speak to the man at the helm of the good ship Croker, he is very busy indeed. Understandable, seeing as it’s the culmination of the GAA calendar and, for Peter McKenna, that means ensuring the enjoyment and well-being of over 80,000 matchgoers each game.

It’s easy to think of Croke Park in terms of history textbooks. The entrepreneurial nationalism of the early Gaelic games, the horror of Bloody Sunday and the stadium’s growth in recent times, mirroring the rise of a resurgent Irish nation. It is a place steeped in history, inextricably linked with the hopes and dreams, as well as the hardships, not only of sporting fans, but the country as a whole. Hallowed ground then, but tell that to the 30 men who tear up the pitch each game, the sides in the heat of the moment, showing little respect to their opposite numbers, let alone times gone by. It means that Croke Park is still very much alive and well, a venue brimming with vitality. In fact, it’s bigger than ever, not just capacity-wise, but in terms of international regard and the vast array of events that take place there. Aside from GAA and the recent holding of ‘foreign games’, a good number of colossal musical acts now pass through, with U2’s 360 dates being some of the biggest over the past couple of years. Peter McKenna took the reins in 2003, assuming the great responsibility of ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the Dublin 3 ground. Before getting to the here and now, we ask McKenna about those early years, when Stage Four of the stadium’s redevelopment was just underway. “I started here when the Canal Davin End was just going through completion and then we were

speccing out the Hogan Stand,” he explains. “So I was engaged straight away.” McKenna’s tenure has ushered in a new era of modernity for Croker, and Peter himself reckons one particular event in his first year marked the moment when the park announced itself to the world stage. “The Special Olympics in 2003 was the one major public event that really put Croke Park back on the map. We had an extraordinary couple of days here for the opening and closing ceremonies. That opening just dwarfs everything for me. Nothing has come close to it since. The emotion there, the happiness in so many faces, it was just extraordinary.” If that event brought the venue into the 21st century, there is an argument to be made that it brought its home games kicking and screaming with it. At the start of 2006, the GAA finally saw fit to allow foreign games enter the arena, making agreements with the FAI and IRFU to hold association football and rugby matches. It was a landmark decision, but the true effects on the Irish psyche, on history, were not felt until that first rugby meeting between Ireland and England. The Special Olympics may have set the stage, but that was pure catharsis. McKenna remembers it well. “That was obviously massive. It was the second rugby match but, given the history of the place, it truly was a seminal event. The response to it was fantastic, we really showed ourselves to be a mature country. That was very positive.” As the main man behind the scenes, many of McKenna’s personal triumphs are not on any grand scale, but come after much hard graft and logistical struggle. Often times, the fact they go unnoticed means he is doing his job. “If a fan suffers a heart attack and we get them to hospital, and they’re sitting up in bed, fine the

next day, there’s a huge sense of ‘Yes, we’ve got a great system here’. There are minor things that wouldn’t register for most but they are key to carrying out a successful event.” McKenna also acts to protect the true spirit of Croke Park, something he carried off with aplomb when he ensured Hill 16 remained as it was. “Retaining Hill 16 as a terrace was a very important step,” says McKenna. “It took a lot of persuading the City Council and a lot of planning applications to get right. Terraces give a certain atmosphere. When you go to stadiums like Old Trafford, they are impressive in their own right, but they don’t have the same atmosphere. It’s very hard when you’re sitting down to start singing and getting involved with a game. When you’re in a terrace and you’re standing together, it just works exceptionally well. That’s the great comradery of the GAA supporter. People do inter-mingle. You get that rival thing and the banter that goes on without the edge that’s attached to other sports.” Come match day, Peter is very much in work mode and concentrated on the crowd. It means he misses much of the onfield action. “You never get to see an entire Sunday game!” he laughs. “And it’s never the same when you know the result and you sit down to watch it. You just miss that tension. But with 80,000 people there – that’s like the population of Galway descending on Eyre Square. There’s always one or two people who will require medical assistance, who will get lost and need help. It does become a temporary city for a period. “We have so many volunteers that come in, and without their support the building would be very expensive to run. So I think it’s important to at least go around and say ‘hello’ to people who

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GOBUSINESS

Peter McKenna and (top right) Kerry celebrate winning the All Ireland Senior Championship at Croke Park in 2009

HILL 16 IS AN ICONIC PART OF DUBLIN, OF SIMILAR STATURE

TO THE GPO” are giving up their afternoon. That in itself is unique. Any of the visiting teams that come never appreciate that until they’re here.” McKenna also ventures to admit that, “I’m from Longford, so we only get to grace the park once every 15 years! I’ve become an adopted Dub.” For McKenna, Hill 16 is a sacred place in his adopted city. “I’d go as far to say that Hill 16 is an iconic part of Dublin, of similar stature to the GPO. And a Dublin crowd on the Hill is phenomenal, you’re not going to get that level of passion in any other sport or stadium in the world.” McKenna’s latest challenge has been to keep those numbers coming through the turnstiles in the face of recession. So far, so good. “Recognising the various pulls on people’s disposable income, we knew things would be difficult,” he admits. “People make a big commitment to travel from Donegal, feed the kids, buy them a hat and programme… We’re very, very aware that people are digging deep to keep supporting us. So we reduced our ticket prices at the start of the season. For the semi-finals, children got in for €5. That’s an extraordinary piece of value, you wouldn’t get into the cinema for that. The response has been phenomenal. The attendances for replays alone have been up from last year. It’s a fantastic feeling when you make a change and people respond positively. We’re nothing without the fans.”

KEY MOMENTS IN CROKE PARK'S RECENT HISTORY SPECIAL OLYMPICS OF 2003 A hugely emotional moment for all who witnessed it, as the World Special Olympics were staged outside the USA for the first time. Approximately 7,000 athletes from 150-odd different countries converged on Dublin for the games, whose opening and closing ceremonies were staged at Croker, broadcast around the world and attended by dignitaries including Ireland’s President Mary McAleese and a line-up of living legends that included Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Roy Keane.

ENGLAND’S RUGBY WARRIORS VISIT 87 years after the original Bloody Sunday, Croker was finally opened up to the once-feared ‘foreign games’ of soccer and rugby when the French rugby team came to town in February 2007. Two weeks later, it was England’s turn. To general amazement, a crowd of 80,000 kept up a respectful silence during the playing of ‘God Save The Queen’, then bellowed their way through surely the most impassioned massparticipation version of ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’ in living memeory. And Ireland proceeded to demolish England 43-13.

DUBS BRING SAM MAGUIRE HOME It isn’t courting controversy to suggest that the closing ten-minute passage of 2011’s AllIreland Senior Football Championship Final between Dublin and Kerry was probably the most dramatic and gripping in the association’s 127-year history, destined to be replayed for decades. Four points down to the Kingdom with seven points left, Dublin mounted an astonishing recovery. Stephen Cluxton’s stoppage-time free kick sailed over the bar to win Dublin the match by one point and send the vast majority of the 80,000 crowd into dreamland. After a 16-year drought, the Dubs had recaptured their Holy Grail.

U2 ROCK CROKER IN 2009 The world’s biggest rock band attracted a colossal crowd from all four corners of the globe to Croker for the most meaningful date on their massive worldwide 360 tour. Bono and pals used the occasion to broadcast messages from the International Space Station and political statements from such international figures as Desmond Tutu and Aung Sang Suu Kyi; perhaps not the sort of gestures to eradicate any reputation the band may have gathered for excessive grandstanding, but nobody was complaining. The crowd, unsurprisingly, adored it.

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GO DESTINATION: LIMERICK

GEM OF A JOURNEY She’s toured the world. Now Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter GEMMA HAYES shares her favourite train journey with Go Rail readers.

aving spent her formative years in Ballyporeen, Tipperary (a town that currently boasts just over 300 inhabitants), an adventurous soul like Gemma Hayes was always destined to see the world. And so it was that, post-boarding school in Limerick, she headed for the capital to undertake her college studies, before embarking on a songwriting career that has yielded four ﬁne albums to date, including her latest meisterwork, Let It Break.

gotten to play a whole bunch of the festivals as well. Electric Picnic was a huge highlight. It was great to see a packed tent. A lot of people said I was mad to release an album on my own. I wouldn’t mind if my songs were played more on the radio! That would help a lot but it just doesn’t happen and that’s ﬁne. “For me, it’s great to go to places I’ve never been before and for people to come out and see

me play. I played Letterkenny for the ﬁrst time the other night and I was convinced that I’d be playing to an empty room – but it was all bums on seats and it was brilliant. So that’s what it’s about. I’m not going to be able to rely on radio to reach people. I have to do it by foot... or by train!” Let It Break by Gemma Hayes is out now.

Back when she was a student – and subsequently as an aspiring singer-songwriter – she always got the train home. That journey still holds precious memories. “All my life I’ve been getting the train from Dublin to Limerick Junction,” Gemma says. “I’d get picked up by my dad from there. I just have so many lovely memories of wintertime on a train. Going down the country to Limerick Junction and getting off at the old train station. It was always such a special feeling.” She speaks in hushed, reverent tones. “Most of my song ideas come about when I’m travelling. Long journeys on a train are great for that. You sit there for a couple of hours. I’d bring my iPod and a magazine or read a book or whatever. But ultimately I actually begin to get inspired and just start coming up with songs.” While the Dublin-Limerick line might hold a place in her heart, her favourite train journey ever is personal: she travelled in England with her close friend Mark Linkous, the late great behind the wondrous Sparklehorse, who took his own life in March 2010. “If one particular train journey stands out for me, it’s because of that personal connection,” she explains. “I did a tour with Sparklehorse around England and myself and Mark Linkous became really, really good friends, nearly in a childlike way. We’d go buy pick ‘n’ mix. There was nothing rock ‘n’ roll about our friendship at all! He had a ‘minder’ and it used to annoy me because it made him incapable of doing anything, like booking a ﬂight. He didn’t have a phone – he didn’t even know how to use a phone. He had this guy doing everything for him. So I just said one day, ‘Look, let’s just get out of this city’. I think we were in Birmingham and I said, ‘I’m going to do the rest of the tour by train. You can go on your tour bus or you can come with me on the train’. So he decided to come with me. We didn’t tell anybody in his group of people and we made our way to London. It brings people back to the idea of jumping on a train and getting out of Dodge. Escapism. We started chatting to people on the train. And it was just wonderful, that sense of freedom, and adventure, which is unique to trains.” In the new year, Gemma Hayes will once again venture across the Irish Sea to continue promoting Let It Break. “The touring in Ireland has been going really well. It’s nearly ﬁnished now but I’ve just signed a deal to release the record in England so I start the whole thing up again early next year. It’s been brilliant and I’ve

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GOEAT

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THE ITALIAN

JOB The conversation and the rigtatoni con salsiccia were both sublime as ANNE SEXTON joined funnyman NEIL DELAMERE for lunch in Dunne & Crescenzi. PHOTOS Kelly Gaffney

“W

hat should I have? Lasagne? Or is that a boring choice?” asks Neil Delamere perusing

the menu.

“It’s a classic,” I counter. The Irish stand-up comedian is trying to decide on lunch. As Dunne & Crescenzi have quite an extensive menu and as we both love Italian – like just about everyone else in Ireland – it’s proving difficult for both of us. “What are you having?” he asks. The waitress comes over and explains the specials – we’re both drawn to the rigatoni with sausage, which sounds like a good, hearty choice for a winter’s day. Lunch decisions notwithstanding, Delamere is in fine form. His latest DVD, The Implement Of Divilment was released in November and he’s off on a nationwide tour. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s completed a documentary for RTÉ 1 on, of all things, Vikings. However, stand-up remains his first love. “Comedy is probably the only form of entertainment that the audience changes. Michelangelo didn’t paint the Sistine Chapel and then have a survey of what bits people liked and didn’t like. That said, I’m not comparing what I do to Michelangelo!” he laughs. “The great thing about stand-up is that there are so many ways of doing it and so many venues you can see it in. Some of the best things I’ve seen have been in dark, tiny, underground clubs. I was in the Comedy Cellar when Dylan Moran was announced and nobody believed it, but then he walked out. The vibe in the room was incredible, which you just don’t get in a larger venue.” That Delamere is a comedian at all happened completely by chance. “It was just something interesting I thought I could try before I was 30. I was in college and my friend and I decided we wanted to do mad things. We had running with the bulls in Pamplona, diving off cliffs in Acapulco, try standup and parachuting. It was a random list, kind of

a bucket list for 22 year-olds.” So how many of them has he worked his way through? “Including stand-up comedy? One!” he laughs. “I’d love to do the bulls still. Actually I’ve done the parachuting and diving with sharks and bits and pieces. I’m a bit more scared as I get older and closer to death!” Before embarking on the comedic life, Delamere studied the slightly less funny subject of software development. “I worked really hard to get the degree too. My parents will probably never forgive me for it! They’re certainly glad that I finished college first. I don’t want to explain to them that nine or ten years on, everything I learnt is probably completely out of date. I don’t want to take that back-up option away from them.” By this stage his parents can probably breathe a sigh of relief. Neil is one of Ireland’s most popular comedy acts and regularly plays to soldout crowds. “I did a show with four people once. One of the girls was an actress and I asked her if she had an audition piece. She said ‘yeah’ and I asked her if she wanted to do it. I thought it would be fun and that it would waste five minutes of the hour I had to fill. So she did it – and I’d worked really hard to get a bit of craic going – and it was about her friend being killed. She was proper weeping at the end and I’d 15 minutes left. Thank you Mary! But she was a great actress.” Embarrassing turn of events can happen on stage, says Delamere, which is one of the joys and risks of doing stand-up. “I had a guy once in Edinburgh in the front row of the audience and I couldn’t see his right arm. I presumed it was under his shirt in a sling or something. I said to him, ‘Do you mind if I ask what happened to your arm?’ He flattened down the shirt and he had no arm. I wouldn’t have asked him if I’d known he’d lost his arm – I thought he’d just sprained his wrist or something. He decided to screw me over and he goes, ‘Do you want to know how I lost it? I’ll tell

ya. It was a landmine.’ And the audience goes ‘Oh my God!’ It just descended into the pits of hell!” Not a situation which offers an easy, funny comeback. “No. But his son of about 14 was beside him and he goes, ‘No you did not! You were driving the car pissed!’ And the audience burst into laughter. He actually ended up telling me later outside how he’d lost it and it was quite a tragic tale. He was a lovely man but that was definitely one of the more awkward moments onstage. When you speak to the audience, that’s what gives every gig its spontaneity, but there is also an inherent risk. The risk becomes smaller the longer you do stand-up and the more experienced you become as you learn to read the audience. The one thing I think is really important is that I have no interest in talking to people and making them feel uncomfortable.” Making people squirm is the modus operandi of some funny men and women, and while Delamere reckons that in comedy no subject is strictly prohibited, he also believes that many other factors come into play. “It depends on who is doing the joke. There’s a big difference between somebody black doing a joke about slavery and me doing that kind of joke, obviously. In the purest sense, nothing is off-limits, but I generally have no interest. Invariably the things I find funny and talk about is stuff about my own life. When you write, you need some stuff that is less transient and topical so that you can tour it in nine months.” Delamere’s working method is to make notes in the wee hours. This, he says, often takes some effort to decode. “My phone is like a notepad beside my bed. I get my ideas in the time between going to bed and falling asleep. I spend the next day trying to put together this ridiculous, somnambulist jigsaw back together asking, ‘What did I mean by badger chests? What’s funny about that?’ It’s like trying to decipher the babblings of a raving lunatic!”

CONTINUED OVER

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GOEAT

Say cheese: buffallo mozzarella & tomatoes in Dunne & Crescenzi, and below, the rigatoni

A MATTER OF

TASTE

STUART CLARK on gastropubs, must-have cookbooks, and sweet Christmas treats.

THE DAMAGE Dunne & Crescenzi, 14 – 16 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2. Tel: +353 (0)1 675 9892 Neil began with the bruschetta with vine tomatoes, goats’ cheese and grilled peppers for €7.50. This is a very generously proportioned starter and is a meal in itself. I had the Caprese salad of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes. At €10, this may be expensive comparatively speaking, but the quality of the mozzarella is certainly worth it. For mains, we both decided to have the special, rigatoni con salsiccia – pasta tubes filled with Italian sausage for €14.50. This dish was rich, full of flavour and very filling. Unfortunately that meant that neither of us could manage a third course. Desserts are priced from €3.75 to €6.50 and include a variety of gelato. I ended the meal with a latte, which for a restaurant is extremely well priced at €2.50 As we were driving neither of us could dip into Dunne & Crescenzi’s extensive menu of Italian wines, which are priced from as little as €4 per glass or €20 per bottle. The Implement Of Divilment is in stores now. For tour dates see www.neildelamere.com

HUNTING HIGH & GASTRO The days when the serving of all pub grub was preceded by a “ping” are thankfully long gone. From Malin Head to Mizen Head, bars are ditching the microwaves and putting together menus that yer’ Marco Pierre Whites and Heston Blumenthals would happily put their names to. The scale of the revolution was evident last week when our tweeted appeal for people to tell us their favourite gastropubs resulted in hundreds of replies extolling the virtues of everywhere from Meery’s Bar in Dungarvan and Hunter’s of Galway to Clonakilty’s An Súgán and Moran’s Oyster Cottage, which can be found on the weir in Kilcolgan. To that list we’d like to add Sean Mac D’s, a refurbished old man’s pub (69 Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6W. Tel. +353 (0)1 497 6832. facebook.com/seanmacds), which puts serious amounts of love into its food. The menu changes on a regular basis, but the must-tries when we visited were ham hock & black pudding terrine with apple purée; wild mushroom gnocchi with parmesan & spinach; pork & leek sausages with chive mash & onion marmalade; creamed chicken & portabello mushroom pie and a home-made bread & butter pudding your ma would be proud of. The prices are right too with starters from €6.95 and mains from a tenner. Watching us while we feasted were Sean Mac D’s sitting or, more accurately, laying tenants – four hens who have their own bijou coup next to the beer garden. With an equally impressive wine and artisan beer list, you really can’t go wrong!

Wild about the mushroom gnocchi in Sean Mac D’s

DUNNE DEAL! Having been a place of pilgrimage for the capital’s Italian food lovers since 1998 – their South Frederick Street, Dublin 2 and Sandymount Village enoteca are never anything other than packed – Dunne & Crescenzi have produced a sumptuous cookbook, The Menu, which reveals many of the tricks of their trade. Among the cucina tipica delights are squid ink pasta with fruits of the sea; chicken roulade with mortadella & spinach and a tiramisú with vin Santo wine, which while unlikely to gain Weight Watchers approval, is obscenely good. Also on the Go Eat must-read list is Pat Whelan’s An Irish Butcher Shop, a carnivorous “food lover’s companion”, which can be ordered from jameswhelanbutchers.com. One of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, Pat presides over both his family’s butchers in Clonmel’s Oakville Shopping Centre and a unit in the new Avoca Food Court, which opened for business at 11.11am on 11.11.11 in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. THE CANE EVENT Our old foodie friends Pandora Bell have come up trumps again with their Christmas sugar candy canes, which are available from pandorabell.ie and sweet-toothed stockists nationwide. Run by Limerick woman Nicole Dunphy, their honey nougat and salted butter caramels are also things of immense beauty!

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Untitled-2 1

05/12/2011 13:33:28

GOFOOD&DRINK

H PPY ��

he festive party season is upon us again, and this year there’s an unparalleled range of artisan Irish beers to make sure your celebrations are extra special. A name you mightn’t be familiar with but will be getting to know intimately – trust us! – is Carrig Finest Irish Craft Lager (carrigbeers.com & Facebook), a new golden 4.3% ABV draught beer that has a clean, hoppy taste and a thirstquenching ﬁnish. Brewed in Banagher, Co. Offaly using just four ingredients – water, barley, hops and yeast

– Carrig is the brainchild of Sínéad O’Connell and her husband Martin Deegan, the General Manager of the Temple Bar who having been involved in the pub trade for over 20 years knows precisely what the discerning lager drinker wants. As Gaelgoirs will be aware, Carrig is the Irish word for “rock” and, along with its anglicised version, the reason we have towns and villages with names like Carrickmacross, Carrickfergus, Carrick on Suir and Carrigaline. Sínéad and Martin are from Carrick on Shannon in Co. Leitrim, home to the 16ft x 12ft Costello’s Chapel – the second smallest in Europe – whose

HOLIDAYS! The Irish craft beer revolution means that this Christmas will be cheerier than ever. STUART CLARK samples some of the must-try brews.

striking archway has been adopted as the beer’s emblem. Carrig is currently available in such fine Dublin hostelries as The Palace Bar, The Bank on College Green, The Temple Bar, Doheny & Nesbitt’s, Peter’s Pub, The Duke, The Grafton Lounge, The Porterhouse, Farrington’s, The Merchants Arch and The Bull & Castle. You can also discover its crisp full-bodied taste in Murtagh’s Bar and The Oarsman in Carrick on Shannon, with stockists being added all around the country over the coming months. The winner of Hot Press magazine’s recent Artisan Beer Taste Test – Michelin starred chef Kevin Thornton gave it a perfect ‘10’ – Tom Crean’s Premium Irish Lager (dinglebrewingcompany.com) is the 4.6% ABV creation of the Dingle Brewing Company who are co-owned by Kildare publican Nigel Flanagan and Jerry O’Sullivan, a local businessman who also rents out holiday homes and runs a seal sanctuary. “I was fed up of going to the pub and there always being the same four or five beers,” Jerry tells Go Rail. “I thought that there was a gap in the market for a lager that’s got character but isn’t too challenging to the novice, so I gave one of the world’s top consultants, Tim O’Rourke, a brief and he came up with the recipe for us. “Our first pint was sold this year at exactly 25 to seven on July 22, which is Tom Crean’s birthday, and in his old pub the South Pole Inn.” Already widely available throughout The Kingdom, Tom Crean’s has recently taken up Dublin residence in Smyth’s, Farrington’s, Against The Grain and McSorley’s. Jerry O’Sullivan’s passion for microbrewing is shared by Russell Garet, Head of Brewing at the Franciscan Well (franciscanwellbrewery.com) in Cork, which has been fighting the good fight since 1998. A draught-only brewery, the New Yorker combines modern technology with age-old tradition to produce such classic beers and ales as Blarney Blonde, Rebel Red, Friar Weisse, Writer’s Block Lager, Writer’s Red Ale and Purgatory Pale Ale. Garet’s latest creation is the limited-edition Shandon Century Extra Stout, which follows a 100 year-old recipe. It has a robust taste and more toasted malt character and hop bitterness than big brewery stouts. The aforementioned can all be sampled in their North Mall HQ, with a selection of Franciscan Well brews also available in watering holes like O’Neill’s Bar & Restaurant and The Ginger Man, which can be respectively found on Dublin’s Suffolk Street and Fenian Street. One of 2011’s big news stories was that most venerable of breweries, Smithwick’s (smithwicks. ie), launching a 4.5% ABC craft Pale Ale, which is available in both draught and bottle format. “People don’t always associate the word ‘craft’

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with bigger breweries but for Smithwick’s Pale Ale we only use natural ingredients – malt, yeast, water and aromatic Amarillo hops which we pick up from the sunshine states of America,” enthuses Smithwick’s Global Governance Director Billy Power. “They’re not used in any other beer in Ireland, and provide a lingering, sweet aftertaste, which is really nice.” A beer man through and through, Billy is welcoming of all the new craft breweries that have opened up around the country. “In a depressed economy, people look for value for money and try different things while using the confidence of a well-known brand,” he continues. “My hope is that Smithwick’s coming into the craft area will create a rising tide for all craft beers.” Amen to that! The aforementioned Kevin Thornton is also a big fan of the Carlow Brewing Company (carlowbrewing.com), which the O’Hara family set up in 1996 in Bagenalstown, an area renowned for its hop and malt growing. “We produce a wide range of award-winning, hand-crafted beers using all natural ingredients,” explains General Manager Kay O’Hara. “These include the creamy O’Hara’s Irish Stout laden with rich espresso and chocolate flavours; the full-bodied O’Hara’s Irish Red Ale with sweet caramalt and a distinctive roast bite; the fruity and refreshing Curim Gold Celtic Wheat Beer; the luxurious Leann Folláin extra Irish Stout; and the contemporary style zesty O’Hara’s Irish Pale Ale which has been highly acclaimed by discerning beer aficionados since its launch in 2009. More recently a limited edition-beer based on smoked malts, O’Hara’s Smoked Ale No. 1, has been getting a great reaction.” So there you have it, a range of quality artisan Irish brews to suit all tastes and occasions. Slainté!

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11/30/11

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GOFOOD&DRINK

HAVING A CRAFTY ONE FOUR GREAT IRISH BEER BARS FARRINGTON’S 28 East Essex Street, Dublin 2. Tel. + 353 (0)1 671 5135. www.thesmithgroup. ie/farringtons). Named after a character in James Joyce’s The Dubliners, this historic hostelry – the bar and partitions date back to Victorian times – has fully embraced the craft beer revolution with Tom Crean’s, Galway Hooker Pale Ale, O’Hara’s IPA, Red and Curim, 8 Degrees Sunburnt Irish and Metalman Pale Ale all on tap, and O’Hara Stout and Leann Follain, 8 Degrees Howling Gale Ale, Knockmealdown Porter and A Winter’s Ale, Hilden Belfast Blonde and Headless Dog and Dungarvan Blackrock Stout, Copper Coast Red Ale and Helvick Gold Blonde Ale available in bottles. There’s an equally impressive list of international beers, and coming soon two customer rotation taps. We can also heartily recommend their Craft Beer Dinner, which starts off – naturally – with your choice of beer and then pairs each of the three courses with a different tipple. AGAINST THE GRAIN 11 Wexford St., Dublin 2. Tel. +353 (0) 1 470 5100. www.facebook. com/AgainstTheGrainDublin The location for the recent Hot Press magazine Artisan Beer Taste Test, this wonderfully welcoming gastropub’s beer list includes Galway Hooker, Trouble Brewing Dark Arts, Belfast Blonde, BrewDog 5AM Saint, Bay Ale, Strange Brew and Stormy Port, Blue Moon, Chimay, Sierra Nevada, Tom Crean’s and Go Rail favourite Gouden Carolus, to name but a brewer’s dozen of their Irish and international libations. A “must-try” over the festive season is the Dungarvan Brewing Company’s Coffee And Oatmeal Stout, a limited-edition Christmas beer guaranteed to warm the winter cockles. Against The Grain is also home to the beer bat, which allows you to have sampler glasses of any three of their draught brews for ¤6, and the tastiest hot roast beef sarnie with boozy onions in the world... ever!

THE PALACE BAR 21 Fleet Street, Dublin 2. +353 (0) 1 679 9290. www.thepalacebar.com The Palace has been quenching Dublin thirsts since 1848, and with the likes of Flann O’Brien, Brendan Behen and Patrick Kavanagh having supped there in the past is renowned as a literary pub. Untarnished and unspoiled by the passage of time, The Palace is the perfect place to try such quality brews as Galway Hooker, Carrig, Dungarvan Black Rock Irish Stout, Copper Coast Red Ale and Helvick Gold Blonde Ale and the full O’Hara and Porterhouse ranges. August also found them launching their own Palace Bar Nine Year-Old Single Cask Whiskey, a ﬁne drop developed by pub owner Willie Aherne.

THE BIERHAUS Pope’s Quay, Cork City. Tel. +353 (0) 21 455 1648. thebierhauscork.com Proudly ﬂying the ﬂag for craft brews in the People’s Republic, The Bierhaus includes Rebel Red, Galway Hooker, Belfast Black, Metalman Pale Ale, Howling Gale Ale, Helvick Gold Ale, Belfast Red, Copper Coast Red Ale and Sunburnt Irish Red among its ever-expanding range of artisan Irish tipples. Currently running to over 70 different beers and ciders, their drinks menu also features such international must-tries as La Trappe Dubbel, 5AM Saint, Sierra Nevada Tumbler, Maisels Weisse Dunkel, Rochefort and Samichlaus, a 14% ABV winter warmer from Austria, which is brewed only once a year on December 6th and aged for 10 months before bottling. On top of all that, The Bierhaus recently opened its own restaurant next-door where beer and food come together in perfect harmony!

�� Large selection of Irish craft beer and World beers(over 140) including draught Rebel Red, Galway Hooker, Oyster Stout. Also stocking Dungarvan, O’Haras, Whitewater, 8 degrees and Porterhouse Breweries in bottles. All Irish Craft Draught beers only €3.90 every Wed & Thurs.

Open 3pm Daily.www.bierhauscork.com or follow us on facebook and Twitter.

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Palace Bar THE

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Dublin

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Wine & Spirit Merchants

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GOFASHION

COOL

YULE Party season outfits and how to navigate the post-Christmas sales are both on the agenda as ROE McDERMOTT rummages through the racks.

orget about going to the gym, giving up smoking or finally starting that first novel – it’s time to make New Year’s resolutions you can actually keep! And we here at Go Rail have an idea – how about promising to try keep your wardrobe free from unflattering fads and filled with fabulous fancies. To kick-start your journey to chic, here’s the low-down on how to put your best fashion foot forward this festive season. PLAYING DRESS UP As we all know, the New Year is all about getting motivated, making resolutions, heading to the gym to work off all that Christmas puddi... Oh who are we kidding, it’s about getting dolled up for parties. So before you go out and get your gladrags on, look to this season’s catwalks for inspiration. Jewel tones (03) featured in all the major designers’ collections, so figure out if you’re a sapphire or a ruby girl and shine like a diamond in the rough at any seasonal shindig. Or if you’re a mistress of monochrome, you just can’t beat the classic Little Black Dress. (01) Think Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany’s and stick with simple shapes. You can either personalise your ensemble with fab accessories or look for items that have embroidered or sequined detailing – because as we all know, every party needs a bit of bling. And don’t forget – a great party dress deserves good-looking gams, so don’t forget your skyscraper heels! (04) CLOSE CUTS We’d love to say that it’s coat season, but

let’s face it – in Ireland, that’s pretty much a permanent state of being. But the postChristmas sales are a great opportunity to invest in a long-lasting classic coat at bargain prices. To get the most bang for your buck, make sure to look out for simple shapes and tailored cuts that are fad-free and flatter your figure. But timeless doesn’t have to mean boring. For interest, keep your eyes peeled for trench coats with ruffled collars (07) or interesting hemlines. Or if you’re determined to rock through the winter months in leather, make sure to bring sophisticated chic to your rock chick look by sticking with sharp tailoring and flattering short lengths that highlight your waist. (09) FEATHERS AND FUR Of course you want to look cool, but feel warm, and playing with super-cosy textures will help you keep out the season’s chill. Fur is always a festive favourite, but this year there’s not a Vera Duckworth leopard print to be found! Again, those sumptuous jewel tones have crept into this trend, so look for coats, shrugs and gilets in deep reds, blues and purples. (12) Though these tempting textures aren’t confined to outerwear – adorning your party frocks with flirty feathers is a fun way of showing off your wild side. (02) And finally, make sure those toes are kept toasty with shearling-lined boots (11) – all the better to trek through the sales racks, my dear! EXTRA, EXTRA! Of course coats are all well and good but they do not an outfit make. To make sure your winter wardrobe really sizzles, spice up your winter

woolies with some quirky accessories. Look to Carrie Bradshaw: The Early Years for your inspiration and add a cute corsage to a classic coat for an individual look. (08) Bright colours bring a quirky edge to leather gloves (10) and will help you stand out from the throngs of drably dressed snow-dodgers! And forget boring ski-caps, hats this season have gone glamorous. Pillbox hats bring an instant 1960sstyle sophistication to any outfit (See opposite), while berets ooze pretty Parisian chic. C’est magnifique, darling! (Please note: we accept no responsibility for hat-hair, so pack a comb into your purse!) MALE ORDER Boys, pay attention, because this one’s for you. Now that it’s after Christmas, we don’t doubt that your wardrobe is overflowing with novelty socks, cheerful Christmas cartoon underwear and dodgy Yuletide jumpers bestowed upon you by well-meaning but ill-advised relatives. Now you could attend all the seasonal parties wearing the aforementioned attire (hopefully with some form of pant or other modestypreserving garment), but we’re not sure that’s the best way to kick-start your year of good fashion. So instead, take subtle elements of this season’s trends and treat yourself to some new fancy duds. Traditional suits can be given a modern but formal edge by embracing rich jewel-tone shirts, subtly patterned ties (06) or – of you want to look truly dapper, go for a scarf or a cravat. And go on – given the season, you may as well bring out your inner Don Draper and top it off with a trilby. (05) Smooth.

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Diana embellished shorts 造52.00; Tamara velvet detail bodysuit 造37.00; Onyx pillbox hat; ALL RIVER ISLAND

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GOFASHION 01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

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06.

07.

01. Black dress with embellishment, ¤65, AWEAR 02. Shelley feathered dress ¤91.00, Large purple agate ring ¤13.00,

RIVER ISLAND

03. Kimono Dress, ¤280, MONSOON 04. Opulent heels ¤129, DUNE 05. Trilby hat ¤9.50, NEXT 06. Andrew waistcoat ¤45.00,

DAMIAN TROUSERS

Ð55.00, Falcon shirt ¤45.00, all RIVER ISLAND 07. Flavia Coat ¤271, Nina Dress ¤161 , Silverberry Clutch ¤76, all MONSOON 08. Stretch Bracelet with Skull Flower Corsage ¤26.00, ASOS 09. Leather jacket, ¤280, MONSOON 10. Pink bow gloves ¤79, TED BAKER 11. Boots with shearling, ¤129, DUNE 12. Athena Fur Coat, ¤150, MONSOON

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

STOCKISTS

ASOS Asos.com AWEAR 26 Grafton Street, Dublin 2 Henry Street, Dublin 1 Edward Square, Barrack Lane, Co. Galway 110 St. Patrick Street, Co. Cork 69 -71 William Street,

Co. Limerick DUNE Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16 54 Henry Street Dublin 1 MONSOON 64 Grafton Street, Dublin 2 Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16

Unit 30, Mahon Point Shopping Centre, Co. Cork 10/12 Williamsgate Street, Galway, Co Galway 29 Cruises Street, Co. Limerick NEXT Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16 The Jervis Centre,

Henry Street, Dublin 1 Unit 4 And 5, Cork Opera Lane, Co. Cork Units 7 & 8 Edward Square, Barrack Lane, Co.Galway

14-15 Shop Street, Co. Galway 39 Patrick Street, Co. Cork 9 Cruise’s Street, Co. Limerick

RIVER ISLAND 102-103 Grafton Street, Dublin 2 Unit C1-C7, Ilac Shopping Centre, Henry Street, Dublin 1

TED BAKER Grafton Street, Dublin 2 House of Fraser, Dundrum town Centre, Dublin 16

Brown Thomas, 18-21 Patrick Street, Co.Cork Brown Thomas, 18-21 Eglington Buildings, Co. Galway Brown Thomas, 1416 O’Connell Street, Co.Limerick

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The R

GOHEALTH

FITTER, HAPPIER, HEALTHIER

IN 2012

Following these simple steps can be your path to a brand-new, better-looking and more contented you in the New Year. WORDS Anne Sexton

he problem is that taking too many selfimprovement projects on, especially in the depths of winter, is a recipe for failure. In this issue we are looking at ways to improve your health, well-being and physical self easily and naturally. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to detox your system is by drinking lemon water ﬁrst thing in the morning. Ideally your lemon water should be made with warm or lukewarm water using the

juice of fresh lemons. Lemon water cleanses out your system and can help with a variety of ills, such as digestive problems, headaches, urinary tract infections and dull skin. Granted it doesn’t have the same kick as coffee or tea but you can always have your morning cuppa afterwards. Although be warned – there is some evidence that lemon may cancel out the effects of caffeine. But that’s a small sacriﬁce! Poor health is frequently the result of a bad

diet. Heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes are called “lifestyle diseases” because they share common risk factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise and stress. Getting active and eating healthily does not have to be a chore. It is recommended that we do at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days. If you don’t enjoy the gym – and I sympathise, since I don’t – consider other more enjoyable ways of exercising. Walking is great exercise, especially for those whose ﬁtness level

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may not be up to the gym or who have heart conditions that make more strenuous exercise impossible. Plus it is absolutely free – all you need is a comfortable pair of shoes. You should also consider options such as talking dance classes or yoga. Dancing is fun and sociable, and as long as you are doing it minus alcohol, it’s an excellent workout too. Every year, we hear about new wonder diets that help melt off the pounds. Problem is, we get conflicting advice from different so-called experts. In fairness we all know that there is no magic formula, but if you wanted a simple rule to follow it should be Michael Pollan’s – “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Pollan, author of Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, notes that in the West we eat too much in general and too much meat in particular. Following this basic rule is easy enough. Don’t eat until you are over-full; treat meat as the side dish to a meal, not the star; and avoid processed foods. Pollan says that if it has more than five ingredients, has E numbers or if your grandmother wouldn’t recognise it, then it’s not really food and best avoided. You can still have all the treats you want. The trick – make them yourself. If you have to bake every time you want a biscuit or cut up potatoes for chips, you’ll eat a lot less of them. An easy way to support your health is by adding Manuka Honey to your diet. Mr. Bees Manuka Honey has incredible anti-bacterial properties that help support your from the inside. Mr. Bees Manuka Honey also comes in a variety of strengths. Honey 5+ can be taken every day to fight off the random bacteria we are subjected to on a regular basis. You can have it on a slice of bread, preferably brown bread, add it to water with lemon and lime to make a drink, use it in salad dressings or gravy or as a healthy alternative to sugar. None of us like visiting the doctor unless we have to, and most of us prefer not to take antibiotics unless necessary. Not that long ago naturopathy was considered a fringe belief practiced only by airy-fairy types. However, its principles have been with us for thousands of years. These days, naturopathic medicine has gained growing acceptance across Europe. Naturopaths often support regular medical practitioners, helping patients create the life changes needed to conquer disease. If you have been run down or ill in the recent past, supporting your recovery with

naturopathy or herbal medicine may be the best option for you. You can find a list of therapists and details of treatments on the College of Naturopathic Medicine Ireland website at naturopathy.ie. To live a more natural life, it is wise to cut out the chemicals where you can. That is not always possible or recommended with medicine, of course. One area where this is easy and painless is your skincare, bath and beauty routine. Most soaps and shampoos contain sodium laureth sulfate, a detergent that causes them to foam. If you have sensitive skin or stressed out hair, sodium laureth sulfate can make the problem worse. Almost all skincare products contain synthetic ingredients, preservatives or other chemicals that would be toxic if ingested in large enough amounts. Obviously you don’t eat your moisturiser (we hope) – but your skin can absorb these harmful substances, and if used over a long period, certain products may damage your skin or health. Making your own products is fairly easy. You can make an excellent body scrub from oil and sugar. Mix the two together using any oil you like, but adding a drop or two of essential oil will make it smell good. Before using, allow the mixture to warm in hot water to melt the sugar crystals. This works as well as anything you can buy. Hair can be given a treat using coconut oil. Pure coconut oil can be bought from the chemist. It comes in a solid state so you’ll need to warm it in hot water first. Comb the oil through your hair and leave it on as long as you can before shampooing off. Another easy hair treat is couple of eggs beaten and rubbed into dry hair. Rinse with tepid water – you don’t want the eggs to cook. Use beer for your final rinse to give your hair added body and shine. There are hundreds of beauty recipes to try and a quick internet search will help you find them. But if making your own is a step too far or not quite luxurious enough for you, consider the ranges from Biofresh or White Witch. Biofresh skincare products are made with pure Bulgarian Damask Rose Oil. This essential rose oil is believed to have healing properties to repair tissue damage, prevent premature ageing and minimise wrinkles or scars. All Biofresh products are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and have not been tested on animals. White Witch products are made in Ireland from certified organic ingredients and everything, even the wrappers, is biodegradable. The range includes herbal baths, hair treatments, herbal remedies, natural perfume for your home, products for men and even dried herbs, flowers and powders. Whatever lifestyle change you make, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you are trying to quit smoking – which is no easy task – use the support services provided by Quit.ie. If you are trying to shift the pounds, rope in a friend or two and help each other to stick to your diet and exercise plans. The big thing to remember is not to give up if you fail. All your hard work is not down the drain if you have a weak moment and succumb to temptation. Remember the old cliché – if at once you don’t succeed, try and try again. HERE’S TO A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A HAPPY NEW YOU!

Nutrition for Healthy Living

with Olive Curran DipNT

Watch your cholesterol this Christmas... Instead of asking Santa for a new iPad or TV, why not ask him for something really important - a healthier you! With nutrition experts reckoning that the average food and drink intake on Christmas day adds up to a staggering 6,000 calories, you may need to armour yourself with some help to combat the extra cholesterol during this time and beyond. A natural way to help lower your cholesterol is by taking two Zerochol plant sterol tablets with the main meal. Plant sterols are plant compounds with chemical structures similar to that of cholesterol. Interestingly, Plant Sterols so closely resemble cholesterol that they can actually inhibit food-based cholesterol from being absorbed into the bloodstream. Because of their ability to inhibit dietary cholesterol absorption, Plant Sterols have been scientifically proven to lower LDL cholesterol by 10% in just 6 weeks. Further tips to help you have a healthier Christmas and bounce into 2012.... 1. Eat healthy food regularly: Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, wholegrain breads, nuts, seeds, oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or tuna), fish, beans, lentils, organic chicken and of course the festive favourite and surprisingly nutritious “turkey”! 2. Drink lots of water - our bodies are made primarily of water and they need at least 8 glasses of water each day to operate properly and to flush the bad LDL from our system. 3. Exercise for 30 minutes a day, for at least 5 days per week: Choose something you really enjoy walking, jogging, gym work, rollerbladding, swimming, hill walking, dance classes, cycling, anything as long as it involves movement. 4. Relax - find a way to relieve stress. Some people use meditation, others yoga, while others enjoy sitting quietly in a quiet space. Find a relaxation method that suits you and incorporate it daily into your life to help relieve stress and tension and improve overall health. 5. Sleep is essential in restoring health and vitality to your mind and body. Aim for 7-8 hours sleep every night. Have a Happy & Healthy Christmas, Olive x Nutritional Therapist in Galway City. 086-6035454 - nutritionforhealthyliving@yahoo.ie

Zerochol is available from Healthfoods Stores and selected Pharmacies nationwide.

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GOHEALTH

H E A LT H N E W

Health

Naturally

with Jan De Vries

Tired of being tired? Sleep is designed to restore us to full function after a period (usually a day) of wearing ourselves out. During the night, tissues are repaired, organs rest or �� It’s as if a crew of cleaning staff move in and ��

FISH MAY HELP PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S Eating fish is generally regarded as a good idea. Studies have found that fish can boost your brainpower and now, research from America suggests that eating fish once a week may help reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Ideally the fish should be baked, broiled or grilled, but not fried. Alzheimer’s is a form of slowlydeveloping dementia affecting memory and behaviour. The study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, found that fish may help fight against cognitive decline and brain shrinkage associated with ageing. Conducted over ten years, the study found that adults who ate fish regularly had better memory and larger brain areas, including the hippocampus, known to shrink in individuals with Alzheimer’s. Lead researcher Dr. Cyrus Raji noted, “We found higher levels of working memory in people who ate baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis, even when accounting for other factors, such as education, age, gender and physical activity.”

BLOOD GLUCOSE TESTING

�� struggling to cope, memory slipping, concentra�� tincture. Dormeasan® Valerian-Hops oral drops is ��

Diabetics need to test their blood glucose levels on a regular basis. Type 2 sufferers generally need to check just once a day, but those with Type 1 diabetes may have to test up to ten times a day to determine insulin dosages, an annoyance if you live an active life. Regular testing is certainly worth the time and effort – but only if you are getting reliable results from your blood glucose meter. A new innovation from Clonmel Healthcare can make testing less of a chore. The TRUEresult twist is the world’s smallest blood glucose meter, which means it is easy to carry with you. It’s easy to use too. You simply twist to the top of a new vial of test strips and you’re ready to go. The TRUEresult twist features stateof-the-art GoldSensorTM laser accuracy and the TRUEﬁllTM beveled tip, ensuring highly accurate test results and ﬁrst test success. Your results will be available in as little as four seconds and as the

TRUEresult twist is a no-coding blood glucose meter, there is no risk of miscoding. The TRUEresult twist is available from pharmacies nationwide and, best of all, you can order a free meter from Clonmel Healthcare if you call them on +353 (0)1 620 4000.

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS? Did you know that almost a third of Irish adults suffer from disturbed sleep? Lack of decent sleep can have a serious impact on your health. Poor memory, weak concentration and weary muscles are just some of the side effects. What’s more, not getting enough rest can lead to problems in people’s relationships. People who have difficulty sleeping often feel anxious before heading to bed. Worrying about work, children or money makes falling asleep almost impossible. Insomnia can be self-perpetuating too – the fear of spending yet another night tossing and turning makes it difficult to drift off. Dormeasan from A.Vogel is a herbal sleeping remedy made from extracts of organic Valerian root and hops. Taking 30 drops in a little water 30 minutes bed helps relieve anxiety and encourage more restful sleep without morning grogginess. Dormeasan is available from independent health food stores and selected pharmacies. If you are feeling creative, A.Vogel is running a national short story competition. The idea is to find the best bedtime story written by an amateur. The competition is free to enter until May 2012 in participating health stores, pharmacies and from avogel.ie. The overall winner, chosen by actress and author Pauline McLynn, will be announced in May.

��

•100% Natural Beauty Products •Simple Ingredients

�� Pharmacies nationwide. ��

www.wholefoods.ie

•Biodegradable Packaging

Natural Ethical Gifts with the Wow! factor www.whitewitch.ie

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��

Change your life & your career

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Earn a recognised Diploma in Nutritional Therapy, Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture or Naturopathy

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Part time study available in Dublin, Cork & Galway

Classes Starting in the New Year See our website for www.naturopathy.ie for more details or contact us today on 01 2353094! ��

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