April may 2018 news four

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April / May 2018

TOXIC AIR ON PEARSE STREET P n Paul Carton earse Street’s air is four and a half times more toxic to breathe in than Phibsboro’s on the northside, a Trinity College study has found.

This toxicity is due to particulate matter (PM) that TCD researchers assume, is being pushed out, majoritively, by diesel engines. In terms of traffic and construction work, Pearse Street would be the busier one, but are inhabitants of Pearse Street and its surrounding areas aware that what they are breathing in is four times more than what the World Health Organisation consider a recommended limit?

The study carried out by TCD, is entitled ‘Particulate from Diesel Vehicles: Emission and Exposure in Ireland’. The study is using locations on Pearse St and Phibsboro to monitor the levels of PM 2.5 which is emitted from diesel engines. The 2.5 relates to the size of the particles in microns that are collected on to filters for analysis.

This size is of concern to the EPA who are funding the study due to its ability to pass through the nose without being filtered and penetrate down into the lungs.

The EPA/EU limits for PM 2.5 is 20 μg/ m3 and the petri dishes collected at Pearse St showed levels which were twice that.

Leading the research at Trinity is Dr. Maebh Gallagher, who told NewsFour that these filters set up in Pearse St and Phibsboro are set to absorb at an average breathing rate and that the study is also collecting information from population sub-groups in these areas on their exposure to this size of PM, but these results are not yet published.

Why the concern over PM 2.5 all of a sudden? Well, it seems that Dublin has been receiving good quality reports from

Page 8: The Great Hunger

the EU for some time now, but reports coming from respected health organisations are saying our limits for PM 2.5 are too high and also that we have far too many diesel vehicles on our roads.

A massive increase in the amount of diesel vehicles in recent years is due to a previous Fianna Fail-Green Party Government initiative to meet EU targets on CO2. They considered the ‘greener’ fuel would be diesel and reduced VRT and

motor tax on diesel vehicles to encourage people to buy them.

However, it seems that the present government is going to back-track on that taxation and bring diesel back up to the same rates as petrol. As a consequence of the previous misguided move, petrol car sales fell by 42pc in the space of two years.

There is also the issue of Dieselgate, which saw Volkswagen plead guilty, in the US only, for installing a ‘defeat device’

IN THIS ISSUE…

Page 10: Positive emotions

Page 23: Covanta fined

software across their brands of diesel cars, which include the Seat, Skoda and Audi cars too (BMW and Mercedes were also implicated.) This software was created to know when the engine was being tested specifically for emissions and would run at a lower performance, thus giving read outs of lower nitrogen oxide levels than it would when actually been driven on the road.

It is suspected that approximately 125,000 vehicles in Ireland are equipped with this software, but VW have denied such claims. At present, individual cases are being brought against VW here, beginning in the district courts in Castlebar, Co Mayo but VW are requesting these cases be played out in Dublin, where the Volkswagen registered office is located.

While this is being played out in the courts here and across Europe, this government in the meantime is bringing the diesel engine tax back up to petrol engine levels which is a great way for the exchequer to recoup a large amount of money quickly. There are calls for a diesel car scrappage scheme to be put in place to appease, no doubt, many irate diesel drivers.

Whether the move to bring diesel vehicles up to normal rates is money or health motivated is anyone’s guess, but the reports published by respected health organizations does validate the move. The World Health Organization has labelled diesel as carcinogenic, and a recently published European Environment Agency report on air quality in Europe, assigned approximately 1,500 deaths in Ireland due to PM10 and 2.5.

Continued on page 2 Photo: JR@N4.

Page 24: Boland’s Mill towers

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NewsFour Editor Beibhinn Byrne Web Editor Paul O’Rourke Journalists Paul Carton Paul O’Rourke Kathrin Kobus Eoin Meegan Alexander Kearney Photographer JR@N4 Contributors Gavan Bergin Felix O’Regan Jennifer Betts Declan Hayden Lorraine Waters Elaine Corcoran Mary O’Neill Tom Crilly Crossword Gemma Byrne

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The Editor’s Corner Even if spring is late and summer seems a long way off, temperature wise, summer hours are here, though winter seems to continue alongside it. This is what climate change means, disrupted seasons and weather patterns, which affect us, our resources and our habitats.

This is serious.

On page 11 there’s a local account of the Beast from the East and while we all found the ‘bread shortages’ humourous, government needs to take this far more seriously, both in policy and legislation.

A weather disaster as we have seen and experienced, here and elsewhere, equals destruction and is a humanitarian and economic disaster. Collective individual will and efforts form movements and in this ultra capitalistic period, consumer demand is the biggest power you have. But recycling and the zero waste movement by people to choose clean lifestyle choices in work, transport and goods are undermined, ineffectual and indeed ridiculous against the mammoth in the room: cars and industry that ought to be fossils by now rather than continuing to be fossil fuelled.

The EPA have issued a worrying report detailing an increase in air pollutants in 2016. Our front page reports the unacceptable and distressing fact that Pearse Street and its surrounding area’s air pollution is four times the World Health Organisation’s limit. Breathe that in.

Meanwhile governments continue to be swayed to sustain the unsustainable; outmoded transport and industrial age business rather than employing vision for a new age, and making laws that make changes.

On operators and changes, locals will be interested to read about Covanta’s recent fine on page 23. We also hope our feature on the free, must see, famine exhibition in Dublin Castle will encourage readers to go. It is a powerful and moving experience. Even at a remove of 170 years the horrors are tangible. A graphic example of an historical, environmental disaster that led to the catastrophic humanitarian one.

ful effects of PM 2.5?

The EPA do have a sensor in Ringsend on Sean Moore Road, which at the time of writing, states the air quality is good, but there is no sensor in Pearse Street, bar the one installed for the purpose of this study. Perhaps the decision makers reading this article might consider the health of the residents on Pearse St and surrounding areas and provide for sensors to be in-

Ad & Photo Pages Design Lizzie Doran

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

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

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A living Hell. One made so by a dysfunctional, political dogma that aligns fiscal elitism and prejudice with erroneous judgement, complacency and short sightedness. A complete lack of compassion and a dereliction of duty. A caveat for the future but also for the present.

It is easy to see what has changed but shocking to take in what has not. A world turned upside down where the sick are shunned, the poor exploited and the weak deserted. The past ‘tumbling’ of houses, horrifyingly twinning the evictions of today by vulture funds and banks.

Plus the impossible position of renters, the hopeless, relentless financial grind that steals any quality of life, the landlords with no incentive to improve their holdings or the security of their tenants is upsettingly familiar. We have history here: Our dignity and rights being denied by the same factors; greed, money, the control of a hierarchical society and selfish establishment politics and for this reason our nation’s shameful housing situation should be doubly appalling to us and unacceptable. All of this issue’s articles, from the positive examples of community work and celebrations to property reports and history features, have a unifying thread: There needs to be a change and the motivation cannot be power and money.

And talking of change for the better, NewsFour, as usual, carries examples of this positivity and ability. On page 10, you can read about the power of positive emotions and a Q & A with Sarah Murphy as part of Healthy Ireland 2018. There’s more health, spiritual and physical, on our food page and in our book reviews. As well as good news in sports, tech, schools, science and the arts. Acts of devotion and charity are a theme and we are covering many worthwhile causes. The generosity, support and enthusiasm of people across the whole of D4 is real community in motion and NewsFour hopes you will get behind at least one this coming April/May. Whether one local resident’s garden open day, the Darkness to Light walk or enabling one boy’s future with Step Up for Steve. There are also the May Day celebrations, community representative nominations and the Tidy Towns clean up.

Be the change you want to see and then demand it of others. Our future lies in community and the power of positive change.

TOXIC AIR ON PEARSE STREET… CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Design and Layout Eugene Carolan

Telephone: (01)6673317

April / May 2018

Studies carried out and referenced by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have said that these fine particles can cross the placental barrier and potentially cause injury to the womb, which impairs lung function growth in children and increases the decline rate of lung function in ageing.

The RCP do say, however, that reducing your exposure to these pollutants can reverse the process. So, one would ask, if and when the government does begin to collect the extra money from diesel engines, will this be put into areas like Pearse St to mitigate the harm-

stalled in homes in this heavily congested area, while the complete ban of diesel from our roads begins.

When the diesel cars are removed from our roads, the electric car grid, although far more environmental friendly, comes at a cost, to all of us.

When the ESB set up the electric car-charge grid, which now has 900 charge points across the country, they allowed electric car users to charge up

their car for free but then they added an extra charge on to all ESB customers’ bills in lieu.

Now it looks like that freebie and that surplus charge will go and the grid will be up for auction. Whoever takes control of this grid will be in the driving seat with the fuel source of the future but obstacles like car parking spaces for charge points and creating incentives to buy electric vehicles lie ahead.

NewsFour around the World

Marian College second year on their trip to Barcelona, at Nou Camp. Photo by Arlene Murphy.

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April / May 2018

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SPORTSCO

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SPORTSCO

expanding and improving

he new fitness facilities at SPORTSCO, including the Extended Gym Area and Fitness Studios were officially launched by Pat O’Doherty, Chief Executive of ESB on March 12th.

SPORTSCO is celebrating 40 years in business next year and is committed to supporting the local community with its wide range of excellent facilities.

Lorna Brady, C.E.O stated : “SPORTSCO is extremely proud to offer these new facilities to our members. We are delighted to introduce these new additions and will continue to help the local community in its quest for fit and healthy lifestyles. We hope to continue this trend in many years to come and are committed to a policy of continuous improvement and Above: Pat O’Doherty, Chief Executive embracing the challenges of the ever changing leisure Industry.”

Above, left to right: Architect Rory KisE.S.B. with Lorna Brady (CEO, SPORTSCO), Cera Slevin and John O’Sullivan (Executive Council, SPORTSCO).

Photo: JR@N4)

Photo courtesy Fennell Photography

sane with Shay Weafer (Sportsco), Paul Barker (builder) and Philip Whelan (Electrical Contractor).

Photo: JR@N4

Above: Frank O’Connor (ESB) Photo: JR@N4

Photo courtesy Fennell Photography

MARITIME

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April / May 2018

All-in-a-Row for rescue charities New Dodder opening bridge

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n Paul

Carton reland’s lifeboat, under water search and rescue charities were each presented with cheques of €6,980 at the Poolbeg Yacht Club on the 2nd of February.

Aqua sports clubs from around the country raised the money for The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Irish Underwater Search and Rescue Unit (IUSRU) through the All-in-a-RowHelping 500km event in the River Liffey on the 9th of December.

It was the second event of its kind by the All-in-a-Row-Helping campaign which saw boats, canoes and kayaks completing the stretch between Thomas Clarke (East Link) Bridge and the Grattan Bridge so that each participant’s efforts were added to reach the 500km mark.

The cheques were handed over by special guest Sean O’ Donoghue, who was a deep sea diver on the infamous Piper Alpha oil rig which exploded into flames causing the deaths of 167 men, 30 years ago this July. Sean was involved in the search and recovery of those men.

Speaking at the presentation on Friday evening, Rose Michael the Fundraising Chairperson for Howth RNLI commented “We are delighted that the All-In-A-Row Liffey Challenge was such a success.

We are so grateful for the dedication and commitment shown by the team from the rowing, kayaking and canoe clubs who organised the event and their very generous donation to the RNLI. The funds raised for our charity will go toward the cost of training and kitting out our volunteer lifeboat crew and maintaining the lifeboats based at Howth, Skerries, Dun Laoghaire and Wicklow, so we can continue to help save lives at sea.”

Statistics provided by the IUSRU and RNLI from 2014 recorded 114 deaths through drowning in Ireland, with 28 people being rescued weekly on average.

Dave Kelly, the event organizer, speaking at the event said “We are so grateful to those who took part in the event, who helped organise the day, who promoted the event and all those who donated so generously. Thanks a million.”

If you wish to donate to the campaign, please visit www.allinarow.ie Photo courtesy of Dave Kelly.

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n Alexander Kearney n the 15th February, Dublin City Council held its first public consultation for the proposed Dodder bridge at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre. The venue itself is within a stone’s throw of where the new bridge will span the mouth of the Dodder, separating Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and the northern-most tip of Ringsend. Representatives from the City Council’s roads division and consultant engineers, ROD (Roughan and O’Donovan) provided a broad outline of what to expect.

NewsFour has previously reported on the earliest details to emerge, such as the fact that the bridge would open to river traffic and that it would prioritise public transport. The consultation confirmed that it would carry pedestrians, cyclists, taxis, and public buses, but would exclude private motor cars.

The plans show the patch of land that will be reclaimed to the

west of the Tom Clarke Bridge (East Link) to facilitate a control building and a new club house for St Patrick’s Rowing Club.

It was further revealed that the bridge would make provision for a Luas extension via tracks and circuit buried beneath its surface. These tracks would be uncovered once the line came into operation. ROD Director, Tony Dempsey explained that this system had already been built into the Samuel Beckett bridge, which can also open to shipping.

He said he did not expect the Luas to be continued across the Liffey from the Point for at least another decade.

Reg McCabe, PRO of the Dublin branch of the Inland Waterways Association, was relieved to learn that the opening span clearances of the new bridge will be 6.1 metres, and 2.1 metres at high water; an improvement on the East Link bridge.

Yet several local residents expressed concern about an aspect of the project that was not

Sean Moore Community Awards 2018

orking with our sponsor, the Aviva Stadium, and our media partner NewsFour, we are delighted to confirm that the Sean Moore Community Awards – first established during the 1988 Dublin Millennium – will again be presented in May 2018, at a ceremony in Clanna Gael Fontenoy, Ringsend.

The awards for “exceptional community service” were inaugurated to honour the memory of the late Sean Moore, former Dáil Deputy, Minister of State and Lord Mayor of Dublin, who represented the area with distinction for so long.

The awards are open to any person, or organisa-

tion, who have made an exceptional contribution to the Community. It is adjudicated on by an independent panel of judges and will be presented at an Awards evening later this year.

We invite you or your organisation to consider putting forward a nomination outlining the reasons why your nominee should receive an award. There will be a number of awards presented.

As always, we do not want to limit the criteria involved and therefore do not set a prescriptive account as to why somebody should be nominated. It could be a good neighbour, a long-serving youth, community, or residents’ association leader. The person can be young

addressed by the consultation: What was planned for the R131 East Link road? It is understood that the City Council is currently working on proposals to integrate the R131 with the new Dodder bridge and the Tom Clarke Bridge. These plans could spell the end of the current toll system but it remains unclear whether any part of the R131 will be widened on its way to meet the Seán Moore road.

This route leads to the Irish Glass Bottle site, which is earmarked for up to 3,000 residential units under the Poolbeg West Strategic Development Zone (SDZ). Fears have been expressed that the grass verge between the R131 and York Road might be sacrificed as part of future works. The R131 consultation promises to be a lively affair when it finally arrives.

Above: Plans for the new Dodder bridge.

Image courtesy Dublin City Council / ROD.

or old, man or woman. You, the community, determine that.

Please send your nominees to the following no later than Monday 7th May 2018 to: The Chairperson, Panel of Judges, Sean Moore Community Awards, c/o NewsFour, 13A Fitzwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4.

Thank you for your cooperation and I hope to meet you at the awards Ceremony.

Dermot Lacey - Secretary

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April / May 2018

FUNDRAISING

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McCloskey’s Fundraising Night for Irish Cancer Society

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n Eoin

Meegan

here will be a fundraising night for the Irish Cancer Society in McCloskey’s Pub, Donnybrook, on Saturday the 12th of May. The event, which is now in its sixth year, is organised by local resident David Doyle.

“I got the idea for raising money for cancer,” David told me, “when my mum was ill. I was looking after her and all the time was thinking I’d love to do something to help others.”

Sadly, David’s mum lost the battle to cancer at only 54. After that, he channeled his grief into action and began fundraising for the Irish Cancer Society. His first venture was in Roslyn Park College in 2007 where he studied graphic design. This was a bring and buy event, which raised over €1,800. Then in 2014 he hit on the idea

of having a fundraiser in a pub with music, food, spot prizes and so on.

“That idea had repeat year potential. McCloskey’s in Donnybrook very kindly agreed and have been hosting it since,” he explains.

As well as designing the posters for the event himself, David will also oversee the music on the night. He runs discos periodically for parties and special events under the moniker of Mobile DJD. Expect good sounds from the 60s, 70s 80s and 90s! There will be a raffle on the night, also finger food and spot prizes to be won.

The events starts from 8 pm.

Sadly, cancer continues to affect nearly every family in Ireland. On average, one in four deaths here are directly attributable to cancer. Over 9,000 people die from the disease here each year, with the three biggest causes being skin, prostate and breast cancer, in that order, and a further 165,000 more people are living with the illness.

On top of this, something like 40,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. However, thanks to the advances in research and the public’s generous donations, more of these people are surviving, and for longer. Last year, the Irish Cancer Society provided free one-on-one information and support from cancer nurses and support centres to over 50,000 people across the

country.

Monies raised from this and the many other events the Irish Cancer Society support will ensure this work continues, as well as funding research into better ways to diagnose, treat, and even stop cancer before it starts, according to data sourced from the National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NRCI) and the Central Statistics Office (OSF) David would like to thank the Irish Cancer Society staff for their generous help over the years in providing t-shirts and support. “They have always looked after us really well,” he said. He would further like to thank Brian McCloskey and all the staff in McCloskey’s pub for their continued support and the effort everyone puts in on the night.

The event, now in its fifth year, has raised a lot of money since its initiation.

The breakdown is as follows: 2014 – €1,000 2015 – €620 2016 – €601 2017 – €800 This year they want to hit that €1000 mark again!

He admits, however, that it is not easy getting businesses to sponsor and donate prizes and he stresses that all sponsorship

will be very welcome.

If you want to sponsor the event you can contact David at daviddoyle33@hotmail. com For more information on cancer, you can contact the Irish Cancer Society on Freephone 1800 200 700.

Saturday May 12th promises to be a fun night in Donnybrook. Hope to see you there!

Pictured left: David Doyle with colleagues – cheque-mate to cancer.

ECOLOGY

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April / May 2018

Ireland’s young Eco-Worriers A n Paul

Carton green flag was hoisted high up above the RDS on the 22nd of February last to pay tribute to the efforts Ireland’s schools have made in educating a more environmentally-mindful generation. It was the second Green Schools Programme Expo that An Taisce and the National Trust for Ireland, have put on since the programme’s inception 20 years ago.

A selection of schools who have made great strides in this programme were invited to showcase their projects to other schools involved in the endeavour, along with exhibitors and government agencies, to drive home An Tasice’s and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment’s message of a ‘sustainable, low-carbon, climate-resilient future’.

NewsFour caught up with Grainne Ryan, a climate action officer for An Taisce, to see how the pupils are responding to climate change. “The majority of the students are hoping we get our act together and they are a tiny bit doomsday-ish, but there’s a couple that resonate with our climate hope, which is kind of what we are trying to reach. And when asked if we don’t meet the Paris Agreement, they keep talking about severe flooding, Storm Ophelia, status red warnings, they are very onpoint and know what they are talking about,” said Grainne.

A startling fact that the pub-

lic has only been made aware of recently through the ‘Latte Levy’ campaign was that the single-use takeaway coffee cups that we use are not recyclable. The Government aims to tackle this problem by charging a levy on these cups.

In order to avoid the unnecessary charge, the public were encouraged to purchase reusable cups when the levy comes in. However, compostable cups are an alternative, but it will wholly depend on councils implementing brown bins on their streets.

NewsFour spoke with Olan Hodnett from Down2Earth Materials, who are the distributor for a plant oil based receptacle manufactured in Ennis by VegWare, to be used by cafes and restaurants as a eco-friendly substitute to the non-recyclable ones currently in use.

Olan says that they currently supply approximately 450 cafes and restaurants across the country with cups made from Polylactic (PLA) which is a plant-based oil. They are all made from corn starch and are fully certified as compostable.

“We’ve had all our products tested, so we know from start to finish that they will compost out. The lid is made from PLA and has the mark on it. It goes into your brown bin, and when that is taken away to a composting facility it’ll break down into nutrient-rich soil in 90 days” said Olan, with Cork city and county council being the first ones to ban single-use cups in the country.

According to Olan, Down2Earth materials are now working with the council to get the brown bins on the streets and educate people on waste management. The closest cafe to Dublin 4 which uses the cups at present is the Grantham Cafe on Aungier Street, but according to Olan there has been huge interest in their product.

When most of our plastic

waste is being sent to China, it’s refreshing to hear one ecopreneur, that’s an environmentally motivated entrepreneur, beginning to import a material from China to use here.

The material is bamboo, the product is VirtureBrush and its founder Dylan Regan was present at the expo to hand out his toothbrushes to anyone curious to try them out.

Dylan reported they are very

popular in places like Australia and Asia and saw a gap in the market here. The product is currently on sale in the Healthstore franchise across Dublin.

Photos, clockwise from top right: Dylan Regan of VirtueBrush, An Taisce’s Grainne Ryan and Gary Tyrell and Olan Hodnett of Down2Earth materials.

Photos: JR@N4

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April / May 2018

LOCAL REPORT

A garden of delights

A

very special treat is in store for the gardening enthusiasts of Dublin 4.

Frank Lavery of the Irish Alpine Society is opening his garden in aid of The Blackrock Hospice on Saturday 19th May from 2pm-5pm.

The garden is planted with great variety and ingenious design: two carp ponds, a contour effect and virtually every species including rhododendrons and pines is of a smaller vari-

ety and “dwarf” plants because of this He has been able to indulge a considerable spectrum which is offset with tall fastigates to lift the perspective and give a horticulturaI trompe l’œil.

He is also happy to accommodate small groups or individual tours by appointment.

Tel 086 2843632 Photo courtesy of Frank Lavery.

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EXHIBITION

Coming Home:

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April / May 2018

Art & The Great Hunger

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n Kathrin Kobus rt and the Great Famine has come to Ireland.

Quinnipiac University, Connecticut is home of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum. Now, for the very first time its collection has travelled eastwards over the ocean and found a temporary home in The Coach House at Dublin Castle until June this year.

While most of the exhibits are paintings, there are also bronze sculptures and installations with an array of Irish and Irish-American artists represented.

Among them are Jack B. Yeats, Dorothy Cross, Paul Henry, William Crozier, John Behan, Brian Maguire, Rowan Gillespie, Michael Farrell, Hughie O’Donoghue and Alanna O’Kelly.

The exhibition encompasses a time frame of nearly two hundred years, from early 1830 to the present day, like the new painting by Robert Ballagh which was unveiled as the latest part added to the collection.

For John H. Lahey, the president of Quinnipiac University it was a memorable home coming: “My great grandparents had made the journey in the other direction – in 1876 they emigrated to America. So I feel very moved, emotionally, to be here today. It has always been our goal to bring this outstanding collection home to Ireland; now that day has arrived.

To have the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins launch ‘Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger’ at Dublin Castle is not only humbling, it is testament to the cultural and historical significance of this collection to the Irish people.”

It was twenty years ago, back in 1998 that the idea for this collection began to take shape. President Michael D. Higgins has been a supporter of the project since the very beginning. He expressed that in his preface

to the exhibition catalogue, “An Gorta Mór was a defining moment in the history of modern Ireland and a turning point in the history of our people… Today, we are fortunate to have a great body of scholarship that adds to our understanding of that tragic chapter of our history and provides us with material for reflection, understanding, and, indeed, resolution.”

A variety of talks and lectures, children’s workshops, panel discussions, literature and music performances are centred around the exhibition, including a short film commissioned especially for the younger generation, The Hunger Times which had its official premiere on March 21st, shown together with the bigscreen feature Black ‘47 at the Irish Film Institute.

The curator Niamh O’Sullivan will take visitors on a guided tour of it on 9th of May. In her words: “The Famine continues to exert its hold on Ireland and its diaspora. Artists, uniquely perhaps, are equipped to express the complexity of our relationship with our past, and to explore the continuum of poverty and displacement, as well as issues of

class and identity in our contemporary world.”

Coming Home offers guests and visitors different views of landscapes and glimpses into ways of life long gone. The exhibition invites us to pause and reflect on what connects and separates us from those who lived and suffered 200 years ago. Ringsenders should especially look out for the Rag Pickers painting by Henry Allan, which depicts two women who scavenge for waste materials on the dunes of Ringsend, to discover how the area has changed.

After Dublin, the exhibition will journey south to the Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen, followed by the Culturlann Ui Chanain An tSeaneaglais (Glassworks) in Derry for its last port of call beginning January 2019 Art and the Great Hunger is open to the public daily from 10 am till 5 pm at The Coach House, Dublin Castle.

For further information regarding events visit www. artandthegreathunger.org.

Tickets for all events are available via eventbrite.ie Highlights: 19th April “The Great Famine in Word and Song”, at O’Connell House Notre Dame Gateway Dublin.

25th April “Murder and the Great Famine” 11 am, a lecture by Ciaran Reilly, a leading researcher in the area of the Great Irish Famine. Entrance is free.

9th May Joyce’s Ghost: Ireland, Modernism, and Memory 11 am, Dr. Luke Gibbons will talk about his new book of the same title. Entrance is free.

Guided tour with Curator Niamh O’Sullivan, 1pm tickets cost €5.

Top: Black 47 (1997-8) by William Farrell.

Centre: Gorta, 1946, by Lilian Lucy Davidson.

Images Courtesy of Quinnipiac University.

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April / May 2018

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SELF DEVELOPMENT

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April / May 2018

The Power of Positive Emotions

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Eoin Meegan he new science of positive psychology (a term first coined by Abraham Maslow) is fast gaining widespread acceptance in the scientific and personal development communities. While traditional psychology tended to focus on what was wrong, with a view to correcting it, positive psychology takes a different approach, asking, what makes us happy?

It aims to study happiness through the lens of scientific rigour, with the purpose of creating optimisation in all areas of life.

At a recent talk in Pearse Street Library, as part of the Healthy Ireland 2018 campaign, life coach, speaker, and educator Sarah Murphy introduced this sometimes complex subject in an easy, relaxed and fun way.

It may come as a surprise to many, but as humans we have a natural bias towards negativity. We have a tendency to scan for what is going wrong, both inside and outside. It’s the traditional approach again, we look for what’s not working in order to fix it.

There may have been sound evolutionary reasons for doing this, when we had to avoid ending up as food for some wild animal. But this mindset doesn’t serve us well in the age of iPhones and Playstations. Often, we sabotage our inherent health and well-being through the mistaken, and largely unconscious, belief that if we’re too happy we will meet with disappointment.

Or, to put it another way, if I worry enough about something it won’t happen. And since we don’t have to worry about the sabre tooth tiger any more, most of the threats in our modern

n

world come from the inside, that is, from our own mind.

Further we tend to view emotions as private, hidden things, but in fact they are very public.

We broadcast them to the world via the body. For example, no two people will display the same response to a common external stimulus, be it a loud noise, or someone stepping on our toe.

In one instance, it may be a spur of the moment reaction, in another a measured response.

That proves that between the event (the stimulus) and the reaction, something else happened, an intervention.

Sarah calls this an appraisal.

And it’s this appraisal, largely unnoticed, that gives rise to a feeling within us, which then creates an action urge, which in turn leads to a response. So we can see that our emotions, far from being abstract feelings, are very much ‘embodied’ responses.

However, the good news is we are not at the mercy of our evolutionary brain, and by first becoming aware of our thoughts, and then letting in more of the positive, we can help to redress this imbalance.

A way to go about this is to notice the good in our lives, the inherent joy and love that is always there, and dwell less on the negative stuff. However, as Sarah put it, “our brains are like Teflon for positive emotions, and Velcro for the negative.”

The negative emotions are always demanding our attention, they are like a scream, while the positive ones are more like a whisper, and we have to be ready to hear them. We have to “pay attention if we are to catch them in our sticky net.”

When we do this, our new, positive emotions have a miti-

gating effect on the more toxic ones. Even if we only let in small pieces of joy or gratitude each day, it will pay a huge dividend.

The distinctive characteristic of this new feeling is one of lightness. People who exude positive emotions appear incredibly attractive to us, it’s like they are lit up from within, whereas people who give off a negative vibe tend to do the opposite.

Of course this is not about trying to be ‘nice’ all the time.

It’s important to allow ourselves to feel sad when those feelings come up, we just don’t stay there. And when something’s wrong, we call it out. Sarah’s top tips for generating those positive states are: Be open, curious, appreciative, kind and real. A most invigorating talk, and afterwards I spoke with Sarah: Q: NF On your website you speak about making change from the “inside-out.” Can you explain what you mean by that?

A: SM Well, I feel a very important aspect in personal

change is to know yourself.

Many people have very negative self-talk about what they can achieve, which they’re unaware of and this restricts them in the external world. There is a long tradition of feeling we have to make things happen, that there must be some effort. But if we change the inner landscape of the mind, and can get to a place where we match up inside to what we want to achieve on the outside, then change can happen more quickly.

Q: NF What tools or methods would you suggest for doing this?

A: SM I think mindfulness meditation is an essential tool on the path to self-development.

A lot of us live most of the time, largely unconscious, unaware of our self-talk, or what our triggers are. We spend too much time in the past or the future, worrying about how things went, or how they will turn out. Mindfulness is a way to root us to the present and make us less judgmental.

Q: NF You talk about the journey from self-doubt to selfbelief. Would you care to expand on that?

A: SM Self doubt is a universal, and it has a purpose. What we need to do is recognise the positive intention in it. Often, it’s trying to keep you safe, to protect you. But we have the belief that all doubt is bad and we try to fight it. Get to know your triggers, become familiar with what the voice inside your head is saying. Sometimes we need to embrace our doubts in order to get beyond them, while at the same time questioning the validity of them.

Another thing we tend to be down on, is failure, but there can be a gift in failure. We just need to see the lesson it’s teaching us. People who experience failure are often very brave and fearless individuals.

Q: NF As well as coaching adults, I see you also work with teens. How does that work?

A: SM Yes, I think the idea of setting a goal and then seeing the achievement, the outcome, even if it’s something small, is a good way to build character.

We think, ‘well if I was able to do that, I can do other things too.’ It’s also important to give praise, this is not the same as puffing people up, there has to be a balance, but often we have a reluctance to give any praise, and this can be damaging.

Of course, this may be a cultural thing, I mean, here, in Ireland. It’s essential to become your own authentic self and not what your mother, or society thinks you should be. Authentic self-esteem knows that you’re special, but not any more or less special than the next person.

Q: NF Finally, what is probably the most important concept in personal development?

A: SM Self compassion, which means extending the same kindness to yourself as you readily give to anyone else.

To explore this topic more, or sign up for one of Sarah’s courses, more information is availbale on her website www. firedfromwithin.com Pictured: Sarah Murphy and her talk in Pearse Street Library.

Photos: JR@N4.

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April / May 2018

LOCAL REPORT

Winter always knocks twice

T

n Kathrin Kobus

he Winter Olympics had just finished, when continental Europe and Ireland got a frosty bite of proper Winter.

It began, for the east coast, late afternoon on Tuesday 26th: about ten minutes past six the sky went dark then nearly black and a hailstorm was the harbinger that the Beast from The East had reached our shores.

Small hail pellets quickly covered the ground in the stadium and at the beach, the parks and pitches. This was the foundation that first snowflakes of this year settled on top of.

Everything was slowly but surely coming to a standstill from Wednesday morning onward. Schools had closed their doors, shops were still open and the rush to get basic food essentials in had begun.

Thursday. The first day of March and everything was properly covered in white snow.

By the afternoon the same day, shelves were empty; bread, milk, fresh veg and spuds were sold

out. By four o’clock in the afternoon the ‘be indoors’ alert was largely observed. Still, some dog walkers were out and about due to animal necessities probably.

Most of us stayed in and looked out at the thick snowfall and

waited for the cold weather front from the east to meet up with the warmer and stormy depression front, storm Emma.

Early morning on Friday, around 1.30 am, the Ringsend bulk electricity support point

went off. But given that it is the supplier of electricity for Ringsend and the south of Dublin city centre up to Dundrum, the power outage was a short time and by ten in the morning at the latest,

Page 11 the connections were back.

However, a huge tree in Cambridge Road had smashed onto a car but luckily not on to the retirement home.

Some boats lost their moorings and bobbed up and down the rough sea at Dublin port and as for the beach in Sandymount an icicles-filled breeze greeted any one brave enough to go for a stroll.

School children enjoyed another day in the snow, while the frustration grew when by Saturday morning shops opened again around 11 am, but neither Tescos in Ringsend or Sandymount had got any fresh deliveries to stack the shelves. It took a few days or rather two weeks to get back to normal.

And then came the water or rather the water did not come. Burst pipes and leakages led to restriction in the Greater Dublin area and overnight and from Monday 5th water only trickled out of the taps or was cut off completely for about a week. But that’s another story.

Photos: Kathrin Kobus.

HISTORY

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Donnybrook Cemetery O n Eoin Meegan ne of the little unknown gems of Donnybrook is an ancient cemetery, situated on Morehampton Road, beside the Garda Station, opposite Arthur Maine’s pub. The cemetery dates back to 800 AD and was the final resting place for many prominent families in the professional and mercantile industries of Dublin during the 17th and early 18th centuries.

The cemetery stands on the site of an old Celtic church and convent founded by Saint Broc in the early eighth century. Broc was one of seven daughters of Dallbronach from Deece in Co. Meath. She is mentioned in the book of Leacan from the 8th century.

The granite base of a cross from that time discovered during restoration work on the cemetery confirms it as the site of Broc’s convent. The adjacent Sisters of Charity is not part of Broc’s original convent.

Domhnach Broc, which means the Church of Broc is the origin of the name Donnybrook. The inaccurate designation that it means a ‘brawl’ derives from the supposedly riotous behaviour at the famed (or ill-famed!) Donnybrook Fair.

That event gave rise to the term ‘having a donnybrook’, and sadly the definition has stuck.

Following the Anglo Norman incursion into Ireland, stricter Roman form was imposed on the Church in Ireland. And so by the late 12th and early 13th century St Broc’s became St Mary’s Church.

It was later incorporated into the Church of Ireland. The church was rebuilt by Archbishop William King in 1720.

By 1827 the congregation of Donnybrook had outgrown the small St Mary’s and as there was no room for expansion a new church was proposed. This became St. Mary’s Church on the corner of Anglesea Road and Simmonscourt Road, dedicated in 1830. Sadly, the old church was demolished and only a small wall, reportedly part of the original, in the middle of the cemetery remains.

In 1787 a church for Roman Catholics (also called St Mary’s) was erected beside the existing one (between the Reformation and 1787 there was no Catholic Church in Donnybrook). This church remained in use until it was replaced by the present day Sacred Heart Church south of the Dodder in 1866. Then in 1931 the site was sold to the Board of Works and the

Garda station was built there. Part of the wall dividing the graveyard from the Garda station is said to be the remains of this 1787 church.

In 1879 when new town houses were being constructed by the well known builder Thomas Wardrop in Seaview Terrace, near Ailsbury Road, a mass grave containing some 600-700 bodies was discovered. The circular mound almost a hundred feet in circumference consisted of several burial layers.

The Ordinance Survey of the 1830’s to 1840s appears to have no knowledge of this burial site as it went unrecorded on their maps.

In addition to human remains, the grave contained animal remains, jewellery, cooking utensils, and a large sword of Scandinavian origin. Upon examination, the remains were found to be of Celtic ethnicity, with many showing signs of having met a violent death, possibly from decapitation. Included in the find were many very young children.

The find was supervised by Professor of Anatomy and Zoology, Alexander Macalister of Trinity College, Dublin, and William Hellier Baily, paleontologist with the Royal Geographical Survey.

Contemporary thought was that the grave dated from the tenth century and seemed to be the ghoulish relic of the Viking era. It should be added, however, that some modern scholars dispute this. Most of the artefacts unearthed ended up in the hands of foreign collectors (the site’s most important find, the Scandinavian sword, currently resides in the Castle Museum of Nottingham), while the remains were gathered up and re-interred in Donnybrook Cemetery. It is not unreasonable to speculate that many of Broc’s religious congregation were part of the massacre.

In 1931 another mass grave was unearthed when the entrance to the cemetery was moved back, in order to widen the road. These bodies were re-interred in the south of the graveyard.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the gruesome, and by its nature furtive, practice of grave robbing, or ‘body snatching’ as it was called, was all too common. Indeed by the 19th century it had become something of an epidemic. The Royal College of Surgeons and other Dublin Anatomical Schools paid a premium for

corpses; according to some reports up to £2 for an adult, and children were sold by the inch.

Donnybrook cemetery sadly did not escape this scourge. The story is told that following the death of a young child a group of surgeons came to steal the body. However, the child’s father got wind of it, assembled a few of his mates and they confronted the grave robbers in the act. A bloody confrontation ensued, but in the end the child’s remains were rescued and the perpetrators reportedly received a good trashing.

This was prior to the 1832 Anatomy Act which provided a legal source of cadavers.

SOME NOTABLE PEOPLE INTERRED IN DONNYBROOK CEMETERY: The Fitzwilliam family, who had their seat in Merrion, including Sir Richard Fitzwilliam, (1595), Nicholas Fitzwilliam (1635), and Oliver Fitzwilliam (1667) Second Viscount Fitzwilliam, and First Earl of Tyrconnell.

The Rev. Richard Graves (1763-1829), a noted theologian and classicist, and Professor of Greek and Divinity at Trinity. He was the author of many works, including Graves of the Pentateuch, a commentary on the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, as well as being the father of the famous surgeon Robert Graves who discovered Graves’s Disease, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid. Also his cousin John Crosbie Graves (1776-1835), the first Commissioner of Police in Dublin, and great-grandfather of Robert Graves, poet and author of The White Goddess, I Claudius, and Goodbye To All That.

Robert Clayton (1695-1758),

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April / May 2018

author of An Essay On Spirit.

Clayton was successively Bishop of Killala, Cork and Clogher, but failed to become Archbishop of Tuam because of his extreme unorthodox views. He was a supporter of Arianism and in the House of Lords he called for the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed to be expunged from the Common Book of Prayer.

nybrook, who was murdered in his home near Ballsbridge in 1826.

Later that evening the culprits were apprehended after carrying out a highway robbery on the Blackrock Road, confessed to the curate’s murder and were hanged.

Architect Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699-1733), the most prominent exponent of Palladianism (following the style formulated by Venetian architect Andrea Palladio) in Ireland. He’s most famously known for the Houses of Parliament at College Green. His other works include Bellamont House in Cavan, and Castletown House, Kildare, the latter a excellent example of the Palladian style.

The obelisk of Stillorgan, dedicated to those who died in the famine of 1727, is also attributed to Pearce.

He has been described as the father of Irish Palladian architecture and Georgian Dublin.

And, of course, Archbishop William King.

Bartholomew Mosse (17121759), a famous surgeon and impresario who founded the Rotunda hospital (1745), or Rotunda Lying-in Hospital, as it was known at the time. Apparently, it was the first of its kind in Europe.

Dr. Richard Robert Madden (1798-1886), an ardent Abolitionist who fought against the slave trade in the West Indies, and particularly Britain’s involvement in it. He was also a doctor and historian of the United Irishmen.

The Rev. George Wogan, a curate in Don-

William Ashford (1746-1824) well known English landscape painter who settled in Ireland.

The last person to be buried in Donnybrook Cemetery was Amy Ryder (1936) and before that her sister Elizabeth (1935), both younger siblings of Canon Arthur Gore Ryder, who was first Rector of Donnybrook (1867-1889) after it separated from the Archdeaconry of Dublin. The graveyard, having being in use for over a thousand years, officially closed in 1880. However, as we saw, a few notable families named in the Closure Order continued to be interred there.

About 7,000 people in total are buried in Donnybrook Cemetery, among them Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Huguenots; the earliest headstone dating from 1625. The original entrance to the cemetery faced south. The current east-facing entrance under the archway was erected by the Dublin Stock Exchange in 1893 and has a dedication to Thomas Chamney Searight inscribed over it. There is no public access, but tours of the cemetery are given every alternative Saturday during the summer months by local historian David Neary, meeting at the gates at 2pm, they are free and no booking is required. The tour lasts about an hour and is highly recommended.

Photos: Eoin Meegan.

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April / May 2018

SCHOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY

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Tech Week is back!

N

ational and secondary schools throughout Dublin will take part in Tech Week, Ireland’s national festival of technology, this month between April 22nd and April 28th with a variety of nationwide events. The festival is aimed at sparking an interest in technology and related study and careers among students, parents and the public.

Organised by the ICS Foundation, the social enterprise arm of the Irish Computer Society, and supported by Science Foundation Ireland and Amazon Web Services, this exciting week of events will see more than 100,000 students take part in a range of fun activities, including the finals of several national Tech Week events.

School students will be challenged on their computational thinking skills at the National Bebras final in NUI Maynooth on Saturday, 21st April, and coding projects will be showcased by school children in the Scratch Programming Final in UL on Wednes-

N

ational housing charity Threshold is calling on women of all ages to walk, run or jog in this year’s Mini-Marathon on behalf of Threshold to raise vital funds to make a difference for families facing homelessness.

Every four minutes, Threshold receives a call from someone experiencing a housing problem and the number of calls to Threshold is expected to increase this year.

Commenting on Threshold’s latest fundraising appeal, CEO John Mark McCafferty said “Last year Threshold’s expert housing advisors responded

day 25th April.

Speaking at the launch of Tech Week 2018, the Minister of State for Training, Skills and Innovation, John Halligan TD said: “The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation is delighted to support Tech Week through Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover Programme. All young people love science and finding out how things work. Tech Week is aimed at stimulating children’s natural curiosity and encouraging them to explore, discover and develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It provides hands-on opportunities for young people to learn about how computing and related technologies are shaping every area of life. With the European Commission estimating that 90% of tomorrow’s jobs will require digital skills, we need to ensure that Ireland is at the forefront of this transformation. We must be a leader in developing and nurturing STEM talent.”

Margie McCarthy, Interim Di-

rector of Innovation and Education at Science Foundation Ireland, who was also present, said: “Science Foundation Ireland is delighted to support Tech Week once again. The events held nationwide throughout the week are aimed at inspiring our future STEM leaders, and giving Ireland’s young people an opportunity to explore technology and coding in a fun environment. Tech Week will empower people taking part to become actively involved in STEM. For this reason, we are proud to fund the initiative through the SFI Discover Programme, and look forward to another week of interactive and stimulating events.”

For many students engaging them in science, technology, engineering or maths, (STEM) subjects, if they feel this isn’t their forte can be difficult. Tech Week is a great example of ways in which engagement and interest in these STEM subjects can be built.

With a wide selection of varied events happening all over the

Muckross Enterprise Winner

Paul Carton Muckross College won top prize in the Junior Category at this year’s Dublin City Student Enterprise Awards, all thanks to a flubber fanatic student.

Sarah Mandourah’ s Slimey Wonders Project picked up the award on the 8th of March at the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) awards ceremony in Croke Park. Sarah’s business idea and report, which showed the judging panels how her innovation can take the hard work out of producing Slime to allow others to begin enjoying its potential in shapes, was rated by the judges for a number of factors including, its market research, risk management and finances. Sarah will now represent Dublin City at the Student Enterprise Awards National Finals in May. n

Above, left to right: Councillor Janice Boylan representing the Lord Mayor with Sarah Mandourah of Muckross Park College, Pat Walsh from Skybc.ie and Greg Swift from Dublin City LEO Office. Photo taken by Sean Brosnan Photography. country during the week, it helps engage young people with STEM by introducing them to it in a new way, which is hands-on, puts them in the driver seat and focuses on building their confidence.

The organisers and Department are hoping that Tech Week will inspire thousands of young people across Ireland to make, create and invent with confidence and curiosity, and increase engagement in science, technology, engineering

Just do it, for homelessness

to 73,526 calls from individuals, families and older couples, which demonstrates the huge and rising demand for Threshold’s homeless prevention services in Ireland right now. Every day, Threshold’s housing advisors are responding to 306 calls

to our Helpline. In 2017 alone, Threshold helped 2,000 families, including 3,080 children, to remain in their homes.”

Fundraising Manager Cora Ó Liatháin is hoping that the event will attract even more support than before. “This fun-

draising appeal comes against a backdrop of Threshold dealing with the highest number of calls from clients since its foundation 40 years ago. The vital funds raised through events such as the Mini Marathon will help us to continue our work to save nine families a day from homelessness.”

Cora added: “We would urge everyone who is interested in taking part to get registered and to consider joining #TeamThreshold to help us raise vital funds to continue our homeless prevention work. By taking part in Threshold’s national fundraising drive, women will be

and maths by making it fun, practical and accessible You can learn all about Tech Week 2018 by visiting www. techweek.ie, facebook.com/techweekirl and following @TechWeekIRL on Twitter.

Pictured are Aoibh Cowan age 10, Siobhan O’Leary age 11 and Benjamin Murray age 11.

Photo by Julien Behal courtesy of MKC Communications Ltd.

showing solidarity with people at risk of becoming homeless.

Women of all fitness levels and none are welcomed to join with Team Threshold on Sunday June 3rd. Whether you choose to walk, jog or run you can help Threshold to make a real difference in the lives of people at risk of homelessness. Anyone interested in joining #TeamThreshold this year contact Jean on 1890 43 44 45 or email fundraising@threshold.ie, to avail of T-shirts and fundraising materials.”

Image supplied courtesy of Threshold.

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COMMUNITY

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April / May 2018

Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre News

MAY DAY… MAY DAY… MAY DAY

Your community needs you! And this May Day the parade that will kick off community week will be the most colourful and energetic yet. This year the RICC are celebrating 10 years. That’s a decade of providing supports, resources and connection and so it will be a bumper decade celebration! They are also looking for nominations of community stalwarts or activists to represent Ringsend/ Irishtown as the Lord Mayor/Mayoress and look forward to seeing you at one or all of the many activities on offer.

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O

April / May 2018

CRAFT BEERS

The Alltech Craft Beer Expo

Eoin Meegan blivious to the damp, dreary night outside, everybody was full of good, crafty cheer when the Convention Centre hosted the Sixth Alltech Craft Beer Fair from 8th10th March. In excess of 5,000 visitors were expected over the three-day event, with 60 exhibitors in total present, and over 400 of the finest beers and ciders on offer.

It is estimated there are 90 micro breweries operating in the Republic of Ireland. The industry has grown phenomenally in the past few years. In terms of revenue the micro brewing industry in 2016 was worth in excess of €10 million.

Among many of the names present at the fair were Ballykilcavan Brewery, Carrig Brew from Leitrim, Dundalk Brewmaster, and Galway Hooker.

Northern Ireland was represented by, among others, Master McGraw, named after the famous greyhound, the MacIvor Cider Company from Armagh, and Tempted Cider, started by Davy Uprichard.

Among the Irish Gold medal winners were Boyne Brewhouse for Craft Imperial Stout, Wicklow Wolf, Blacks of Kinsale, and Longueville Mór Cider from Cork. The prizes were announced on the opening night of the fair, the overall winner being the Hungarian-based M63 Bulldog. n

The Alltech Animal Nutrition Company was founded in 1980

by Dundalk native Pearse Lyons.

While based in Kentucky, its European headquarters is located in Dunboyne, Co. Meath. In 2013, Pearse acquired St James’s Church in the heart of Dublin’s Liberties, situated opposite the Guinness Hop Store.

In the nineteenth century the area was known as the Golden Circle of distillery, with big names like Powers and Jameson, as well as smaller distilleries making their home there (distilling had been a part of this area

since before the time of Charles II). The old church, which dates back to the twelfth century, was refurbished replete with glass spire. It opened to the public in August 2017 and has enjoyed an estimated 8,500 visitors to date.

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Pearse established the Alltech Sustainable Haiti Project and launched Alltech Cafe Citadelle coffee.

The proceeds go towards building schools, paying teachers, equipping classrooms and generally supporting the infrastructure in Haiti. They also produce a very nice Bourbon-infused coffee drink known as Bluegrass Sundown.

Sadly, Dr. Lyons himself passed away on March 8th, the day the fair opened.

Four Corners import and distribute specialized craft beers and cider in Ireland, including Stone Berliner Weisse from Berlin, Ballest Point from San Diego, and Beavertown in Hackney London, named after the old Cockney name for that district.

Their product, Brickfield Brown, a full-bodied English brown, ale took a silver, while Hook Island Red, an aromatic Red Rye ale picked up a bronze.

The company was founded by Logan Plant, the son of one Robert Plant, former lead singer with Led Zeppelin. I talked to their representative Amy Donnelly and she said as well as being in the business of importing, the company also promotes Wicklow Wolf, based in Bray, and the

Dungarvan Brewing Company, launched in 2010 by brothers-inlaw Cormac O’Dwyer and Tom Dalton.

Rascals Brewing Company from Rathcoole has been around for four years, and plan to open

Page 15

a new brewery in Inchicore in September. As well as making traditional craft beers, Rascals like to experiment. Among their unusual creations is a Strawberry Vanilla Shake (not the kind you get in McDonalds!), which was a little too bland for this writer’s taste.

But difference and variety is the spice of life. Included in their range is Margarita ‘soured not shaken’, very 007. As Triona, the company’s graphic designer told me, “it’s tradition with a twist.”

The music on Friday night was kicked off by Hurricane Highway, a West of Ireland band fronted by Ed Holland and guitarist Kevin Collins, who do a nice mixture of American rock and country.

Everyone was in good spirits enjoying the sounds, drink and food and looked set to party into the wee small hours. From small beginnings, the Irish Craft brewing industry looks like it might have a very big future indeed.

Clockwise from top: Rascals Brewing company, Hurricane Highway and Four Corners.

Photos by Eoin Meegan.

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ART OF PRINT AND FASHION

Make and Create at the National Print Museum

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he National Print Museum is holding a number of exciting workshops for adults, children, and families throughout April and May. In April, the Museum is delighted to host their first Introduction to Screen Printing workshop (above) with Tidy Print, a Brighton-based Print Shop and Screen Printing Studio, and welcomes back artists Caroline Byrne and Debora Ando for workshops in Bookmaking (below) and Colour Intaglio printmaking respectively.

For May, the Museum offers great introductory workshops in Modern Calligraphy, Medieval Book Making, Letterpress Printed Books, and Linocut Printmaking.

The Museum also offers lots of events for children and families throughout the Easter Holidays. There are scheduled workshops in Easy Easter Printmaking for 4-7 years, Easter Bookmaking for 8-12 years, and a Comic Book Workshop for 12-16 years.

There are also three Drop-in Family Workshops – Stamping Stories, Fingerprint Fun, and Brilliant Bookmarks – from 2.00 to 4.00pm on Tuesday 3rd April to Thursday the 5th April. These are suitable for all ages, and payment can be made on the day. There is also a free Drop-in Family Activity of Easter Card-making each day from Monday 26th March to Thursday 29th March – this is a drop-in activity, and is available all day, every day, on these dates!

With the exception of the Drop-in Family activities, all workshops must be booked in advance through the online Museum Shop at www.nationalprintmuseum.ie.

All information on booking and costs involved can be found on the Museum website, by emailing education@nationalprintmuseum.ie , or by ringing (01) 6603770.

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April / May 2018

Fashion secret revealed

“E

verything is hand picked,” says Rhoda McDonagh about the stellar selection of designer dresses for hire in the Designer Room in Sandymount.

The single mum of two decided to follow her bliss and pursue a change of career following a redundancy from AIB in 2016.

She set up a designer, clothes hire, business in her home. “I’d spend hours online looking at clothes anyway, I’m just making what I love my job. But I’m very choosy about what goes into the wardrobe.” And it shows.

Labels range from the unmistakable, established trademarks of Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Victoria Beckham to cognescenti only, insider labels like Henry Lewis and edgier trendy newcomers like Self Portrait, as well as ahead of the curve labels that are currently exclusive to her. The collection also includes vintage and less commonplace gems, awaiting resurrection, such as Matthew Williamson.

The process is simple in three easy steps. Choose a dress on the website or visit her by booking an appointment to suit your schedule. Wear it and look amazing. Designer Room will pick up the dress and look after the dry cleaning.

What began as ten dresses has swelled to over 100. These range in sizes and style from 6 to 16, from cocktail to glamourous formal evening dresses and even super smart daywear is present.

“It’s all about the tailoring. It’s not just about how you look,” she says, “it’s about how you feel.

When you put on something so well made, you don’t just look amazing, you feel it. You’re bulletproof walking into a room feeling radiant.”

And this translates to clothes you can look the business in and smash that interview or board meeting. Women who love clothes, know the power of clothes.

All of these dresses are knock out and make the wearers feel the same, Women wear them when they want to make an impact for something or someone special or they want or need something new or different other than what they already own or have worn several times over. But most women are also hard-working and practical when it comes to their money.

The original price tags on

many of these dresses are in the multiples with many of the very high end ones between €1,500 to €3,500. It’s the type of money many women don’t have and even if they do will know it doesn’t make sense to spend that on an item that will be a one time wear, or at the most will get a handful of outings. After that they will want a different one for the next event.

This is where Rhoda’s service is invaluable. Value being the operative principle. All the prices range, depending on the dress from €50 to €160 (at the top of the range) that’s for a four-day hire with dry cleaning included.

It is a bespoke service. “Women are busy,” says Rhoda, “So I open when you want to be here.

You also want it to be a pleasurable, enjoyable experience. I’ll bring them a of glass of prosecco or tea if they prefer, they have the full length mirrors and the whole room filled with plenty of light.

They want to be able to try something on, maybe bring a friend or mother or sister for advice.

I’m on hand and hems can be altered if required or let down a bit if possible. Then when you’ve made your choice. I wrap it all up in a beautiful box with tissue and it’s like leaving the boutique with all the excitement of something beautiful and new but without the financial damage.”

While you can browse and book a dress from the office or home, nothing beats a visit in person especially with an advisor as knowledgeable, discerning and helpful as Rhoda is.

Rhoda’s own style icons are impeccable, living and dead: Olivia Palermo, Victoria Beckham and Coco Chanel of course. She’s still hunting the perfect pieces to add to her collection. To source pieces she travels a lot to both Europe and America seeking to add and diversify with the right garments.

Though some women are happy to tell friends others are not and the service is naturally discrete but it makes getting word of mouth about difficult as one of the cons is that women are often secretive and competitive about their style and indeed such a style secret as this.

“They want people to think they bought it, which is fine, and for a few, the point, but tricky for publicity,” she laughs. With the true secret of style and creativity being resourcefulness and appropriateness, this is one secret worth letting out of the tissue wrapped box. Looks like the secret’s out!

Contact: Designerroom.ie Above: Rhoda McDonagh with some of the stunning pieces and stylish presentation box.

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April / May 2018

oing their Bit: Irish Women and the First World War’ is a new exhibition in Dublin City Library and Archive in Pearse Street. The exhibition centres on the impact that the First World War had on the lives of Irish women and the new opportunities that opened up for them.

Speaking about the exhibition, senior archivist Ellen Murphy said “The role of Irish women in World War One is a story that is yet to be fully told. Against the backdrop of the campaign for female suffrage and the struggle for Irish Independence, this exhibition explores how the First World War impacted the lives of Irish women and greatly accelerated the changes which had been slowly taking place in society before the outbreak of war.

By 1918 Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons and many Irish women had experienced new economic or social freedoms through the employment and volunteer opportunities offered by the war.”

The exhibition draws on the rich vein of archival materials contained in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive held at Dublin City Library and Archive, to tell a multitude of women’s stories from Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses to munitions workers, home front volunteers, anti-enlistment activists and separation women.

Other artefacts available for public viewing are a ‘death penny’ commemorating Sgt Michael Guilfoyle of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, killed at Salonica in 1916 and a book of poetry by the renowned republican poet Maeve Cavanagh.

Two notable women are highlighted in the exhibition; Kate Middleton Curtis a distinguished member of St. John Ambulance in Dublin who referred to herself as ‘The oldest ambulance lady in Ireland’ and Monica Roberts, a young Stillorgan woman who in 1914 established ‘The Band of Helpers for the Soldiers.’ This voluntary group sent ‘home comforts’ such as cigarettes, food, clothing and watches to Irish soldiers in the front line. Kate’s diary and other medical artefacts, as well as letters and postcards from the Monica Roberts collection, are on display.

EXHIBITION

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Irish Women and the First World War

The exhibition runs at Dublin City Library and Archive, 144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 until 28th April 2018, open during library hours. The exhibition will be accompanied by free guided tours and a programme of talks in both City Hall and Dublin City Library and Archive. Exhibition opening hours are Monday-Thursday 10am-8pm and Friday-Saturday 10am5pm. Closed 31 March-2 April 2018 inclusive. Guided tours are available at 3pm Sat 24 March and every Saturday in April at 11am. Booking required via https://doingtheirbit.eventbrite.ie Members of the public are encouraged to contact Dublin City Library and Archive (DCLA) @dclareadingroom using the hashtag #doingtheirbit if they have stories to tell of their own relatives during the First World War or want to enquire about anything in the exhibition.

There will also be a lunchtime lecture series in City Hall. The accompanying lunchtime lecture series runs every Tuesday in City Hall during the month of April at 1.10 pm and explores different aspects of Irish women’s experiences throughout World War One from anti-enlistment activism to working in munitions factories and war-time nursing.

The final lecture in the series by keynote speaker Dr. Fionnuala Walsh assesses the legacy and long-term impact of World War One on the role of women in Irish society. Details can be found on: http://bit. ly/CityHall2018LectureSeries A talk will also take place on 17th April at 6.30 pm at Dublin City Library and Archive titled “Women of the Brigade: St John Ambulance and the First World War”. Speaker is Padraig Allen, honorary archivist and project manager with St John Ambulance, Ireland. No booking required. Seats are first come, first served.

The exhibition is curated by Dublin City Library and Archive and funded by Dublin City Council Decade of Commemoration. http://www.dublincity.ie/main-menuservices-culture-and-amenities-dublincity-public-libraries-and-archive-events/ women Pictured clockwise from top: St. John’s Ambulance Group at Dublin City Library and Archive, from left: Padraig Allen, Mrs Eileen Cronin, Mrs Martha Oman, Mrs Carmel Howard and Commissioner John Hughes.

Kate Middleton Curtis in uniform.

Royal Dublin Fusilliers Army Fundraiser, sponsored by the Irish Life newspaper.

Shell factory workers.

Photographs Courtesy of DCC media relations.

Page 18

Fast food with a boost A n SuperNatural

Food Market recent survey found almost half of Irish consumers want to add more plant-based food and drink into their diets over the next year.

Plant-based foods offer a variety of nutritional benefits, from macro essentials such as protein, fibre, carbohydrates and essential fats to important minerals and vitamins, as well as keeping meals interesting with a range of textures and flavours.

Fish, eggs, meat and dairy are all complimented with alkalising vegetables and fruits, or can even be replaced by plant protein such as beans and legumes, nuts, seeds or dairy alternatives such as soy, oat or nut milks, as well as fermented foods such as tofu and tempeh plus whole grains which add valuable benefits.

Health, weight loss and the environment are some of the motivators for eating a more plantbased diet, but energy levels and enhanced beauty are the not-sosuperficial reasons too.

Foods such as eggs are complete powerhouses and the fast food of healthy eating. Eggs contain omega 3’s: healthy fats to help our gut and our brain while nourishing our skin and hair, and vitamins protein.

Adding ingredients like freshly chopped parsley, half a diced onion or fresh tomatoes to it, gives you a quick, light meal. With the immune lifting benefits of the allium family in the onion, parsley is chock full of iron and calcium as well as antioxidants and chlorophyll that oxygenates the blood, cleanses the liver and makes your skin glow.

Tomatoes are an anti-cancer food, with nutrients that benefit eyesight, skin, and the digestive system – for example lycopene, beta carotene and vitamin C. Have a freshly-squeezed glass of orange juice first and you have your daily requirement of vitamin C that combines with the iron in the eggs and parsley so you fully

absorb it.

Adding plenty of fruits, salads, and whole grains to meals compliments quality protein.

With summer hours now giving us longer days and the weather getting warmer, this is the ideal time of year to consider switching to lighter meals that celebrate the nutritionally-dense power of plant-based foods.

These recipes highlight the quick and easy way to intake foods that have a positive effect on the body. A good breakfast to keep you fueled all morning. Salads made with ingredients that are curated for their specific healing and health giving benefits. And a tea that has more antioxidants than a bowl of broccoli.

It doesn’t have to be laborious or require a cookery course to draw up your shopping list and plan easy spring-summer meals with a few added or new ingredients to get you started in healthier habits. A few tweaks here and there and you’ll feel the difference that will have you reaching for more pak choi or cabbage in no time. And talking of beautiful recipes designed to preserve your assets, the omelette recipe is adapted from Glow which is featured in our book review on page 22. Shine on!

Life is busy and most of us don’t have time for fuss, particularly in the morning, yet this is also the most important meal of the day. After fasting all night long and with a full day ahead of us at which we want to function at our optimum, we need a good protein boost that keeps us fuller for longer and revs up the metabolism.

Eggs are the perfect meal. Super fast, skin loving and delicious, you can add more plantbased elements with edamame or any other legumes or experiment with fresh herbs, tomatoes, sliced peppers or seaweed flakes. The oils mentioned are all safe to heat with a very high smoking point.

You should never cook with ol-

FOOD

ive, sunflower or any other coldpressed vegetable oil.

Herby Edamame Omelette 2 organic eggs Sea salt & black pepper 1tbsp chopped parsley 1-2 spring onions chopped 1tbsp coconut/avocado/peanut/ macadamia oil 1 large handful of spinach 2 tbsp of edamame or other beans either shelled/defrosted/drained from can A few cherry tomatoes sliced.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl, add seasoning and the chopped herb, whisk vigorously with fork/balloon whisk. Heat oil in frying pan add sliced cherry tomatoes, onion, beans and spinach, fry for a minute or two. Pour in whisked egg when egg is set on one side, lift and fold over leave for minute to three depending on how soft you like the omelette. I highly recommend one glass of freshly squeezed orange juice to accompany it.

I absolutely love quinoa. It is not actually a grain but a seed and is naturally gluten free, high in protein, low in GI, as well as bouncing in amino acids, vitamins B and C and minerals; potassium, phosphorus, calcium, manganese, magnesium, selenium, iron and more! It takes no time to cook at all (10 minutes) and is very versatile. It can be a ‘grain’ with any dish or eaten cold in a salad. It

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is light and delicious and perfect at home or in the lunchbox. The toasted seeds are tiny powerhouses of nutrition and give you vital essential fatty acids for skin, hair and energy.

The really cool thing about it is that it’s the perfect base upon which to build any combination of fast, healthy flavours you like.

Try adding pistachios and orange segments with mixed salad leaves, or finely chop some chilli, squeeze in lime juice, grated apple and salad leaves with olive oil. Toasted walnuts and chopped dried unsulphured apricots are another winner. Experiment and buy plant ingredients and combinations you may not have tried yet.

Seedy Salad 150g Quinoa – white, red or mixed Tbsp sunflower seeds toasted Tbsp pumpkin seeds toasted Half a head of chopped lettuce or mixed leaves Tbsp of olive oil Tbsp of lemon juice Half a sliced red pepper Tbsp chopped coriander Sea salt & black pepper Rinse quinoa, put in pot and add water to one inch above grain line in pot. Bring to boil. Turn down to simmer and cook approx 10 minutes until water has evaporated. You can also cook this in a good homemade vegetable or chicken stock for flavour. Allow

April / May 2018

to cool and transfer to salad bowl.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Enjoy.

Matcha green tea is one of the most powerful one-shot ingredients on our planet and an express remedy to beautiful clear skin, super focus and concentration, physical relaxation and a veritable injection of antioxidants (the things that slow the ageing process and support vitality).

One serving of this bright green powder is far more potent than regular green tea. It is richer and more intense. For some an acquired taste but we recommend you acquire it!

Matcha Tea 1⁄4 of a tsp of Matcha green tea powder Pinch of vanilla powder optional Boiled water.

Put kettle on to boil. Before it reaches boiling point but when it is quite hot, take off heat. Put matcha powder and a little vanilla powder if desired, into bowl add a little cold water, taking a small bamboo whisk (you can buy these in Asian markets or any health food shop that sells matcha tea) or ordinary balloon whisk, or fork, pour the under boiled water over mixture, and whisk.

Pour into mug. Drink and feel its magic work! www.supernatural.ie Every Saturday 9-3.30pm St Andrew’s Resource Centre, Pearse St.

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April / May 2018

125 years of the Girls Brigade

“S

n Kathrin Kobus tep and curtsy, lift and curtsy, on your toes, prepare, prepare and skip.” These are just some of the instructions Sharon Kinsella calls out on a Thursday afternoon to the group of girls from the 11th Company Sandymount-Irishtown Girls Brigade practising their skipping rope performance for an upcoming competition.

She is the current Captain of the Company. A respiratory nurse specialist (NSHI) by profession, she has always been interested in and practised dancing and choreography.

Sharon Kinsella took up her post

in 2000 and after meeting some of her predecessors she was curious to delve into the history. One result of this was the celebrated 80th anniversary in 2012. How can another big celebration come along just six years later?

“Actually it was Margaret Lyttle who had started The Girls Brigade back in the last years of the 19th century, 1893 to be precise. They met at the Old Presbyterian Church at the corner of Tritonville Road for choir practise, but one day it was so cold and to keep the girls warm she introduced them to skipping and dancing routines.”

The old Presbyterian Church

COMMUNITY doesn’t exist anymore. These days the church hall at Sandymount Green is their home to practise. “We meet twice a week in the Christchurch hall opposite the Green, where we do a variety of activities with the girls: singing, musical theatre, dance, hip hop and choral speaking as well as activities for the badgework.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1908, eight companies existed. In the following years and decades some closed and were later re-opened or different companies and groups joined their efforts.

The girls who attend regularly on Thursday late afternoons, Saturday mornings are from local schools: Lakelands, St.Patrick’s Girls, and St. Matthew’s mostly. The company is structured from the youngest girls, the tiny tots, junior explorers, senior explorers, up to the brigaders and the 12-13 year olds and elder.

While Sharon Kinsella as Captain is in overall charge, her helpers are called officers, with no further rank distinction. “There are seven volunteer commissioned officers and then two ex-captains who help out with uniforms and two 17-18 year olds who help teach and will be doing their officers’ awards next session.”

It takes two years preparation with projects, exams and interviews to achieve these international awards.

Page 19 Aspiring officers have to complete four modules.

“There is the spiritual aspect, a community service project, and two initiative tests,” says Kathy Moylan, one of the officers. Being with the Girls Brigade has become a family affair. “I think I was actually one of the first girls after the different companies merged decades ago.”

Her mum had brought her along and is still around helping out here and there, and Kathy’s daughter is with brigaders now as well.

All the officers are volunteers, heading to church hall straight after work, on Thursdays and early on a weekend morning when the youngest members, the tiny tots, start Saturday activities at around 9am.

It means an extra 10 to 15 hours

extra per week, it probably is double that number now during competition time. “February and March is our busiest time, for all the groups.

We have different teams in various competitions and levels. But we want all of the girls to get to perform their routines on a stage.”

The extensive training and paces Sharon and her volunteers put the girls through in the past few weeks showed success with some medals in the national competition.

The Junior Senior A Team won third place in regional competition for modern dance.

The Explorer A teamwork won third place in National competition, with Sharon Kinsella.

Photos: Kathy Moylan.

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PHOTO DIARY

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April / May 2018

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April / May 2018

PHOTO DIARY

Page 21

Page 22

K

Glow

BOOK REVIEWS

by Kate O’Brien

ate O’Brien is a writer and author with professional qualifications in nutritional and cosmetic science who writes generously with her knowledge and expertise.

Glow is her latest book and a complete four-week guide to healthy, radiant skin starting from the inside out. Which, as we all know, is the way to a beautiful complexion.

Having previously authored Your middle Years: Live Them, Love Them, Own Them, the famous Coco Chanel quote, at the book’s beginning is apt. “Nature gives you the face you have at twenty, it up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.”

Readers will connect to the relevant advice from someone who is not impossibly young and flogging some internet-sponsored life. This is a book written by a dedicated woman to women, for women.

Kate O’Brien actually uses and trusts all the recommended, methods, products and delicious recipes in her book and her glowing skin is the result of these good habits and not the illusory combination of youth, lighting and Photoshop.

The first part of the book is a nononsense outline of skin and its functions, the big effective beauty ingredients, what they are and what they do. She discusses only the best ingredients that work, both longstanders such as retinol

The Journey

by Mary O’Neill

If you believe this story, then maybe it is true.

A land full of promise might be just the place for you.

Not very long ago, a woman on a mission went traveling through time. She went without permission.

She longed for love, the frontier beckoned, her magic horse had her there in a second.

There he was, a warrior brave, and for her love, his heart he gave.

She told him of her homeland, its beauty, wealth and freedom, and of her father, the wise ruler of this kingdom.

They loved, they feasted, they married for life, were happy, contented and free of all strife.

But eternity is a very long time and the warrior brave kept hearing a song that swirled in his brain, making him ask, should I go or remain?

The decision was made and back home he went.

But the landscape was foreign, the people were strangers, his family all dead for ages and ages.

The words of his lady rang clear in his head: “Don’t touch the earth or you will be dead.”

He missed her kind face, her love that was strong, and knew that his journey was pointless and wrong.

Such was his haste, no time to spare, he sped through the forest to get back to his dear.

Then tragedy happened, he fell to the ground.

His last word, her name. Thereafter no sound.

He vanished in seconds. No trace would be found.

and Vitamin C and newbies like hyaluronic acid and ingestible beauty powders.

Surprisingly, there is no mention of gadgets such as the LED or microcurrent devices but O’Brien’s mission is to give everyday, accessible advice and perhaps she herself doesn’t use them, rate them or considers them beyond most people’s budget.

This is followed by skin stres-

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sors what are they and how to overcome them – environment, stress, alcohol and areas such as gut health and getting enough sleep.

Part two is then a very practical, doable four-week plan to getting the glow. She helpfully lists essential kitchen and bathroom items, along with some of the best skin tips. Don’t skip meals. Read labels.

And the best glow foods – unpastuerised apple cider vinegar, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, seaweeds and fermented foods all feature among the plant-based list.

Don’t worry, of course, it includes the nothing-it-can’t-do avocado (Yes, we’re beginning to wonder, can it pay the mortgage too?)

Part three houses the recipes.

Nothing is fussy and she covers meals, snacks, dressings and dips along with teas, juices and ferments.A total beginner or the very lazy could make all of them.

April / May 2018

She has been very conscientious, it is not a cookbook and therefore while the food ingested is vital to getting the glow, the reader of this book may not be a culinary type and so no recipe requires huge skill or deep interest in food, though the reader may find themselves becoming far more interested in what they buy and eat and learning how to cook using this section.

All are genuinely tasty recipes, thoughtfully combining flavours and the health benefits of the food.

All of them are easy to prepare and healthy. Getting the glow has never been so pleasurable and the book is a delight in that it does not peddle brands, only recommends what the author truly believes in from experience and results. Glow keeps the quest for beauty, at all ages, real, pleasurable and attainable.

Glow by Kate O’Brien, Gill Books, hardback €19.99.

Walking on Snow

by Mary Guckian

n Kathrin Kobus 1956 7.1.1956 Cleaned out gripe at the hayshed and stone path where the manure would be cleaned out from the byre. Snow at night time.

8.1 1956 Freezing all day Sunday and during night time.

9.1.1956 A lot of snow on the ground.

14.1 it rained and took all the snow away.

Anne and I at home from school from the 8 - 16th January because of the snow, the road was terrible slippery all that week 16.1.1956 We brought in the pigs on Packie Gralton’s tractor to tommy Flynn and were £8.10.0 per cwt. This week was good weather and Daddy was making a pool in the bottom of the garden, where the cattle could drink in the spring when they were let out.

21.1.1956 Rained all day, terrible snow in Dublin.

3.2 1956 Snowed all morning 10.2 1956 Snowed again all night.

This is from the first page of Mary Guckian’s diaries, back when she was a fourteen year girl old, growing up on her family’s farm at Kiltoghert.

61 years later her poem ‘Walking on Snow’ picks up seamlessly from there. It is also the title of

her third poetry collection published by Swan Press. (2010) Life took her or rather she took life to many different places all over the world. The poems in Walking on Snow are swinging like a pendulum from her memories of growing up on the family farm in Leitrim with their focus on celebrating and keeping alive the memory of her father, mother, and siblings to walks around Dublin 4 where she lives now.

Hammering Sound is an example of the latter. The noise from a construction site for a high-rise multi-storey building forges the link to the cluttering of milk cans on carts decades ago, just after the war.

Her poetry takes its inspirational spark from observing nature in

all seasons and links them while wandering, walking through streets and lanes and parks.

‘Cranes and Crosses’ is another poem bridging the past with the present and the future; where she put in words, not rhymes observant thoughts of St.Brigid’s eve.

Her strength is to create vivid pictures in the mind of the readers inviting them to go for a walk with all their senses opened up to appreciate how life in all its variant forms goes about its business day after day.

The reader is reminded of their own experiences and can compare them to find similarities and differences. And if you read them aloud you’ll discover more than just the rhythm shaping into the first notes of a burgeoning song that you might feel to continue for yourself.

There is no rhyming poetry in Walking on Snow. Instead, the poems are free form and open ended and by in this expression leave the readers to further the thought from where the poem ends.

Walking on Snow and other poetry collections by Mary Guckian are available from Swan Press, in Books Upstairs, the Irish Writers Centre and of course your local library. Walking on Snow; Mary Guckian; Swan Press €10.00.

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April / May 2018

I

Eoin Meegan braved the elements on St Patrick’s Day to do the Aware annual Harbour to Harbour walk from Dun Laoghaire to Howth and as well as the challenge it was an occasion of great fun and social merriment. This year, despite the threat of the Beast from the East making an unwelcome return, the event was well turned out.

This St Patrick’s day event, which is in its thirteenth year, attracts an average of 2,000 people.

And despite severe weather warnings and the Rugby Six Nations final, numbers were only marginally down this year, so the organisers were very pleased with the final count.

The course is 26 kilometres or n

A

n Paul

Carton Dublin District Court Judge has fined the incinerator operators Covanta, €1,000 for being in breach of their licence with the EPA. Covanta, who are in a publicprivate partnership with DCC, known as the Dublin Waste to Energy (DWTE) and who pledged to be able to power 80,000 homes with energy-converted electricity, pleaded guilty for not ensuring temperatures in the combustion chamber stayed above safe limits in early June last year and not notifying the EPA in the specified time limit.

The offence, the court heard from the Judge, carries a fine of €4,000 per offence. Senior Counsel Shane Murphy for DWTE told the Judge that it was a ‘glitch’ which caused the breach and it happened in the plant’s first week of operation.

The Judge took a lenient approach on the basis that Covanta had pleaded guilty. It was in the very early stages of operation and said that it was a “major factor” that there were no other prosecutions “coming down the line.” The judge imposed the fine for not informing the EPA in the specified time limit and applied the proba-

REPORTS & ROUNDUPS

16.2 miles long, so I suppose participants must be reasonably fit.

But everyone does it at their own time and pace. It’s a social and fun occasion and no one is setting a time watch. Some brave souls even run it, while others like to cycle the scenic route.

The walk took us through some of the most picturesque scenes of Dublin Harbour. From Dun Laoghaire through Blackrock, Booterstown, and down along Sandymount Strand. Keeping an eye on the high swell from the sea, one felt like Stephen Dedalus walking into eternity.

On we journeyed, through Sean Moore Park, past Clanna Gael, just skirting Ringsend village before embracing the East Wall Road, and navigating the South Bank

Dun Laoghaire to Howth on St Patrick’s Day

Road Roundabout. From there, it was a short walk to the East Link Bridge.

The adventure continued past the 3 Arena, up Alfie Byrne Road, and into Clontarf, where the bracing winds on this particular Patrick’s day evoked how Brian Boru might have felt going into battle.

From there it was a straight, if rather long, trek past the Wooden Bridge, the James Larkin Road, Sutton Road, and then Howth.

Weary travellers were relieved to see the famed boating village come into view, and regaled by the street music and warm welcome we received from the residents.

Many chose to do it in the other direction, starting in Howth and finishing up in Dun Laoghaire.

Registration took place in both venues from about 9 am onwards, or you could register online. Refreshments were laid on at the Dublin Port Company Public Plaza, on the north side of the East Link Bridge. They call this the ‘Halfway Hooley’ aptly named as it certainly had a carnival atmosphere. Here walkers partook of tea, coffee, water, sandwiches and snacks, while taking time out to

Covanta’s day in court

tion act to the other two charges they pleaded guilty to.

However, Joe McCarthy who represents An Taisce in the DCC’s Environment Strategic Policy Committee, said the incident file held at EPA offices show a lot more incidents just this one and is curious why they have not been brought forward. “I’m not surprised the DWTE pleaded guilty, they were caught red-handed, they are not running the plant at high temperatures like they should and sometimes this is up to three or four hours,” Joe told NewsFour.

Responding to the court’s decision a spokesperson for Covanta told NewsFour “Overall, the new facility is performing extremely

Page 23

well and operating significantly below required licence limits.

Continuous emissions monitoring data and four sets of different stack results have been performed by independent third party testing since the facility began generating electricity at the end of August 2017. The results show emission limit values at only 2%-3% of the allowable amount.”

There is still the criminal investigation case to come where workers were hospitalised when one of the gaskets broke last year.

This case is being handled by the Health and Safety authority.

NewsFour will keep you posted.

Photo: Paul Sherwood.

enjoy a well-earned break, share stories and offer encouragement, where needed.

Because of the bad weather forecast, and Met Eireann’s orange alert there were some jitters that the event might not happen this year. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, and the predicted sleet showers (and even snow) held off until after dark.

Part of the walk around the bath houses at Blackrock was waterlogged and had to be closed off for public safety. Also, an area in Blackrock Park by the Martello tower was flooded. And when we got to Clontarf the waves were so high that they came over the wall, managing to soak a young couple in the process who thankfully laughed it off.

That aside, and the biting wind (which I felt particularly strongly on the stretch of road leading into Sutton) you could almost say, it was the perfect day for a brisk walk! Overall high spirits were the flavour of the day: “I’ve been doing this for the past eight years,” Rose told me “and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Sometimes it rains, but I always

say a little rain never killed anyone.

It’s the taking part that counts.”

Spoken with true Dublin spirit.

Another man I spoke to, Kevin, who is 75 has been doing the walk every St Patrick’s day since it started. “Instead of sitting at home and watching the parade on television, I much prefer to get out and do the walk with friends. It’s most invigorating. And the best part is having a few pints of the black stuff when you get to Howth,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.

Aware work with people whose lives have been impacted by depression, bipolar disorder and mood-related conditions. They operate support groups in 35 locations nationwide, a wellness at work programme, and their popular life skills programme. The life skills is a six-week programme that aims to help anyone suffering with depression or just wanting motivation. They also have a support line which is open 365 days a year, and a 24-hour email support.

The Support Freeline is: 1800 80 48 48 or visit www.aware.ie Photos courtesy of Aware.

Page 24

A

n Alexander Kearney Dublin City Council planner has finally accepted changes to the profiles of two commercial blocks in one of the most distinctive developments in Dublin 4 – Boland’s Quay on Grand Canal Dock. The case is an early test of the planning environment created by the SDZ (Strategic Development Zone), for the North Lotts and Grand Canal Docks area.

Here, in the interests of fasttracking development, decisions can no longer be appealed to An Bord Pleanála, but must be settled by the City Council Planning Department. While SDZs were first legislated for in 2000, the North Lotts Grand Canal Docks area was awarded this status in 2014, and is the most prominent and central location to be so designated.

The Grand Canal Dock area has already earned the informal title of ‘Googletown’, with the tech giant become a leading presence in the area. Google acquired its Barrow street headquarters from Nama in 2011, and the €170m Boland’s Quay scheme is rising fast right beside it.

Speculation has swirled since last autumn – fuelled by anonymous sources to the Sunday Business Post and the Irish Independent – that Google would soon buy the neighbouring scheme outright, once again from Nama. Its local staff of some 7,000 workers would swell further.

Just before Christmas, with site-works well underway, the scheme hit a potentially serious hitch. A request by its architects, Burke-Kennedy Doyle, to alter the slanted angle of its 12 and 13-storey towers to a straighter profile was firmly rejected by the Planning Authority.

The architects justified the proposed changes by stating that safety revisions to the in-

PROPERTY

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‘Tilting Towers’ win for developer

ternal service cores made these unavoidable. They noted in passing that the more upstanding design would increase the overall floor area of the two towers.

The proposed amendments would give an extra 788 square metres of floor area to Building 1, resulting in a total of 14,064 square metres and an increase in floor area of 793 square metres for Building 2, resulting in a new total of 12,533 square metres.

While this was not offered as a reason for the change, an approximate 6% increase in commercial floor space is unlikely to harm the scheme’s prospects with potential buyers. Conservation architects for the scheme said of the changes, that “The visual impact can be considered to be slight and neutral.”

Yet in a report published on

the 19th December, the Deputy Planning Officer sharply countered: “There are serious concerns in relation to the proposed changes to the tilt angle of Buildings 1 and 2, as, in the opinion of the Planning Authority, the proposed revisions make a very noticeable change to the building form which subsequently appears fuller, broader and loses the slim tilted profile. The tilting elevations are the unique and defining characteristic of the overall design… The Applicant is requested to adjust the core position and maintain the tilt angle as per the parent permission.”

As the developer could not appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanála, its architects sought to retain the revised core positions and steeper facades by presenting a cosmetic fix. The

appearance of additional girth would be reduced by introducing glazed strips to the straight corners of the towers. The new additional floor space would remain unaffected.

If this treatment failed to convince the Planning Authority, serious delays could push back its already ambitious completion date of December 2019.

The relocation of the massive concrete cores would have proved especially costly in a design that continued to evolve as it broke ground.

Following a meeting with the architects in January, the Planning Officer finally agreed to the changes. In a report dated 9th March, she stated that, “It is considered that, based on the information submitted, the design team have developed a comprehensive design solution which addresses the initial concerns raised. It has been demonstrated that the ‘tilting elevations’ can continue to be the distinctive and defining characteristic of the original design concept while also accommodating the revised cores.”

While this decision probably marks the last significant alteration to the scheme, it is by no means the first. Last year, substantial changes were granted to the third tower of the complex, which is residential. Though there was no increase to its total height, ceiling levels were

April / May 2018

reduced by 90mm and two roof terraces eliminated to facilitate an extra floor. The total number of units was increased from 31 to 35, with ground floor area increased from 4,507 square metres to 4,849 square metres.

These changes, at least, suggest a desire to maximise the value of the property, as other large scale commercial and residential schemes in the area race for completion.

When Boland’s Quay was granted permission in 2014, it was the first major scheme to come under the new SDZ. The backdrop was an economy still recovering from the sharpest recession in this state’s history.

Now, the 23-storey brick tower of Capital Dock rises from its 4.8 acre site of combined office and residential blocks nearby, and CIE has recently announced it is to partner with Richard Barrett’s Bartra Capital Property Group to develop the 0.87 acre ‘Boston sidings’ on the city-side of Grand Canal Dock. Boland’s Quay will be just one of several largescale projects to transform the fortunes and appearance of the area.

As for Google, it has yet to reveal its hand on whether it will buy the Boland’s Quay development outright – or indeed any part of it. Proximity to its mothership and the attraction of owning residential units for valued staff and visitors still make the purchase more than likely. And the scheme’s recent planning gains should sweeten the deal.

Google’s move into the recently-completed Velasco building on the corner of Grand Canal street would seem to confirm a strategy of concentrating its operations in the immediate area. Yet, the recent news that it was signing a lease for nearly 5,000 square metres in Sandyford wrong-footed many observers, who thought it would never follow the likes of Microsoft into the further suburbs.

Google, as ever, does not comment. But as the somewhat less svelte profiles of Boland’s Quay towers ascend above the old warehouses, its intentions should become plain soon enough.

Above: Boland’s Quay (artist’s rendition).

Left: Boland’s Mill on the way to becoming Boland’s Quay.

Photo: JR@N4.

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April / May 2018

PROPERTY

Page 25

The Hanging Gardens of Ballsbridge

“W

n Alexander Kearney e are fortunate in having in this country an efficient, stable, comprehensive banking and financial system of the highest integrity and probity.”

Even after nearly forty years, the nasal quality and slightly bored tone of the recorded voice are instantly recognisable. The words, as we would subsequently learn, were as false as the man who delivered them.

It was that financial system of ‘highest integrity and probity’ that continued to extend credit to a party leader who had no serious intention of repaying it, just as he announced to the nation that we, “as a community… are living way beyond our means”.

Yet on this occasion – 19th February 1980 – Taoiseach, Charles J. Haughey had something rather truer to say about the building he was opening, than about the institution, Allied Irish Bank, that had built it The complex was, Haughey intoned, “The essence of good taste, discrete, neither imposing nor assertive, a fine example of the demanding art of orderly development. When the balconies are clothed in shrubs and plants we will have nothing less than the hanging gardens of Ballsbridge.”

As the RTE archive footage of the time reveals, the balconies were still bare, the landscaping stark and the planting more wish than fulfillment. Yet in time, the eight deferential-linked blocks

would overspill with abundant growth, the ponds and central watercourse splash and glint in the sunlight, and the ample 15-acre grounds fill with trees and shrubs of almost edenic exuberance.

The AIB banking complex was, quite simply, the finest corporate campus in suburban Dublin.

It was one of those rare modern buildings that was designed as a frame for nature, rather than to be its unrelenting master.

In this it perfectly reflected its creator, Andy Devane. Devane had the unusual distinction among his Irish peers of studying under 20th Century America’s most famous and celebrated architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

While other students could be overwhelmed by Wright’s colossal ego and idiosyncratic style, Devane learned just enough from the master not to be crushed by his example and to take precisely what he needed. The AIB complex doesn’t closely resemble anything that Wright built, but it is informed by his love of low, broad-branched forms in leafy settings, away from the piled-up chaos of urban life (Wright’s vision was essentially suburban, when it wasn’t explicitly rural).

Devane covered the surfaces of the balconies in pale grey mosaic – it was less likely to stain from planting – and wrapped the drumlike service attics in soft lead sheeting. All materials were considered as an unshowy foil to the mass of greenery that would soon envelop them.

Much of that greenery is now gone. The balconies, which used to teem with life, are bare and the central watercourse was removed a decade ago as part of a massive expansion campaign at the rear of the campus. The fine stainless steel sculpture, ‘Wings’

by Aleksandra Wejchert – still the scheme’s centrepiece – stands forlorn in a sea of granite paving.

Yet the real damage was ultimately done by AIB’s decision to hive off the front four blocks for future development in 2015. A previous attempt to demolish and rebuild the foreparts was rejected for reasons of overdevelopment, but the new buyer was not so easily deterred.

This was a resurgent Johnny Ronan, freed from his Nama shackles and determined to maximise – as he saw it – the value of his acquisition. After a lengthy planning battle, he has finally achieved that wish. The four, three and four storey blocks will soon make way for a scheme of far greater density and of much less sympathy to its neighbours.

This, at any rate, is the opinion of those residents on Serpentine Avenue who fought the scheme with grim determination, but who must resign themselves to two long six-storey glazed ranges overlooking a busy, sunken court. Haughey’s words – “discrete, neither imposing nor assertive” – do not immediately spring to mind.

Yet perhaps the most personal blow was to the immediate and

extended family of Andy Devane, who objected to and then appealed the decision to grant redevelopment. In their eloquent submission, they make clear that Devane saw the complex as his culminating achievement, the very embodiment of an ideal he expressed in 1975 that, “In more ways than one, exterior space is the city dweller’s quotient of nature, his window of the seasons, yard-stick of the elements.”

The City Council and An Bord Pleanála were unmoved, and since last year the four dusty blocks have awaited their rendezvous with the wrecking ball.

Devane especially has been unlucky. His scheme was both the largest and least contentious of the three major Dublin bank building projects realised in the 1970s. Of these, perhaps the most polarising was the cantilevered stack of the Central Bank on Dame street by the pugnacious Sam Stephenson.

Yet over time it has earned a certain grudging respect; it is audacious and it will certainly stay – in reality it was always too massive to make demolition attractive.

While the Central Bank has moved to new premises on the Northern quays, its old home is earmarked to become an office and retail hub with roof-top restaurant and bar. The former Bank of Ireland Headquarters on lower Baggot street by Michael Scott and Partners (subsequently Scott Tallon Walker) is now a protected structure and is viewed as the finest Miesian office complex in Eu-

rope – a work of exacting homage to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; the creator of the Seagram building in New York, and the spiritual father of the steel and glass office block.

That complex is nearing the end of a lengthy refurbishment that has verged on rebuilding, but on completion it will still recognisably be itself.

The Bank Centre of Ballsbridge has met a crueler fate, but one in some ways truer to the massive fall in prestige of the Irish banking system itself. The central banking authority, and the two leading retail banks it supervises, have essentially retreated from the ideal of creating their own built statements and instead slipped into the architectural shoes of others; in the case of the Central Bank, into the very carcass of what was to be the Anglo Irish Bank Headquarters, left abandoned and incomplete by that institution’s scandalous fall.

The dismemberment of the Ballsbridge complex represents the decisive end of that “demanding art of orderly development”, which must be seen as the better part of the banks’ legacy. Their ruin, and ours, was the bankrolling of reckless speculation by Ireland’s leading property developers. And in the case of Devane’s once gentle and leafy campus, it falls to a developer to administer the coup de grace.

Above, then and now: The balconies, which used to teem with plant life, are bare.

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Dublin Port supports the arts

D

n Paul

O’Rourke ublin Port is known for many things; importing 25 million tonnes of cargo every year, welcoming almost two million ferry passengers and providing safe harbour to over 100 cruise ships.

Late last year, the new port centre was opened to the public with access to a landscaped maritime garden complete with an historic ten ton Stothert and Pitt crane, and as part of their makeover, The Port Authority appear to be embracing not just all things nautical, but also the arts.

Following an open call to artists to create site-specific works as part of an initiative entitled Port Perspectives, a series of original and innovative public art works and installations were commissioned, reflecting contemporary practice.

The commissioned artworks were to respond specifically to the built environ-

ment and local areas in and around Dublin Port, enhancing the public realm to draw audiences and port visitors, while creating a living exhibition and cultural trail.

In recent years, a series of commissioned works have provided a powerful means to tell the story of Dublin Port and are helping to renew the historical link between it and the city.

A central objective of Dublin Port’s soft values strategy is rebuilding these links, which have been traditionally forged through long-standing education, cultural, sporting and community initiatives, and now the arts.

Two of these artistic initiatives were on evidence at the Lab Gallery on Foley Street in late February.

One was a documentary film entitled Keepers of The Port, filmed and directed by Moira Sweeney.

In this lyrical portrait of working life filmed on Dub-

DUBLIN PORT

lin’s docks, a pride emerges within the stories and memories of the custodians of the Port. As the film moves through discrete yet interconnected hubs of activity, using contemporary and archival material, the filmmaker narrates her reflections on the evolving picture of a vibrant, transforming port life.

Recurring themes include a nostalgia for lost communal tradition and solidarity, the precarity of seafarers’ lives and the complexity of a global digitised structure which controls ship movement into and out of ports.

The second piece was entitled Transit Gateway by Austrian artist Silvia Loef-

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fler, which documents the transitional changes to the shape of Dublin Port.

For the past year, Loeffler has been deep mapping the changing face of the port from Medieval Dublin through to the present day.

Originally based at Terminal 1, Silvia hand painted a series of nine maps which were on display to members of the public for the past year before moving to The LAB Gallery in February for a two-week stay. They will be exhibited next at Dublin

April / May 2018

Port on the June bank holiday weekend for the Tall Ship regatta.

Pictures, clockwise from top right: A still from Keepers of The Port, filmed and directed by Moira Sweeney.

Artist Sylvia Loeffler behind her work Transit.

Photo: JR@N4.

Moira Sweeney with Sheena Barrett, curator of the Lab Gallery and Moira Sweeney and Silvia Loeffler.

Photo by Peter Varga.

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T

April / May 2018

he Enable Ireland Garden and Gift Store is located on Sandymount Avenue, nestled under a beautiful horse chestnut tree.

The garden centre began with a request from one adult with a disability using Enable Ireland services to start growing tomatoes. This sparked the interest of other adults using Enable Ireland services and the garden centre evolved over the years to become a horticultural training centre for adults with a disability and thriving garden centre and gift store open to the public.

Our gift store sells a range of craft and gift items including candles, lanterns, throws, hand creams and scarves. We also sell tools, seeds and garden equipment – everything you need to keep urban gardens in the heart of Dublin looking beautiful.

Bird food, bird feeders, chimes and a variety of pots and garden ornaments are all part of our range to complement your garden.

We are very aware of the needs of our customers, many of whom live in apartments or townhouses with limited gardening space. We now offer a balcony and small space design consultations where our fully qualified horticultural

AMENITIES

Enable Ireland Garden and Gift Store

experts will meet with you and help you create an outdoor oasis in the heart of Dublin 4.

We stock a wide range of outdoor plants from bedding plants to trees. We specialize in putting together pots and baskets, our creative team can advise you what to buy and how to put it together or we can do it for you and

deliver to your door.

We do a range of indoor plants and we are currently expanding our gift range to include more homewares and we are introducing new suppliers. We have a coffee area in the gift store and a lovely outdoor space where you can relax with a cuppa when the weather permits.

We support local business and buy from Irish growers where possible. We aim to provide good quality products at a competitive price supported by a professional and friendly service.

We have recently installed a compost heap and a wildlife camera to film our foxes at play while we’re away! We want to

Page 27 be a good neighbour and strive to work in harmony with Mother Nature and reduce any negative impact our business may have on the environment around us.

Our team includes adults from Enable Ireland services working alongside fully qualified horticulturalists. Adults from Enable Ireland services help with potting plants, arranging hanging baskets, deliveries, customer service and the general maintenance of our gorgeous garden centre.

Our fully qualified horticulturalists can advise customers on all aspects of indoor and outdoor gardening. We are very grateful to our two amazing volunteers and are always welcoming of new volunteers.

Why not drop in and see for yourself? Support a local business in your local community while also supporting services for children and adults with disabilities.

All profits made in the centre go back to supporting our disability services. We are a voluntary organization providing a range of therapy and support services to children and adults with disabilities.

Photo: Ross Waldron.

DCC NEWS & COMMUNITY UPDATES

Page 28

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April / May 2018

Dublin City Council • South East Area D4

Dance with Sam in Ringsend – CYMWS The Sam Maguire Cup will visit Ringsend CYMWS on April 19th from 2-4pm, where local people will get a chance to see Sam and take photos with the cup. Music by Past Time and refreshments. All welcome.

Community Development News • Spring 2018

A

n Declan

Hayden fter a rather cold winter we are all hoping for the sun to shine this April. Easter saw some great fun in Dublin 4 with the Easter Bunny visiting the villages and celebrating the Spring season.

Easter In Sandymount all the churches came together for an ecumenical service on the Strand at dawn on Easter Sunday morning. This celebration of light takes place each year as the sun rises over Dublin Bay. Following this, the Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association held an Easter Egg Hunt with the Easter Bunny on the Green at 11.30am.

Donnybrook Tidy Towns also held an Easter egg hunt over the weekend and both villages had lots of fun for all the family and some great prizes for those lucky to find the yummy chocolate eggs.

Team Dublin Clean Up: The Team Dublin Clean Up will run for the third time in 2018 and this year it will take place on Saturday 21st April between 11am and 1pm. We are encouraging all Community, Resident, Business and Environmental groups to get involved and spend a little time caring for your area. The city council will provide clean-up equipment and removal of all litter collected to all groups taking part.

Every year, groups across the

city carry out huge efforts throughout the year to make their areas clean, attractive and beautiful places to live and visit. This is an opportunity to coordinate these efforts on one day to showcase the great work being carried out across the city in our various communities.

All groups taking part can enter into the Dublin City Neighbourhoods Competition for their efforts and the groups in each area with the best community effort will be in with a chance to win €1,000 for their community at the citywide awards ceremony held in Croke Park in September.

Last year, Donnybrook was one of the overall city prize winners for their Team Dublin Clean Up efforts. Great work Donnybrook. Pictured last year are many of the volunteers and organisers from D4 area.

This year, Sandymount and Donnybrook will run the big clean-ups. Gather at the Plaza in Donnybrook or on the Green in Sandymount and all equipment will be provided. This is a great way to help clean and look after your village and the loc a l tidy towns groups will have special treats on hand for the volunteers.

To get involved, simply contact your South East Area Office at southeast@dublincity. ie who will arrange for you to receive equipment and make sure that all litter and rubbish collected by your group is removed on the day.

Photo of canal: Stephen Burke.

Ringsend May Day Festival: Ringsend Festival and Family Fun Day will take place from Wed 1st - May 7th. The main festival day will be on Bank Holiday Monday May 7th, with the annual parade starting from the Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre at noon and moving around the village.

Following the parade, the Family Fun Day will commence at 1.00pm and there will be bouncing castles, live music, face painting and a special visit from ‘Woolly Ward’s Mobile Farm’ which will bring lots of animals to meet the crowd.

For further information on the Festival, please contact the Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend on 01/6604789.

Walk & Talk The Community initiative, Let’s Walk & Talk continues to grow from strength to strength with 10 weekly walks now taking place in the City including ones in Irish, French and Spanish!

A big focus is on Walks for Health in 2018. One of these walking groups meet every Thursday at 2pm on Sandymount Green for an enjoyable, relaxing stroll around the area… and sometimes beyond.

In recent months, they have also made visits to the Jeanie Johnston, EPIC exhibition at the CHQ and Print Museum and all for free!

It’s a great way to stay healthy, meet people and learn something about our Fair City!

Also on offer during the Spring period under this initiative will be some historical walking tours with Pat Liddy. Please keep an eye on www.letswalkandtalk.ie for updates!

Chair Aerobics Chair Aerobics for older persons commences at Beech Hill Court Community Room in Donnybrook on Mondays at 2pm.

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April / May 2018

DCC NEWS & COMMUNITY UPDATES

Page 29

DCC NOTES

Page 30

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April / May 2018

FEBRUARY Tree Programme for 2018: It is anticipated that this work will be undertaken over the coming months and prior to the trees coming into leaf.

At Shrewsbury Park, there is a planned crown reduction of 17 lime trees and felling of trees.

After an inspection by DCC trees services of a tree on the Sandymount Road reported to be leaning dangerously on a public footpath, it has been concluded that the tree is in fact on private property and that the owner will be contacted in due course.

Areas logged onto Asset Management System for repair: Improvements and repairs to the footpaths along Shelbourne Road The footpath close to number 1 and 82a Spencer Street will also be scheduled for repair, as is the road surface on Elgin road between the church and the roundabout on Raglan Road.

Potholes will be filled in along the cycle lanes on both sides of Shelbourne Road.

Cycling: Ten Sheffield stands will be installed in the car park adjacent to the South Bull Wall as part of the ongoing On-Street Cycle Parking Project, providing parking for 20 bicycles. It is envisaged that the stands will be installed in the third quarter of 2018.

Traffic: The intersection on Gilford Road leading on to Park Avenue, Sandymount has been requested to be examined as a safety issue.

Residents of adjoining Bethany House are requesting either a pedestrian crossing or a zebra crossing on Gilford Road to allow a safe passage to Sandymount village.The SEAM confirmed it will be passed on to the Traffic Advisory Group.

A request to reduce the wait time pedestrians have to endure at the lights at Appian Way and Leeson Park was put forward.

The SEAM confirmed that the junction sequencing at these lights have now been modified to reduce wait times.

Housing: There was a request for gullies on Burlington road to be cleaned. The SEAM informed that most of the gullies at this location were cleaned at the beginning of February, but two of them were not cleaned due to a skip preventing access and another was damaged.

MARCH Trees Programme 2018: The South East Area Manager (SEAM) confirmed that four trees at Stella Gardens/Rosary Terrace will be removed and replaced with a more suitable species and that the Parks Division Road Maintenance service will repair the footpath at this location, which had been damaged by the large, hazardous trees that are currently in place.

Graffiti: Cllr Claire Byrne and Cllr Paddy McCartan asked for the

DCC NOTES COMPILED BY PAUL CARTON

graffiti to be removed from the DART line near Sandymount Station and Eastmoreland Lane and were told by the SEAM that this was on private property and the owners will be contacted.

LED Replacement Programme for 2018: Ailesbury road, will have the remainder of their orange coloured low-pressure sodium lights replaced with LED, subject to available finances.

Waste: Cllr Paddy McCartan relayed a resident’s disappointment of waste management services, including the DCC for the neglect in their area in St Brendan’s cottages in Irishtown. The SEAM informed him that Waste Management Services inspected the area in February in response to a complaint then and for any incidences of future littering, people are advised to immediately contact southeast@dublincity.ie.

Cyclists: Cllr Claire Byrne and Cllr Frank Kennedy inquired if there was any update to the cycle routes along Strand Road and also Ringsend Bridge. The SEAM confirmed that a study was carried out by the National Transport Authority (NTA) on the coastal route and that they are currently going through the 600 submissions. When completed, the next step will be to engage with Dublin City and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown councils. In regards to Ringsend Bridge, the SEAM said that it is part of the Dodder Greenway project, which is to resume in May 2018.

Cllr Frank Kennedy also asked the SEAM to clarify on usage of delivery vans and Garda vehicles that use the cycle lane on Westland Row off Pearse St. The SEAM told Cllr Kennedy that this cycle lane is for cyclists between the hours of 07.00 and 19.00 hours Monday to Friday and that Dublin Street Parking Services will be instructed to monitor this area and take action on any driver who uses the lane between these hours and that no enforcement will be taken against Garda Vehicles.

Cllr Claire Byrne and Cllr Dermot Lacey requested bike parking at the Sydney Parade and Sandymount Dart stations The SEAM confirmed contact has been made with Irish Rail regarding such and await a response.

Roads: Morehampton Terrace is not on the 2018 Road Resurfacing Works Programme but will be

put forward for consideration next year. A sewage manhole at Derrynane gardens, Bath Avenue is elevated and the surrounding tarmac is caving in around it.

Road maintenance services will examine the issue.

Areas logged onto Asset Management System for repair: Bath Avenue, is among these due to its poor state, the depression on Pigeon House Road and a major pothole on Durham Road off Gilford Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4, because it is dangerous for cyclists.

Road Calming measures: Cars coming down the Sean Moore Road, heading down to Pigeon house road towards the Poolbeg yacht club travel too fast. Attention was brought to the matter by the 1st Port Sea Scouts. The SEAM confirmed the DCC will have a look into area to see if measures can be taken.

Housing: Cllr Dermot Lacey requested external downpipes at Cambridge Court to be cleared, as several are now blocked and broken and causing damages to houses. The SEAM said that these will be inspected and cleaned or repaired where necessary.

Cllr Sonya Stapleton called on the SEAM to ask the Minister for Housing to reconsider the €320,000 price cap put on the value of the house you can buy through the affordable housing scheme in relation to the IGB site. She argued that it is unrealistic with this area in mind, as average prices in this area exceed €400,000. Upon the committee agreeing to this motion, the SEAM will convey this to the Housing Minister.

Photos: Google images

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April / May 2018

Communion, Confirmation and Celebration Spending/Saving

M

FINANCE AND LEGAL

Celebrate but not at all costs

n Lorraine Waters

oney is a resource, something we use in life. It isn’t good or bad. Yet it is something we can spend a lot of time worrying about. How we spend our money is tied up very tightly with how we feel about ourselves and other people.

Unfortunately, money can be a source of stress and strain on the adults of the home, especially around celebration times like communions and confirmations.

Listed below are some tips to help make the experience more enjoyable for you and your family and avoid some of the stress.

Some planning and thinking ahead may make all the difference.

1. Make a list of what you need to buy.

2. Estimate how much you will need for each item.

3. Add the total cost of what you need to buy and ask yourself can I afford it? If not, then think again.

4. Is there any way you can re-

duce the list and come to a figure you’re comfortable with?

5. Shop around. Check shops for sales and reductions on items you need.

6. Are there ways you can reduce the entertainment cost? Perhaps have something at home instead of going out.

7. Can you pool your resources with a family member or a friend who perhaps is already celebrating on that day?

Saving for the Day Once you know how much you will need to spend on the day, you can now look at how you

Legal Q & A

E

n Elaine Corcoran

laine Corcoran is a Solicitor working in Ringsend, she lives locally and can often be spotted out walking her beloved dog Bam. She is here to answer readers’ questions and to give some guidance on current legal trends and developments.

Elaine can be contacted on 01 5617900 or by email: elaine@c orcoransolicitors.com Dear Elaine, I have been separated from my husband for over 14 years. I walked out on him when my two kids were very young. He was a heavy drinker and I didn’t want my children growing up around that environment.

Neither of us applied for a formal separation or divorce, however I did bring him to court on a few occasions for child support. He never abided by the Judges’ orders and after a while I just lost steam and gave up following him. He never paid any maintenance and he hasn’t seen either of his kids in over eight years.

With the help of my family I was able to get a job and rebuild our lives. It was never easy but myself and the kids always managed to get by.

I recently inherited a house after my mother passed away and I would like my two children to inherit this house if anything were to happen to me. Would my estranged husband be entitled to a share in the house? How can I protect against this?

J. Although you have lived apart from your husband for long time, you are still legally married. Your husband, as your spouse, has a legal entitlement to a share in your estate.

The share that he is entitled to would depend on whether or not you leave a Will. If you pass away without a Will, your husband is entitled to two thirds of your estate and your children are entitled to one third. If you leave a valid Will, your husband is entitled to one third and your children two-thirds. It is important for you to execute a Will to clearly state your wishes and

importantly nominate a guardian for your children if either is under the age of 18.

As you are living apart for more than four years, you should give serious consideration to applying for a divorce. A court can, under Section 18(10) of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 extinguish succession rights and prevent either spouse from taking a claim against the other’s estate.

Dear Elaine, My husband and I bought an apartment 12 years ago. We pay a hefty service charge of €1,600

need to save for the big day.

1. Check the calendar to see how many weeks are left until you need to buy the important items on your list.

2. How much will you need to save each week to buy the items on your list?

3. Put the money you save each per year.

Over the past two to three years a number of problems have occurred. There has been damage to our car, antisocial behaviour in the common areas, bins not being collected, the list goes on and on.

I have lost count of the amount of calls, emails and letters I have sent to the management company. When I do get a response from the management company, it is usually a smart answer and never results in them taking any action. It is really taking a toll and has affected myself and my husband physically and emotionally. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

S. This is a very frustrating, and unfortunately common situation to be in. The board of directors of a management company are usually residents of the apartment complex and their role is voluntary. It is for this reason that they often don’t engage with other owners individually.

If there is an agent working on behalf of the management company, you should contact them directly. You have not mentioned whether or not you have raised your queries at the

Page 31 week into a savings account perhaps the post office, credit union or bank – just some place you cannot access too easily.

4. Regardless of how little or how much you can save, making a conscious decision to save is important.

What if you don’t think you will be able to save the money to pay for everything?

If you feel you have to borrow to meet the cost of the day, remember that you will have to pay it back plus the interest. And can you actually afford it with your already existing budget?

We all make choices about what we do with our money. As with all choices, these choices have consequences. We each decide what to pay first. Our priorities should be food for the family, rent/mortgage, heat and light in your home. Deciding the priority is a valuable skill for our children to learn. From little acorns grow mighty oaks.

And remember the best things in life are free…

annual general meeting. If you haven’t already, I would advise that you attend the meeting and raise your queries. You might also consider putting yourself forward to become a director of the management company.

Prior to the annual general meeting, you should canvas the other owner-occupier residents to see if they are experiencing the same problems, you could collectively put your heads together to address the issues.

Although a costly option, you may wish to consider instructing a solicitor if problems persist. A solicitor can apply to the Circuit Court pursuant to Section 24 of the MUD Act, which provides broad powers to the court to make Orders to enforce the rights of the respective parties in resolving any dispute in relation to a multi-unit developments.

DISCLAIMER: Information provided is for general guidance only. Whilst every care has been given in the preparation of this article, NewsFour and the writer take no responsibility for the content. Independent legal advice, specific to your circumstances should always be sought.

Page 32

Forward into the digital future

“C

n Kathrin Kobus oolest Projects celebrates young people’s interest, initial ideas, rough designs, challenges… and the culmination of their efforts; the finished projects” said organiser Sinead Gleason, from the CoderDojo Foundation at the launch for the event in February.

Dojo means “A place of way” in Japanese and the tech savvy kids and teenagers engaged in volunteer-led CoderDojo groups find their way into everything related to coding and digital making. They will present their showcases at Coolest Projects International 2018.

It is the seventh annual event and this year’s invitations went out to the young. “This year, for the very first time, Coolest Projects is also open to a wider audience: the young creators and makers in the Raspberry Pi community, including members of Code Club and Raspberry Jam. Coolest projects can high-

light how young people can be technology creators as opposed to merely technology consumers.”

Since last year CoderDojo, which was founded in Ireland 2011 has come together with the UK- based Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Both charity-based movements and organisations are aiming for the same goal: “To form the world’s leading movement to get kids involved with coding and digital making.” According to the Irish-based Foundation there are over 1,700 dojos in existence in 75 countries and more than 150,000 young people have learned to code in Dojos during the past five years.

It is expected that more than a thousand of the exhibitors up to the age of 18 will demonstrate their designs and creative innovations at the RDS, whether that be apps, websites or hardware projects.

Technology experts and educators will not only be on hand

SCIENCE

to judge the projects entered into the competition, but on hand for tips as well. “They will hold talks and discuss the latest resources and tools required in computational thinking and skills.”

Another first, welcomed by CoderDojo is the introduction of computer science as part of this year’s leaving certificate. 40

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Irish schools will be offering the subject for the exam and a rollout by 2020 for all interested schools is planned.

Coolest Projects 2018 takes place at the RDS Simmonscourt 26th of May. Tickets for the event are available at www. coolestprojects.org. The event is free of charge for everyone under 18years of age. €10 for

April / May 2018

adults.

Further information and a list of all Dojo groups is available under coderdojo.org Pictured above at the launch of Coolest Projects 2018 were coders and twins Aisling and Abigail McGowan from Cabinteely.

Photograph courtesy of Conor McCabe photography.

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April / May 2018

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Fitness and fun for over 55s

I

Eoin Meegan f you’re over 50 and like the idea of a little light exercise to help you look and feel great, and get the chance to meet like-minded people in your age group, then perhaps the YMCA Seniors Exercise Class would be perfect for you.

Geared towards those aged 55 and over, but not exclusive to it, the classes are designed for men and women of all fitness levels.

If you thought exercise was only for young people, then think again! NewsFour visited the Aungier street facility last week (there is one here in Sandymount too) and we were very impressed at the enthusiasm and dynamism of all involved.

I spoke briefly with some of the attendees: Theresa, who’s been participating for the last seven years said, “it can be hard to get your head around exercise when you retire, but this class makes it really easy. I find it keeps me supple, and helps with my fibromyalgia”.

n

Elizabeth, who has recently returned after a break loves the flexibility of the classes, “it helps me to get motivated, to move, and be more active”.

On this occasion the ladies outnumbered the gents, but I was assured plenty of men attend too. The average attendance is 15, and despite the terrible wet morning on this occasion there was almost a full house. There is no daunting these intrepid people!

The classes, which last an hour, comprise of stretches, work with weights and dumb-bells, and light cardio. The atmosphere is relaxed and convivial and everyone is encouraged to go at their own pace. All looked like they enjoyed it, while at the same time having a good work-out.

The instructor on the day, Max Petrocenco, as well as moving the class on at a steady pace, was attentive to how each individual was performing the routines. No one needs do more that they are able.

I noticed he incorporated a lot of exercises that specifically targeted the knee and joint areas, which sometimes, as those of us over 55 know, can be problem areas.

“As well as the fitness side, there’s also a social dimension to the classes,” Ciara Holmes, Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator told me, “the group regularly meet up for tea afterwards, as well as going on arranged outings, such as to Glendalough.” That sounds like a group we’d all like to be

part of!

The facility here in Sandymount at Claremont Road boasts a gym, a dance studio, and a very impressive astro pitch. The Seniors Classes run here twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2pm, and three times a week in Aungier street, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11.30am. Each class costs only €4 and work on a “pay as you go” basis, which is super value in these hard-pressed times. You can also buy a pack of ten classes

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for just €26.

As they are a social enterprise gym, 100% of the profits go to the many excellent programmes the YMCA run, including STEP (Support Training and Enterprise Programme), and PAKT (Parents and Kids Together), as well as other youth projects and social incentives. A great community service, and a way to keep fit and have fun as well!

Above: Some of the regulars.

Photo: JR@N4.

ENVIRONMENT

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www.newsfour.ie

April / May 2018

Boomtown Rat at Poolbeg

DODDER ACTION DAY, APRIL 21st, 2018 Our annual big clean up all down the river will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 21st.

It’ll be bigger and brighter this year because we are collaborating with the canal clean-up groups under the banner of Dublin Waters Action Day.

We will have meeting points in Irishtown, Donnybrook, Clonskeagh, Milltown, Orwell, Rathfarnham, Firhouse, Whitestown Stream, Old Bawn.

We really want you go come out and bring a group.

Could your church/scout/ community/Tidy Towns group come out?

It only takes an hour or two and we provide the gear.

This year we are focussing on the need to control the amount of plastic entering the environment and specifically the river.

We are also paying a deposit to scout groups for the cans and bottles they pick up to campaign also for a government deposit scheme.

Email back if you can get a group out! dodderaction@gmail.com Photo courtesy of Dodder Action Group

The NewsFour Crossword Compiled by Gemma Byrne

Name:…………………………… Telephone:…………………

Address:…………………………………………………………

T

n Paul

Carton here is a new keeper up at the Poolbeg lighthouse.

For now it’s unclear of the gender of the keeper or when they started but if you have taken the long walk up there to visit you’ll notice their behaviour to be one that is very comfortable in their surroundings, amongst visitors and surprisingly their pets too.

Going about his/her business, which seems to be mainly concerned with collecting discarded food, the keeper battles this lonely vocation with a can of Bavaria, which is wedged in a hole they frequently return to.

This four-legged creature was by no means camera shy, as

ACROSS: 1 Across & 1 Down) This poet wandered lonely as

a cloud (7, 10) 3) One of these does not make a summer (7) 6) Invasive woody plant with large blooms (12) 12) Home of the horse show (1, 1, 1) 13) Popular gelato flavour with streaks of

chocolate (13) 14) Guessing in excess (14) 16) Polling (6) 17) Criminals (6) 18) Garden tool (3) 20) Mineral spring with health-giving properties (3) 21) It takes this many to tango (3) 23) More irate (7) 24) First letter of name or word (7) 25) Young marrows (10) 26) US state (4) DOWN: 1) See 1 across (10) 2) Removable cover (3) 4) What is it good for? (3) 5) Stoat-like mammal (6) 7) Us (9) 8) Arranging / Coordinating (13) 9) Try not to have this type of personal crisis (11) 10) Single piece of information (5) 11) Total destruction (12) 12) Pink fleshed game fish (7, 5) 15) Amaze (8) 19) Noisy black and white bird (6) 22) Trace element often found in cold remedies (4)

amused snap-happy lighthouse visitors couldn’t leave without taking home a photo of this furry rat-arsed keeper. It’s possible this animal has been replenishing the yeast in the can of Bavaria with sugars it finds and is home brewing for a while now, as he/she was seen still taking sups from the discoloured old tin.

It’s been nearly 50 years now the lighthouse has been unmanned and fully automated, and the keeper’s house demolished but this rodent doesn’t need much. He/she seems quite content with the sea breeze and no doubt happy it left the rat race for good.

Photo: Paul Carton.

SOLUTIONS FOR THE FEB – MARCH 2018 CROSSWORD Across (1) Springcleaning; (6) Agriculturalist; (11) Catalogues; (14) Devon; (15) Tarantulas; (17) Ant; (18) Ruby; (19) Implies; (22) Heed; (23) Omens; (24) Potholes; (26) Sake; (27) Ha; (28) Toto; (29) Stratocaster; (30) So. Down (1) Slaughterhouses; (2) Nicotine; (3) Lotto; (4) Neared; (5) Gastroenteritis; (7) Recordbreaker; (8) Laser; (9) If; (12) Loudmouth; (13) Goa; (16) Skinflint; (20) Shyster; (21) Asp; (25) Haka.

Prize of €25 Book token. Post entries to NewsFour, 13A Fitzwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4 (above Clyne’s Butchers) by 16th May 2018.

The winner of our Feb/March crossword is Des Havelin, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.

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April / May 2018

Darkness into Light walk

T

n Kathrin Kobus his year’s Darkness into Light walk will take place on May 12th. Darkness Into Light is Pieta House’s flagship annual fundraising and awareness event.

Pieta House was founded in Lucan, Co Dublin, in 2006 and now has services right across Ireland. Pieta offers free counselling to those suffering from suicidal feelings, those who have been bereaved by suicide and people who are engaging in self-harm.

Staff are fully qualified and provide a professional one-to-one therapeutic service.

The annual fundraising event began nine years ago with just 400 people taking part in the iconic yellow T-shirts and walking into the morning light at Phoenix Park.

Now 180 venues are taking part, sharing the light and helping us to promote suicide prevention and to tackle the stigma that

leads people to the doors of Pieta House centres. Among them for the second year is the Ringsend and Sandymount community.

“We had expected around 500 people and then 2,500 turned up. That was amazing” said Sueann Moore, speaking for the committee.“This year we are planning for 3,000.”

She praised the huge effort last year and also the community and the Gardaí for their help. “We would like to thank our sponsors from last year who donated kindly. Also, some great supportive artwork was provided by the students from Ringsend primary school. We hope to be running some fundraising events as the walk itself costs a lot to host and Hugh Shovlin from the Gardaí has been invaluable with advice regarding traffic management.”

There was also the recent suicide awareness themed play Bring Me Back Alive put on in

SPORTS / CHARITY

Ringsend College which raised €211 toward the event cost and she wanted to thank everyone who kindly donated Susan Gregg Farrell and Chris Andrews two co-committee members met with Irish Rugby stars and Ringsend sisters Kim and Stacey Flood at the beach a few weeks ago to kick off preparations for this year’s event. The two sisters have joined the Darkness into Light team as the Ringsend and Sandymount Walk am-

KBC NightRun cracks the ice

I

n Kathrin Kobus t was a dark but not quite a stormy night, or rather evening of the 6th of March when 1,000 athletes had come together at Clanna Gael for Clontarfs Runners 5k and 10k Run at Sandymount beach.

Organiser for this race Eamon Ryan had made sure in the days before to clear ice and snow from stretches of the course for KBC sponsored Dublin Night Run. 1,000 runners (that was the upper limit set for participation) were not at all put off by nearly freezing temperatures a few days after the whole country had come to a standstill because of snow, ice and wind.

All assembled next to the main pitch and headed off into the dark at 7.30pm.

The course led halfway around the two GAA fields then out onto the beach up to Merrion gates and back again towards the finishing or in case of the 10K runners the halfway point.

It took the winners for 5K less than twenty minutes to complete and the 10K win-

ner would have easily won the shorter distance as well, being nearly 50 seconds faster.

The next NightRun is coming in a few weeks time and registration is already open for the Dockland run. It will take place on 22nd April, a Sunday. Probably it will be brighter even if with the 9pm starting time outside the Convention Centre The route will be pass the Custom House, looping the Grand Canal Square through the Docklands, Ringsend, Irishtown and then back to the finishing line at North Wall Quay.

All runners will get high viz top plus the obligatory medal that comes with the goodie bag at the finish area.

Registration is now open under

www.nightrun.ie, fee is €35.

Results from the NightRun race 6th of March: 5K Place Number Name Surname Sex Race Time Chip Time 1 1210 Brian Sexton M 0:18:18 0:18:18 2 831 Paul Brady M 0:19:54 0:19:54 3 536 Stephen Mongey M 0:19:56 0:19:54 10K 1 119 Turlough Conway M 0:17:34 0:17:50 0:35:30 0:35:25 2 345 Hugh Hunt M 0:17:36 0:18:19 0:35:55 0:35:55 3 128 Benjamin Costes m 0:19:41 0:19:35 0:39:16 0:39:16 Photo: Kathrin Kobus.

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bassadors.

Registration is online only, but the ambassadors and the committee are there to help. “We’ll be having community engagement days on the 14th and 15th April outside Tesco in Sandymount and Ringsend church from 11am to 1pm, where we will assist anyone who needs help to register online.” Explained Chris Andrews.

They will need at least 100 Stewards to marshall the event and keep the crowd safe during

the walk so get in touch with the committee.

At the time of print, the route was still not 100% nailed down but it will be along the beach and wind through Sandymount village passing by the Maxol garage on Beach Road. People are being asked to keep an eye on the social media for updates of the exact route. The event will kick off at 3am with a song by Ringsend’s own songwriter Jasper Kearns and the organisers hope to have some very special celebrities on stage too .

The Darkness into Light walk/ run will take place Saturday 12th of May. Donation fee is €20 per adult, and €5 per child (aged 617), Registration is now open via dil.pieta.ie www.facebook.com/DarknessInto-Light-Ringsend www.instagram.com/darkness_into_light_ringsend / @darkness_into_light_ringsend Twitter @DILringsend Pictured are Chris Andrews, Stacey and Kim Flood and Susan Gregg Farrell.

Photos provided by DIL Committee Ringsend/Sandymount.

UCD Marian win Superleague

U

n Paul

Carton CD Marian were crowned Men’s SuperLeague Champions in a thrilling Paddy’s Day play-off that saw the Dublin 4 club take home the title for the first time in 40 years.

Running onto the court at the final whistle were members of that winning 1978 UCD Marian club, who included Paul Meaney, the proud father of Conor Meaney, who is now able to share in the joys of UCD Marian success.

UCD Marian finished the league level with Pyrobel Killester and so were pitted against each other in a play-off to decide the league winning team. With Marian’s Ciaran Roe levelling the scores with a threepointer with twelve seconds to go, Mike Garrow was then fouled in their next attack to gain a foul throw. Mike scored his first but missed his second, bringing Marian ahead by one.

Killester made one last attempt, but time ran out for them. Speaking after the game, Conor said “I don’t know what to say really, that was a great game, either team could have won it. To win the league is amazing, it’s a family club and there’s been so much work behind the scenes. Dad won when he was 27-years-old and he wouldn’t have thought his youngest son would be 31 before they would do it again.”

Head-coach Ioannis Liapakis praised his team for the hard work they’ve put in and for sticking with him for the five years he said it took to win it.

Photo of father (Paul) and Son (Conor) Meaney with trophy at the Sandymount Hotel, courtesy of Conor Meaney.

Photo by Martin Doherty.

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SPORTS

Cambridge FC

www.newsfour.ie

Upwards and onwards

E

n Kathrin Kobus

ileen Lawless former secretary and now one of the three trustees of Cambridge Football Club looked over the budding bushes and shrubs planted last autumn.

“There is still a gap over there.”

She pointed out to NewsFour. “I will get some more in to fill it up.”

But gardening wasn’t the reason she came along that sunny Saturday afternoon in mid February.

The new committee of Cambridge FC with chairman David Cassidy had invited all its members, families and friends to an open day to kick off their 50th anniversary year and to show

off the accomplished refurbishments, aka the new kitchen and most importantly the changing areas which include the showers and bathroom facilities in the clubhouse itself and the adjacent portacabin.

So the space in front of the clubhouse resembled a sea of blue on February 17th. The new season had just got underway, during which the club started its celebrations of its 50th anniversary.

The long-planned name change had come into effect with the beginning of this season. Still, it was up to guest of honour, John Delaney of the FAI to unveil the club sign and cut the ribbon at the clubhouse entry. Cambridge

dropped the word ‘boys’ and is officially simply Cambridge FC with boys and girls competing in a number of Dublin underage and juvenile leagues.

The chief executive of the FAI was impressed “I’ve come to see first hand what volunteers and the new committee have done here for the club and of course for the community.“ Things are going well for the club, though they are always on the look-out for new members.

“We have two under eight academy groups now,” said David Cassidy, the new chairman of the club. “We take them right over from Jonathan’s [Tormey] academy here at Irishtown stadium. It’s a really good coop-

eration and it will pay off in the future.”

The FAI development officer for Dublin south inner city agreed. “For example, I have now 16 little girls coming to training, there are 5-year olds in one group. That’s fantastic. We have the facilities here, the stadium, the pitches in the park.”

While David Cassidy was still full on busy in the new kitchen welcoming guests to the open day, the chief executive of the FAI announced in the hall, that he had two early Easter presents with him. “I brought with me from the FAI, as a gift, a cheque of 5000 euros for the treasury of the club and 100 tickets for the kids of Cambridge FC to sup-

April / May 2018

port the Irish team when they will play their friendly match against America this June.”

The tickets allocation will probably be distributed via a lottery among the 150 young Cambridge players.

As for the unexpected but welcomed money influx, David Cassidy already has plans for its use. “We have to do something with the flooring in the hall, it’s just too shiny and slippery. You can’t properly run on it. The estimate for that runs to 6000 euros, with the money from the FAI we are nearly there. The rest will be done with fundraising efforts.”

The traditional mini world cup will take place of course and will serve as a quasi version, as local opener before the real thing kicks off in Russia.

The friendly game between the Republic of Ireland versus the USA will take place on Saturday the 2nd of June, The kick off time may not be fixed yet, but the fixture is already confirmed in the Cambridge FC calendar.

THere is also a new Cambridge FC facebook page created especially by the club to celebrate past achievements. www.facebook.com/Cambridge FC 50 years and growing John Delaney cuts the ribbon.

Photo: Kathrin Kobus.

Soccer History in Ringsend

A

n Tom Crilly

fine gathering of soccer experts, along with many local Shels and Rovers fans gathered for an evening to celebrate the birth and history of association football in Dublin and Ringsend in particular.

The event was held in the Yacht Tavern and speakers included Eoghan Rice, Donal Fallon and Fergus Dowd.

Joe Wilson attended and recalled that 55 years ago he played with Shelbourne FC, the first Irish team to play at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona in the European Cup-Winners Cup. Eoghan Rice is author of ‘We are Rovers: An Oral History of Shamrock Rovers FC’ and is a journalist based in Dublin who has supported Rovers since childhood.

Donal Fallon is a historian, writer and broadcaster based in Dublin. A co-founder of the Dublin website ‘Come Here To Me’, which has a strong emphasis on Dublin’s social history.

He is the author of a ‘History of Nelson’s Pillar’ and wrote a biography on the executed 1916 leader Major MacBride. See his Website https://comeheretome. com/about/ Fergus Dowd is a founding member of the Patrick O’Connell Memorial Fund set up to establish suitable memorials at his birthplace in Dublin and unmarked final resting place in London and to pay tribute to Don Patricio (The Man Who Saved Barcelona) by means of commissioned monuments at each of the clubs he played for and managed.

Two short documentaries were shown on the night ‘Patrick O’Connell – The Man Who saved Barcelona’ – anextended trailer for the upcoming feature-length documentary. Originally from Dublin, O’Connell, was captain of the Ireland team that won the British Home Championship at Windsor Park in 1914 and was the first Irishman to captain Manchester United. When he guided Real

Betis to its only Spanish league title in 1935 he also became the only Irish manager to win La Liga.

O’Connell then managed Barcelona from 1935 to 1940 and is credited with saving the club from financial ruin during the Spanish Civil War, when he led it on a tour of Mexico and New York. In 1937, he was given the title of honorary consul by the last republican government of Spain. He later moved to London, where he died destitute in 1959, with his legacy almost forgotten until recent years.

‘In My Book, You Should Be Ahead.’ This is a powerful 1975 documentary about Shelbourne FC, which was first broadcast in the run-up to the team playing Home Farm in the final of the FAI Cup. You can still watch it on YouTube and may recognise some local characters discussing football in pubs and players training in the Stadium. You see how playing affect their lives; you see how deeply defeat de-

presses them; you are present at their fiercely honest self-appraisals. And you meet the amazing Gerry Doyle. The film’s title is a statement of his approach to every game – ‘In my book you should be ahead.’

Donal gave us a brief history of Billy Behan. Ringsend legend Billy Behan, who played for Manchester United for one season, is more renowned for his unrivalled scouting abilities for United for 50 years, discovering countless greats like Jackie Carey, Liam Whelan, John Giles, Kevin Moran, and Paul McGrath, to name but a few.

His father William was a founder member of Shamrock

Rovers, for whom Billy himself played. He went on to become a referee, officiating at a FAI Cup Final. He and Sir Matt Busby became close friends during their affiliation to United, and Sir Matt would stay with Billy and his beloved wife Vera on his stopovers from Manchester.

Billy was born in 22 Patrick’s Villas and lived in Durham Road Sandymount. All in all a great evening of soccer and social history in Ringsend Above, left to right: Donal Fallon, Mick Behan, Fergus Dowd, John Scotchie Byrne, Joe Wilson and Derek Hanafy.

Photo courtesy of Tom Crilly.

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April / May 2018

GALLANT PETER P n Gavan

Bergin eter Warren was born in 1885 and grew up in the north of Dublin city, an area that has produced some great Irish footballers.

Peter followed in that fine tradition. He learned the game early and by the time he left school at fifteen, he was a good young player. Of course, as well as playing football, Peter had to earn his keep.

In the 1901 Census he was listed as being employed full-time as a carrier.

After playing for Liffey Wanderers for a while, Peter joined the Strandville FC where he became one of the most promising footballers in the junior leagues.

He was a sharp-tackling, hard-kicking defender who played at full back, and his aggressive defensive instincts made him a daunting opponent.

Strandville won the Leinster Junior Cup in 1904 and 1905. In 1907 Leinster FA picked Peter to play against Ulster in Belfast, a tough task for his first game with Leinster, but he did very well and Leinster won the match 2-1.

Less than a year after playing for Leinster in Belfast, Peter was back in that city to stay. He was signed by the Irish League club Belfast Celtic in August 1908, and thus he entered the ranks of professional football.

For Peter, it was a serious step up in class, and a huge change of lifestyle.

From working as a labourer and playing part-time junior football in Dublin, he went to the top tier of football in Ireland.

He had become a full-time player for one of the grandest clubs in the country.

He was only 22 when he joined Celtic, but he quickly showed that he had the talent and gumption to make it.

Peter was mightily impressive in his time with Belfast Celtic, defending like a demon to slash their concession of goals and helping them improve their league position. In Peter’s second year with Celtic, they finished second in the League.

The club was on the rise then and would attain dominance in Irish football,

SPORTING HISTORY

winning the championship three times either side of the Great War. But, by that time, Peter was long gone. His consistently superb play for Celtic had been attracting interest from clubs in England, and he was signed up by the English Division One club Sheffield Wednesday in April of 1910.

As a talented and tenacious young defender joining a team that was notably poor in defence, Peter should have been a perfect fit for Wednesday, but management stuck with the older, experienced defenders at the club, and Peter played just one game in his first season and only two in his second year. By the end of 1911/12, he had played a mere seven first team games in three seasons.

His career took a turn for the better when he was signed by Shelbourne for the 1912/13 season. Peter had a really good year. He played a great game during the Reds win in the 1913 Leinster Senior Cup Final, and was selected to play for Ireland for the first time in that year’s British Championship.

His debut for the Irish team came against England on February 15th 1913.

There was no bigger challenge for any Irish footballer, let alone one playing international football for the first time.

Back then, Ireland had never once beaten England, and had suffered such a long history of humiliating thrashings that the Irish Independent preview of the upcoming match confidently predicted the continuation of Ireland’s “black record” in the fixture.

For Peter, who had only been selected because of an injury to Ireland’s first choice left-back, the omens for the game looked bad when he was suddenly taken ill before the match. Then the game kicked off and things got worse for him and Ireland when England scored in the tenth minute. Things certainly looked bleak at that stage, and they got even

worse seven minutes later, when Ireland lost a man to injury and were forced to play with ten men for the rest of the game.

The situation must have seemed utterly forlorn at that point, but the Irish team refused to buckle. An equalizer before half-time was followed by a score just before the hour to put Ireland in the lead. According to the Independent, the goal “sent Irish fans frantic, throwing caps and hats to the sky in celebration, surely causing more to be lost in a minute than were made in a year.”

While the twenty thousand Irish fans in the crowd were understandably jubilant at the goal, for the ten Irishmen on the pitch the hard work was just beginning. England laid siege to the Ireland goal for the rest of the match, but they found a determined and competent Irish defence which stood firm, with Peter right in the thick of it.

Again and again, the English attacks were repulsed until the end was almost in sight, and the last, long minutes of the match were worn down into agonisingly drawn-out seconds, moments that nevertheless seemed to take an eternity to pass. Ireland were still in the lead, victory was in touching distance but not yet safe, even as the end drew nearer and nearer, until at last it came with the blessed sound of the final whistle.

Ireland had their glorious victory.

They had beaten England for the very first time and their supporters could celebrate like never before. In the words of Charlie Buchan who scored England’s goal in the match “The scene when

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Ireland won beggared description, the crowd let off fireworks, rattles were whirled, it was like a World Cup Final match in Rio de Janeiro.

The crowd went wild with delight at the famous victory. Ten brave Irishmen with great skill and tremendous pluck had lowered the colours of a mighty England team that was considered one of the best that had ever worn the famous white shirts.”

The day after the game, the Irish Independent match report similarly acclaimed the Irish team, and particularly praised Peter who, it said, “played a gallant game to the end.”

During the 1913/14 English League season, Peter played for Milwall FC before returning home. He rejoined Shelbourne in 1914 and finished his career by helping the Reds to more cup final successes before he eventually retired.

Of course, Ireland have managed to win again against England, and everyone who has seen those rare and precious Irish victories against the English can recall them as clearly as if they happened yesterday and hopefully in the future there will be many more for people to remember forever.

But there is only one first time.

And Peter Warren was there, playing a gallant game to the very end.

Pictured above: The Ireland team that finally won the British Home Championship in 1913-14.

Below: Peter Warren played for many badges: Belfast Celtic, Reds, Millwall and the Owls (Sheffield Wednesday).

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S

n Felix

O’Regan pring is certainly in the air in Clanna Gael Fontenoy over recent weeks.

Hundreds of youngsters have been enjoying the fun activities of our Easter Camps, competition activity is in full swing again for teams of all age levels despite the interruption of bad weather and players are enjoying the benefits of our new suite of dressing rooms.

Easter Camp Activity The club’s Easter Camps are proving more popular than ever before, with some 250 youngsters participating in a range of fun activities during the March 26th to 29th period.

Activities included Gaelic football and hurling skills, fundamental movements, obstacle courses, fun games, cookie blitzes and much more.

In addition to the regular camp for 4-12 year olds, this year saw a high-performance camp for 12-16 year olds.

Club Games Development Officer, Johnny McGlynn expressed his delight on the first day of the Camp: “We have great numbers participating this year, a brilliant team of helpers, some senior intercounty players on hand to add zest to the activities and glorious sunshine to boot.”

By late morning after the first round of activities in the allweather area Alice Foley and her team were seen leading out the very youngest on a nature walk around the headland.

Dressing Room Upgrade A recent visitor to the club’s new dressing rooms was heard to quip that it was ‘like walking into a Croke Park facility’.

This observation is fully understandable such is the look and

SPORTS

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Clanna Gael Fontenoy

There’s a spring in our step at the club

feel of our suite of new dressing rooms.

Thanks to significant financial support from the Dublin Waste to Energy Community Gain Fund, a complete refurbishment of our existing facilities was undertaken to provide five fully-fitted dressing rooms. In addition, an existing room was converted into toilets for players and spectators, while the coffee shop benefited from new storage and flooring.

All of this work was successfully completed during the offseason period under the watchful eye of Roger McGrath and fellow members of the club Strategic Development Committee.

As club Chairman, Bernard Barron, states: “The club is extremely fortunate to have our existing facilities available to us. These include playing pitches, all-weather area, hurling

wall, newly-enhanced dressing rooms, community hall and bar, gymnasium and clubhouse.

We are grateful for the efforts of our predecessors in putting these facilities in place for us to inherit and use. We utilise them to the maximum and continue to support and finance their development. The financing of this club development continues to be challenging and every year a big effort is needed to ensure that we meet our operational requirements for the year and to repay club loans. The contribution of our sponsors, particularly Dublin Port Company, is very important in this respect.”

On-field activity Talking of results, and while it’s still early days in the season, many of the club’s teams have got off to a flying start.

Among these are our U13 girls

footballers who have made it two wins out of two at the highest Division 1 level.

Their most recent win away against a good Finagallians side was hard-earned and well deserved. With the half-time score showing just a point difference between the teams, a particularly strong second-half performance from the Clanns girls blew away their opponents to generate a 13-point winning margin in the end.

Also plying their trade at the highest Division 1 level are our U15 girls who got their league campaign off to a really good start. Coming up against Clontarf, the current league and championship winners, was a tough opener. But Clanns prevailed in a game that was played at a frantic pace throughout and they finished with a healthy winning margin. With some outstand-

April / May 2018

ing team scores, the girls made a big statement for the season ahead.

Our U13 boys hurling team also showed good early season form in a cracker of a match against a visiting St Kevin’s side. Two evenly-matched teams battled it out for supremacy. While the game ebbed and flowed, this encounter always looked like it was heading one way only – a draw. Sure enough, that was the final outcome, with great passages of team and individual play on both sides. From the Clanns perspective this was a very good, all-round display, with plenty of fight and no shortage of great skills.

Support for Stephen Deering All club members, supporters and friends are being invited to take part in a special 5k Fun Run at the club on April 8th in support of juvenile player, Stephen Deering, who is currently undergoing treatment in Our Lady’s Children’s hospital for cancer. Support can be provided in a number of ways: by donating on this gofundme page https://www.gofundme. com/step-up-for-stevo-8thapril-2018, by getting sponsorship cards in the club bar or by paying €5 registration fee at the club on the day. We wish Stephen the very best with his treatment and in his recovery.

Clockwise from top: Fun and games in the spring sunshine at the club’s Easter Camp.

Our U15 girls have got their Division league campaign off to a great start.

Action from the U13 hurling match against St. Kevin’s.

Photos courtesy of Owen Travers and Roger McGrath.

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April / May 2018

SMALL ADS AND NOTICES

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April / May 2018