22 minute read
Dublin Dossier
Pat Keenan reports on happenings in and around the capital
Battle Of Clontarf oil on canvas painting by Hugh Frazer, 1826 Brian on the Morning of Clontarf by John Fergus O'Hea, engraved by C. M. Grey. Source A. M. Sullivan, The Story of Ireland, 1867
I don't know of it's still the case but when I was a boy the year ‘1014' was etched on our memories, the Battle of Clontarf, when the Irish Christian King Brian Boru drove the pagan Vikings out of Ireland and poor Brian died, murdered by a wicked Viking as he prayed in his tent. Or so the Christian Brothers told us. Hang on, in the previous 'Dublin Dossier' we celebrated the return of the replica of a Viking warship built in Dublin 28 years after the Clontarf battle. Dated in chronological order the original ship was built in 1042 and all was further verified from excavations in Dublin from the 1970s that Dublin all those years ago had one of the largest Viking shipbuilding harbours capable of handling up to 200 warships. So the Vikings weren't driven out, as they say, they became more Irish than the Irish themselves.
As with most myths, it was not so simple and while that battle was won by Brian Boru's side, it was ultimately unsuccessful. Turns out the Battle of Clontarf was more a domestic squabble with local Viking involvement, it was never simply between the Irish and the Vikings. These were complicated times in Ireland. The country was very rural, very divided and ruled by local chieftains with varying degrees of power and alliances. In 1002 Brien Boru would have been powerful enough to be a major contender, emerging from Mythand on the mouth of the Shannon he managed to subdue the neighbouring Vikings who had founded Limerick, won the kingship of Munster and later defeated the Leinster chieftains and the Dublin Norse, who controlled a sizeable stretch of seacoast from the mouth of the River Boyne down to Arklow.
In essence the Battle of Clontarf was short, lasted all of Good Friday 1014, making it sort of sacred to the Brothers. It had several Irish chieftains in Leinster fighting alongside Vikings from Dublin, many of whom at this stage had converted to Christianity. All under the command of Viking King Sitric Silkbeard who augmented his Irish followers with a few more Vikings from the Hebrides and the Isle of Man.
Brian Boru at the time of the battle was in his seventies, old then in a time of much shorter life expectancies. Unlike the myth that he led the battle, sword in hand fighting man to man, he led but didn't take take part in the actual fighting. He spent much of the time, not in a tent but in a covered trench where later in the final hours of the battle, he was killed by a fleeing Viking mercenary called Brodir - incidentally mercenarie's brother Óspak fought on the side of Brian Boru .
Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig (1723) An eighteenth-century illustration of Brian Bóru
In the years before the Battle of Clontarf, Brian Boru in 997 made an alliance with the then High King of Ireland, Malachy of Meath.
In 999 Brian Boru took command of Dublin, and oddly in retrospect, restored the Norse King Sitric Silkbeard to the Dublin throne - but as his subordinate. To sweeten this move he gave his daughter Sláine to Sitric in marriage and took Sitric's mother Gormflaith, as one of his wives - seems that being a Christian king didn't interfere with the concept of having several simultaneous wives.
Brian Boru was buried neither in Clontarf nor in his native Killaloe, but far further north in Armagh.
There is a plaque on St.Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh claiming ‘on the north side of the great church was laid the body of Brian Boroimhe, slain at Clontarf. A.D.MXIV’
Brian Boru sculpture outside Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle. Credit: Marshall Henrie
The Vikings: a warrior society
The Vikings were without question a warrior society. They raided our shores, plundered, killed, enslaved and deported us to foreign lands. But also they strangely established a degree of order on our own warring kingdoms. The Vikings for ill and good influenced and changed us and perhaps laid the foundations of modern Ireland. They lived amount us for generations and their genetic signature remains with us today.
It began with Ivarr, a Viking king invading our shores with a powerful contingent of Scandinavian warriors. We called them Dark Foreigners or Dark Strangers. My own birthplace, the north Dublin coastal town of Baldoyle, in Irish, Baile Dubh-Ghaill which translates as 'town of the dark stranger. Ivarr founded a dynasties here at Dublin, in Waterford and other ports and changed the course of Irish history. Ivarr and those that followed him dominated Viking Dublin for several generations, gathered thousands of slaves and shipped them across the known world of the time. However years before Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf the Irish actually did in 902 managed to drive the Vikings into exile. However, fifteen years later Ivarr’s grandsons returned, recaptured Dublin and set about working on a plan to grow the city we live in today.
The Viking city of Dublin was so extensively excavated in the 1970's that we now know more of Viking Dublin than of any other Viking town outside of Scandinavia. Dr.Pat Wallace of the National Museum of Ireland led the excavations and in his book Viking Dublin: The Wood Quay Excavations (published 2015 by the Irish Academic Press, €70) he reveals the enormous scale of wealth and material possessions the Vikings possessed and of their trading skills stretching as far as the Middle East.
Slavery and vassalage were the central cornerstones of the Viking economy. For example recent DNA research reveals a huge proportion of Iceland’s original 'colonists' were Irish females, originally taken there as slaves and concubines. The Vikings altered us in other ways too. Scientific research at Queen’s University in Belfast revealed a mysterious crisis in early medieval times that sent Ireland’s population into a terminal decline and that it may have been offset by the influx of Viking settlers which remains firmly in the genes of Irish people today.
Again in 2020, archaeologists digging at Ship Street discovered the importance of that massive Viking Dublin harbour where they could dock up to 200 ships. From this base they crossed the Irish Sea to invade fledgling Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and threatened to crush the emerging nation of England. There are the remains of major battle grounds on the Wirral peninsula in Cheshire and they did eventually conquered York. Had they been a more successful they might have changed the historic relationships between these two islands.
Time to bury the hatchet and celebrate!
After all these years it's safe to bury the hatchet, celebrate and enjoy our Viking past. Pop into the Knights Bar at Clontarf Castle where you'll find a carved relief depicting of the Battle of Clontarf. Checkout online at www.clontarfcastle. ie And while in Clontarf there is the 'Restaurant Ten Fourteen' at Ten Fourteen, 324 Clontarf Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Tel: 01-805 4877 At 5 Prospect Road in Glasnevin, there's Hedigan's 'The Brian Boru' Pub. Long before the pub it was believed to be where King Brian Boru and his army camped before the Battle of Clontarf started on Good Friday in 1014. A pub has been here for over 200 years. The present building dates from the 1850s and has been in the ownership of the Hedigan family since 1904.
www.thebrianboru.com/
Make your way out to Howth (itself a Viking name, höfthi meaning 'head' or peninsula) to the King Sitric Seafood Bar, Restaurant & Accommodation at the foot of the East Pier - 5 EastPier. Over looking the harbour Ireland's Eye and Balccadden Bay. This restaurant, named after Viking King Sitric Silkbeard, has thrived here of over 50 years. Visit
www.kingsitric.ie
Other Viking place names in Dublin include Ireland's Eye Island off Howth, a place of Viking refuge around 902, is a mistaken translation of Inis Erean -'the island of Eria’, a female name the Vikings confused with Éireann; Dalkey, dalk-ey 'thorn island'; Leixlip Lax-hleypa or 'salmon leap'; and Lambay Island, lamba-ey 'lamb island'.
For much more on Dublin Vikings and the medieval history of the city visit Dublinia. open daily, Monday to Sunday, 10.00am - 5.00pm (last entry 4.00pm)
A vineyard 12 miles from Dublin City Centre
Winemaker David Llewellyn in his winery in Lusk, Co Dublin
There is a vineyard and winery just 12 miles(20 km) north of Dublin city near the village of Lusk in Fingal. David Llewellyn, the winemaker is from County Mayo,it's where his mother comes. The Llewellyn family are also from Ireland. Apparently ways back, his great grandfather was an immigrant from Wales.
The family don't have a farming background, it was at secondary school where David first became interested in farming and went on to study at Warrenstown College in Co. Meath where he got his diploma in horticulture. Along the way he managed to became fluent in German and went to southern Germany on the borders of Austria and Switzerland as part in a Macra na Feirme work placement programme.
There he worked and experienced modern organic farming methods at Weingut Haug on the shores of Lake Constance and also at Weingut Hothum in Rheinhessen. Watching how some grapes were ripening much earlier on one farm than the grapes of a nearby neighbouring farm, he began to ponder if some of these early-maturing grape varieties might grow in Ireland. vines for sale garden centres. In 2002 he ventured to plant a small vineyard, testing how differing vines varieties reacted to a north county Dublin climate, All the wines up to 2013 were white using vines (Sauvignon Blanc, Schoenburger and Gewuerztraminer}. Laterally they have been replaced with red and rosé varieties (Dunkelfelder, Merlot and Rondo), Trials and errors finally lead to Lusca wines which appropriately is also the Irish name for Lusk village in Fingal near where the vineyard is located.
Check online for your nearest Lusca wines stockists.
Luxury, comfort and good food in West Cork
Nestled in Glengarriff Bay is the picturesque Eccles Hotel & Spa, the 4 star hotel in Glengarriff, which commands panoramic views of Bantry Bay on West Cork’s Wild Atlantic Way.
Just a two-minute stroll away guests will find Glengarriff Harbour, with its boats to the famous gardens on Garnish Island, and the village centre with quaint craft shops, cafes and pubs.
This 250-year-old hotel is in a world of its own in Glengarriff, where the gulf-stream has created a micro-climate that has led to an abundant and exotic environment, perfect for exploring in the crisp spring air and summer sunshine. While staying at Eccles Hotel & Spa, guests can make the most of their time in the scenic surroundings of West Cork by sea kayaking in Glengarriff Bay, going for a hike up to Mount Gabriel or even scubadiving to discover what’s beneath the surface of Bantry Bay. After an exciting day of exploring, guests can wander up to the spa terrace and take in the incredible views of Bantry Bay whilst relaxing in the outdoor hot tubs. Guests can then taste the culinary delights from Eccles’ own Chef Eddie Attwell who forages for local ingredients for the freshest, most authentic meals in West Cork.
See https://www.eccleshotel.com/ for more details.
Guests can wander up to the spa terrace and take in the incredible views of Bantry Bay whilst relaxing in the outdoor hot tubs
AN INVITATION TO SELL ART
Paul Henry LOBSTER FISHERMEN OFF ACHILL, sold at Whyte’s for €274,000 Jack Butler Yeats SHOUTING, sold at Whyte’s for €1.75 million
Whyte’s is a renowned auction house with a reputation for selling Irish art where it sells best. Our international clientele will give generous prices for art of quality.
We are now accepting entries for forthcoming important art auctions. Contact Peter Whyte at 01 6762888 or pw@whytes.ie
The Ombudsman and complaints about public services
Ombudsman Ger Deering says that complaints can be used to improve the delivery of public services.
In most cases, services provided to older people by public bodies such as government departments, local authorities and the HSE, and by private nursing homes, go well. However, when things go wrong you may have to make a complaint to that body. If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint you can then contact the Ombudsman.
The Office of the Ombudsman provides a free and impartial service for dealing with complaints about most providers of public services. The Ombudsman is independent of government.
What can I complain to the Ombudsman about?
The Ombudsman can examine complaints about:
• decisions you consider to be unfair and that affect you in a negative way
• a failure to give you clear reasons for decisions
• a failure to communicate with you on time
• providing you with incorrect, inaccurate or misleading information and
• a failure to deal properly with your complaints
How will the Ombudsman deal with my complaint?
First, we check that we are allowed to handle your complaint. We may ask the public service provider you have complained about to send us a report. We may examine their files and records and ask them questions. It can take time to gather the information we need.
Next, we will decide if:
• your complaint should be upheld • you have suffered because of the action or decision of the public service provider If we decide you have suffered and the public service provider has not taken steps to put this right, we may ask the provider to:
• look again at what it has done • change its decision • offer you an explanation, an apology and/or money (we do not always seek compensation or indeed receive it even if we do request it)
Usually, we handle complaints by discussing the problem with the public service provider and looking at the relevant files. If necessary, we do a detailed investigation.
What the Ombudsman cannot examine
People sometimes contact us about things we are unable to deal with. The Ombudsman cannot look at complaints about:
• clinical judgement, such as decisions on treatment or diagnosis
• employment
• complaints where the law provides for a right of appeal to a court
• the complaint is, or has been, the subject of legal proceedings before the courts
When should I complain to the Ombudsman?
Before you complain to the Ombudsman, you must first complain to the service provider whose action or decision has affected you. In some cases there will be a local appeals system which you should use.
If you have complained to the service provider and are still unhappy, then you can contact the Ombudsman. You should submit your complaint within 12 months of the action or decision that has adversely affected you. However, even if more than 12 months has passed, we may still be able to help if there is a good reason for the delay.
How do I complain to the Ombudsman?
The easiest way to make a complaint to the Ombudsman is through our website:
www.ombudsman.ie
You can also write to us at: Office of the Ombudsman, 6 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 W773.
Or call us if you need any help at 01 639 5600
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga A Picasso construction in the Picasso Museum, Malaga
The year 2023 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso. Large -scale events have been organised including a programme of exhibitions to celebrate and make Picasso's work known worldwide in 2023.
Worldwide, more than 40 exhibitions will be organized as well as numerous seminars, presentations and cultural activities. In Spain, 16 exhibitions will be held in the main museums of the cities linked to Picasso's life.
Turespaña has an international campaign ‘Spain inspired Picasso. Come, find your inspiration’ to strengthen the positioning of Spain as a cultural destination and to promote visits to the exhibitions and events that the different cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, A Coruña and Bilbao will prepare to celebrate Picasso. For more information:
www.spain.info/picasso
Spain will welcome Irish tourists, especially those who are more interested in Spain as a cultural destination. The Picasso Year, 2023, will be an excellent excuse to receive them. During the next months, we hope that many visitors from Ireland will get to know the Spanish cities that are especially linked to the career of Pablo Picasso.
Valencia Region a stunning ‘foodie’ destination
The Valencia Region Comunitat Valenciana is a privileged destination due to its landscape, its heritage and its recognised gastronomic excellence and its local produce that makes this territory one of the Mediterranean´s paradises. There are many reasons to visit the Valencian Community, Valencia Region, but without a doubt, one of them is to enjoy its gastronomic tourism. Their restaurants, the orchard, the markets, the garden produce and their fresh products. Aside of having wonderful cultural and leisure offers, in the last year’s Valencian gastronomy is experiencing its finest moment with the celebration of the Michelin Awards in Valencia, the Repsol 2023 Gala in the city of Alicante and the announcement of the celebration of The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards in 2023 in Valencia.
Valencia is synonymous with paella but the city offers many more gastronomic highlights, including a number of Michelin-starred restaurants
For further enquiries content, please, contact Sara Rivero. Email: sara.rivero@tourspain.es Tel: (01) 635 02 81.
Three poems by Sarah Cunningham
Autumn
The falling leaves slowly zig-zag from the mother tree to the ground where they wither and die. The dark nights break into the dawn, crisp, light and dry. Nature’s palette is everywhere, filling the world with colour and light. Weak sunlight flitters through the evening shadows, playing out a fantasia as it slowly fades into night.
There is a feeling of Advent to come, as glowing logs burn. Long lingering walks in the silent countryside wrapped in slumber mourn. In this quietness, the body and mind renews in strength, hope and clarity, And mother earth welcomes the season in complete harmony.
Waiting for news
How do you feel, waiting for the word? Up or down, good or bad, Suspended in time. Hanging in mid-air, Waiting for news. Watch the clock Rerun events. People, past and present. Should I have done it? Went for it or hesitated? Will I get another chance? Time will reveal all. Time will tell.
Sarah Cunningham was born in London and moved to Kildare as a 2-year-old. She writes fiction and poetry, and her work has been published in numerous Irish publications.
Birthright
She was born as fires of war burned their way through Europe. They spread so fast, she had to flee from the flames, Crossing the sea to a calm, green, misty isle. The people who took her in were the very best and had lots to give as they did with style. She grew, thrived, matured and spread her wings, flew away to another place. It was a wonderful adventurous time, finding her space. Summer in Dublin, working, dancing, romancing. Landsdowne Road on Saturday and Croke Park on Sunday. The rhythm and rhyme of the city made her birthdays. After some years, a longing for peace and tranquility invaded her soul. Once more, she found herself where it began, and she was made whole. She found love, happiness and romance at a dance. It has flourished, endured and produced offspring three. So glad she took that chance.
Can dietary supplements slow biological ageing in humans?
A leading professor in Cardiology in Linköping University, Sweden, Dr. Urban Alehagen came to Dublin last October to announce the findings of a newly published study that has found that supplemental CoQ10 and selenium in older people is able to reduce a person’s biological age, as measured by the length of their telomeres. What’s more, this may reduce the risk of dying, especially from cardiovascular disease. As a specialist in internal medicine, cardiology and odontology, Prof Alehagen is the main researcher in the prominent Kisel-10 study.
What does biological age mean?
Ageing is a multifactorial process that results in a progressive functional decline of cells, tissues and organs.
Living to 100 is a goal held by many; and happily, the number of years we spend alive, or our chronological age, has significantly increased over the last few decades. But what’s now gaining more interest is how many of those years are spent in good health. This is more associated with biological age. Biological age is measured not by the number of years of life, but by a combination of functional tests (like physical ability and strength tests), body composition data (like muscle mass, body mass index and waist circumference) and ‘biomarkers’ that reveal the health of your cells, tissues and organs. (Biomarkers are laboratory measurements of molecular factors, such as telomere length, isolated from human tissue samples.)
Using such data, one person may have a body and brain that is deemed healthier (less ‘worn out’) than another person of the same chronological age. If your cells and body systems are in better condition than the average for your chronological age, you are said to have a younger biological age. To get a healthier quality of life in your later years, you need to aim for a younger biological age. One such important biomarker in ageing research is the rate at which telomeres shorten over time – this is termed ‘telomere attrition’.
Dr. Urban Alehagen, Linköping University, Sweden
What are telomeres?
Our genes are arranged along twisted, double-stranded molecules of DNA
called chromosomes. Each of our cells has 23 pairs of chromosomes and the tails of these chromosomes are covered by protective caps known as telomeres. Telomeres are often likened to the plastic tips that sit at the ends of shoelaces to protect them from fraying. Without telomeres, the chromosomes (and the DNA they house) would be vulnerable to damage from the stresses and strains that come with repeated rounds of cell division over our lifetime.
Telomeres and ageing
Unfortunately, telomeres themselves start to become vulnerable to damage the older we get, and they start to shorten. This is ‘telomere attrition’. The greater the level of attrition, the more the underlying DNA becomes exposed to damage, which promotes even faster ageing. Eventually, telomeres become so shortened that cellular renewal is compromised. Finally cellular senescence ensues: cells become permanently unable to divide, allowing disease processes to take over.
Telomere shortening has become a hallmark of molecular ageing and has been associated with age-related declines in cognition, mood, immune and cardiovascular functions.
Some individuals choose to measure their telomere length and such laboratory testing has become widely available in recent years.
What may help telomeres to maintain their length?
Some cells produce an enzyme that triggers telomeres to re-lengthen. This enzyme is called telomerase. Currently, there’s a strong research focus into identifying factors that can stimulate telomerase with the aim of delaying the ageing process and associated diseases. But now this new study has shown that the mineral selenium and the vitaminlike compound coenzyme Q10 are able to protect telomeres - slowing down the process of attrition so that they last longer.
Why is this study so important?
There are many laboratory studies showing the benefits of supplemental nutrients like CoQ10 and selenium in curbing ageing in cells under controlled conditions. This new study is important because it has demonstrated that such supplementation can influence biological ageing in human beings living in the real world. So it shows that the supplements were well-tolerated, were absorbed from the human gut and were able to get inside cells to exert their positive action. This study is the latest of 23 follow-up studies using blood samples from the original KiSel-10 trial in 2013. These other sub-studies have found that selenium and CoQ10 also have other cellular effects on biological ageing, such as reducing oxidative stress, inflammation and cardiovascular fibrosis, and even influencing epigenetics (specifically, in this case, alterations to certain micro RNAs that are involved in the ageing process). It now seems that telomere length is yet another mechanism (possibly driven by the micro RNA changes) by which these nutritional supplements can have important effects on human health and, in particular, in helping elderly individuals stay healthy for longer.
Do you have sufficient CoQ10 and selenium?
Selenium is an essential mineral and is needed for selenoproteins that have antioxidants and other crucial roles in the human body. The average selenium intake in the UK and large parts of Europe is relatively low because there is little selenium in the agricultural soil compared with other parts of the world. Studies show that we need more than 100mcg of selenium daily but the average intake is less than half of that.
A summary of all 20 publications on Q10 and the Kisel 10 Study can be found at:
