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October / November 2017
PORTAL OF DISCOVERY
T
Beibhinn Byrne ime… Fortune… Life. These integral layers of existence and place, intrinsically bound to one another are possibly nowhere more evident and sedimented than at Dublin Port. Of course the port merges with the whole of Dublin bay or perhaps the bay merges with it. This water seeps through the city in river tributaries, in basins and canals like somas and nerves amongst the sinew of the city. Both the Dublin Port Company and Dublin City Council have a long-term commitment to the area in terms of future development and conservation, a place of commerce and a space for inhabitants and visitors, but most vitally, to a long-term commitment to the arts. This last aspect is not just powerfully symbolic but also a concrete, hard working example of priorities and quantum leap thinking and planning. The arts are not a luxury or afterthought in our lives or environment. They are powerful truths versus propaganda, beauty and inspiration that energises us and grounds us especially in times of darkness and distress. Dublin Docklands as part of their Port Perspectives nested the port/river/city project within it. It took place over three weeks in September including culture night. Tracing a journey along the River Liffey from Dublin Port’s most eastern point at Poolbeg lighthouse on the Great South n
Wall into its inner city and now invisible waterways, a diverse range of artists working with moving images and ‘live art’ intervened in places in interactive and spectacular ways to explore the history, future and energy of the port, the water and ourselves, offering new possibilities for engagement with Dublin’s port and its history. A core feature of the port/ river/city exposition of this artful ‘waterworks’ was Dan Shipsides’ mobile T5 Field Cinema. Designed to bring artist and experimental moving image works
Page 15: Sacred river celebration
to remote locations, this mobile cinema uses a converted T5 generation VW van to screen works selected to respond to or inform the environment in which they are shown. The works featured a variety of personal reflections on ports and their immediate environs. It was a range of screenings and projections as well as talks from a collection of artists; Hugh Watt, Allan Hughes, Cliona Harmey, Lis Rhodes, Vanessa Daws, Seamus Harahan, Helouise O’Reilly, David Donohoe, William Raban, Shipsides & Beggs, Dara Flana-
gan and Shipsides (solo) Espousing the idea of public art as ‘any form or mode of encounter,’ this idea woven into our daily lives, communities and environs changes the way we look at our life, our environments and our community. The idea art is everything and everywhere opens us up to the unique, valuable and experiential, to new ways of seeing which in turn open us up to new ways of thinking. To think artfully is a paradigm shift, one the world now needs. Combining the water aspect with artful exposition intuitively
IN THIS ISSUE…
Page 18: Danse Macabre
Page 28: Halloween round up
vivified each of the elements. This project emphasised the power of the area and the power of art – that form of engagement that interrupts the expected or the routine, creating the possibility for transforming the familiar into something altogether new. Of course the real power of the place is the water. The term a ‘body of water’ captures the figurative and actual presence of the sea and waterways of the area and the city. Vanessa Daws, a live artist whose work involves self documenting swims in the Liffey, the port, Grand Canal Basin, Sandymount Strand and park fountains amongst others, to explore place and energy says, “it changes my interaction with that place and that place is changed through my interaction with it.” Water is “definitely a theme.” “It’s the idea of a journey starting at one point and ending up at another. Swimming is hard, making art is hard, it’s work, I like the challenge. It’s putting two passions of mine together.” Of her magnetism to water she says “Who knows where that drives comes from? Some people are just drawn to it and it’s very powerful. There is a lot of energy in it.” Energy comes up again and again, not just with Daws and other artists, but regarding the sea and the power of art itself. Continued on page 2
Page 30: Donnybrok Scouting at 90
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NewsFour Editor Beibhinn Byrne Web Editor Paul O’Rourke Journalists Paul Carton Kevin Mac Sharry Jessica Ellis Kathrin Kobus Photographer Jennifer Reddin Contributors Jaclyn Doyle Gavan Bergin Felix O’Regan Declan Hayden Suzanne Murphy Lorraine Waters Crossword Gemma Byrne Design and Layout Eugene Carolan Ad Designer Lizzie Doran
Sandymount Community Services, 13A Fitzwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4. Telephone: (01)6673317 E-mail: newsfour@gmail.com Website: www.newsfour.ie Opinions expressed in NewsFour do not necessarily represent the views of Sandymount Community Services. Printed by Datascope Ltd, Wexford
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The Editor’s Corner
W
elcome to the latest edition of NewsFour. It is not only a new edition for you but also for me. Compiling this issue has been enjoyable and I hope you enjoy it too. There is an open invitation for an interactive and participative readership and NewsFour is looking for you to share your stories, expertise or passions with us.
I would like to encourage any potential contributors to contact NewsFour at editornewsfour@gmail.com with any contributions whether it is painting entries submitted to the Sightsavers schools’ competition from younger readers to poetry or reports and stories you may have or an area of expertise you would like to write as a regular section. Perhaps you have suggestions you would like to make to the paper? NewsFour loves feedback. I would certainly like to see more news and features from the whole Dublin 4 area as it is a little tilted towards one end. So a special call out to the other half. Yes, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook and Merrion (it’s your paper too) I’m talking to you, and inviting all groups, organisations and businesses to get in touch. NewsFour is an equal D4 opportunity newspaper and would love to include you more. In this issue we have many of the regular features from sporting pages to culinary corner. GAA is bursting with A-game players and victories. Local Halloween shenanigans are detailed in the DCC round up. Readers will be interested in the feature on the micro brewery industry and the new one opened at CHQ. Plus a super competition, free entry for two to a fancy dress Halloween extravaganza at Kilmainham on page 18.
You will notice the theme of water and the arts is heavily present throughout this issue both in tandem and separately. I was struck by the maritime activities and the presence of water that is integral to the area and the close relationship the D4 and Docklands inhabitants have with it, indeed, all Dubliners have with it. The theme occurred organically rather than planned and fittingly for the time of the year, got me thinking about our power and unique magic as a nation and society and about our identity and values in our society and how evident or not they are. Staying in touch with our roots as we grow onwards is vital.
Artistry nourishes the roots of society and is the roots of our particular society. We have an ancient and important relationship with artistic expression and transaction, historically, socially and geographically. It was always held in reverence and prominence. It taps right into the heart of what matters, body and soul, individual and collective, society and culture. We need more creativity here at home and in the world. Art is universal and excludes no one. It is inspired and inspires. It helps us to be more creative and we need more creativity – in our economy, our education, our solutions and decision making. The siren call of economy at the expense, quite literally, of society, threatens to overwhelm us once again with its false promise of short term gratification. We should remember we are a society first, and a polite one, not in a repressed, false way, but polite as kind, thoughtful and refined, the opposite to vulgar. Art with its higher ideals and visceral effects reminds us of this and motivates us. We are a great society. A great society with powerful, inspirational expression that creates. Let us create the society we want while respecting who we really are.
October / November 2017
PORTAL OF DISCOVERY Continued from page 1 So to see the Docklands and the Port Company so committed to this necessary expression and aspect of our lives is a welcome, far sighted intelligence. Just like Daws’s journey, a natural progression but willed with conscious effort. As NewsFour has previously reported, the centre has been a hive of activity in recent months as the development of public space progresses. Creating new pedestrian entry points, conserving green space with landscaped gardens, planning a new internal road network, cycle lanes and pathways which will give pedestrians and cyclists access to the estate for recreational use with vantage points overlooking the Tolka Estuary. Eimear Murphy’s ‘The Drop’ will feature in the garden. The sculpture made from solid concrete plays with notions of fluidity in its design.
It is this fluidity, the fluidity of the water, the port and the power of art to exert itself on us, the fluidity of our lives and our world that is so pertinent. “Dublin is unique,” Daws points out, in terms of the bay, the sea and the water and how we interact with it. As a swimmer of the port and river she says, “You’re very privileged, not many people get to look at the city like that – from that perspective.” The sea she says energises us. She talks about swimming in it and other water features not only in the area, but other places too. “You feel buzzed up. You always come out much better.” Something that could be said not only of the water but also of consciously including art in our lives and environments. It changes perspectives, one of progression. One we need now. Photograph on page 1 courtesy of Vanessa Daws
By Grand Canal Dock By Alice Lyons
Verticality of cranes & a beep beep beep beat— the A1 Waste Disposal truck backs up to a skip. They’re building a checkerboard building—not a tower— quite lovely, really it is all quite lovely, Marvin windows dangle mid-air, pendants on a necklace. They landscaped red poles with no use but to tilt skew & rhyme with Height For Hire cranes leaning toward a future or past depending on where you place yourself. Growl of revving concrete mixer of angle grinder, airplane and footfall. High-vis green on aloft workers dotting scaffolds on the sail of a windsurfer knifing canal water on the vest of one person holding a paper-cupped latté: Cigarette break. We are eating antipasti at enotecas in Italian weather after that piss-poor summer ensnared in a mesmer of shadows cast by offce workers rhythm of form that moves as on film and folds in grey bars over curbs & benches urban planners placed for our enjoyment during the boom & after the boom. Dear Architect Designing in an Apex Age: We do admire your ideas of fenestration whether we come out of this on our feet or not.
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October / November 2017
JUST-PROPERTY
J
Sales – Letting – Management Your Local Specialist in the Docklands and Dublin 4
ust-Property was incorporated in 2000 and opened offices in Portview House Ringsend and quickly established its presence in the market as Sales, Letting and Management Specialists in The Docklands and Dublin 4 Area. Operating from its then premises in 11/12 Fitzwilliam Quay, Ringsend the company outgrew its offices and moved to a purpose built office around the corner on Thorncastle Street in January 2017 in order to facilitate our growing Sales Department. Just-Property let and manage over 300 properties throughout Dublin and act as Managing Agents for over 20 Management Companies across Dublin, Wexford and Cork. Our team comes from diverse backgrounds and bring fresh ideas and vision to Property Sales, Lettings and Management. Just-property has a very low staff turnover which in turn allows us to establish long lasting relationships with our clients who are absolutely confident with our service and refer us to many of their friends and colleagues. We are servicing clients today that we started with in 2000, that’s a sure sign of their confidence as we helped steer them through a very traumatic period in our economy. It is also a sign of the level of Management Expertise within our company. Originally formed to cater for the residential pension investment market Just-Property now provide Sales, Letting and Management Services for our growing portfolio of customers throughout The Docklands and Dublin 4 area. As the company has continued to grow we now also cater for a large number of private clients in a Sales, Letting and Letting Management capacity. Our staff numbers have also grown to 14 today and all are experienced in the services we provide. If you are contemplating Selling / Buying / Letting or a Management Service we will be happy to discuss any or all of these with you. Call us on 01-6315255 and arrange to come to our offices on Thorncastle Street to discuss your property needs.
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JUST-PROPERTY
ST PATRICKS ROWING CLUB “TIE THE KNOT FOR RINGSEND”
Justin Coughlan Managing Director Just-Property, The Docklands, is Proud to announce a new main sponsorship of St Patricks Rowing Club. We have a long standing tradition in the Docklands community since our company commenced trading in Ringsend in 2000. With a staff of 14 professionals working in our offices on Thorncastle Street, we are proud to be part of the community through our use of local services, skills and now to be the main sponsors of St. Patricks Rowing Club. We have invested heavily in the locality mainly through our new purpose built offices on Thorncastle Street and we use local contractors, suppliers and retailers as part of our tailored service to our own clients, quoted Justin Coughlan. St Patricks Rowing Club are an example of a progressive organisation, with their sights set firmly on the future. Recent investment in their all new specially commissioned Skiff is testament to that vision. The club has also recently completed its very successful recruitment campaign and its new members are now settling into the long tradition of what St Patricks Rowing Club is all about. Just-Property are proud to share this same progressive vision with St Patricks Rowing Club for many years to come. G Doheny
ARTS
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Marian musical is ‘All Shook Up!’
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October / November 2017
M
arian College is turning honky tonk for three nights only this November as the Marian College Musical Society pay tribute to Elvis from the 15th – 17th of November in their show. Forty years ago this year, Elvis Presley truly and tragically left the building. To commemorate this, the M.C.M.S. is proud to announce that this year’s show in conjunction with Muckross Park College is ‘All Shook Up!’ Set in a sleepy American town, citizens are terrified to incur the wrath of the evil Mayor Matilda and her apparently mute sidekick, Earl. Natalie, the mechanic, dreams of life on the open road whilst her father mourns the passing of her mother. Sylvia runs the local honky tonk bar accompanied by her daughter, Lorraine. Lorraine dreams of romance and daydreams to her heart’s content. Dennis, a nerdish character, is hopelessly in love with Natalie but sadly, she does not reciprocate his feelings. Sandra, the local museum curator, finds herself in a sleepy town that is not open to culture. Enter Chad, a “roving roustabout – Elvis style” character in his blue suede shoes who tries to shake things up. Cue much merriment as both he and Jim fall in love with Sandra, Dennis remains in love with Natalie, Dean, son of Matilda and military undergraduate falls in love with Lorraine, and Natalie somehow ends up becoming ‘Ed’ in a bid to become closer to Chad. Things become somewhat complicated when Sandra falls for Ed. Enjoy toe – tapping tunes such as “Jailhouse Rock”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Devil in Disguise” and many more as Ray Ryan takes up the baton as orchestral maestro. Bernard Lynch will emulate Elvis with his rocking guitar magic. With the talents of Arlene Murphy as choreographer, Carla McDowell as musical director, Grainne McCarthy as director, Tara Fahy and Erich Nulty as set designers, props experts and wardrobe department, this show promises to entertain you from start to finish. The cast will be: Natalie – Carla Grainger; Sylvia – Charlie Browne; Lorraine – Sarah Crowe; Matilda – Emily Waldron; Miss Sandra – Anna Mulcahy; Chad – Ben Breslin; Dennis – Jamie Purcell; Jim – David O’Toole Byrne; Earl – Gracjan Dubaniewicz; Dean – Sean Foley. Definitely an evening of ‘a little less conversation, a little more action’ with a night of music and dancing. Book tickets at 01 6684036 or via email at office@amariancollege.ie.
Back to the Docklands for U2
T
n Paul
Carton he idea for a four-storey visitor centre dedicated to the music group U2 and planned for Hanover Quay is in the proposal stage. Earlier this year Managhan Chartered Planning brought the plans of the site proposed for a permanent exhibition before DCC for a pre public consultation. No planning application has been lodged at time of printing but what can be confirmed is that U2 own 16 and 18 Hanover Quay, where the development is being proposed. U2 only recently bought back no16 from the now-disbanded Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) in a deal that aroused suspicion with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Originally the DDDA wanted to demolish the building to allow public access to the Grand Canal Dock and to encourage dockland development, so they filed a compulsory purchase order (CPO) which would force U2 to sell the building. Despite strong opposition via a petition lodged with An Bord Pleanála by fans the CPO was granted and the building was sold to DDDA for an undisclosed fee, although it is known that they bought two properties there at the time adjacent to each other costing a total of €5.1m. The building was bought back in 2013 by U2 for €450,000 and when questioned by the PAC, the DDDA explained that they used the ‘exceptional circumstances’ rule for the first time, selling the property pri-
vately to the band rather than the property going to tender on the open market like every other property they sold when the authority was being shut down. The proposed visitor centre will sit beside office buildings that the DCC approved and which are already in construction as part of the Hanover Quay Scheme. These buildings, which include the Reflector Building, have price tags up to €100m to build, which indicates the bargain U2 got for the site. Who knows what its façade will be but no doubt their name in bright lights over the water in Ireland’s most prosperous business district will add to its attractions, cachet and success. Photo courtesy Crookes LHP
of
Deirdre
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October / November 2017
CHARITY FUNDRAISER
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GALs Hospice coffee morning
E
n Kathrin
Kobus very September, Ireland’s biggest coffee morning takes place. All over the country people host get-togethers over a hot drop for the annual fundraiser for Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services, based in Harold’s Cross and Blackrock. This year was a very special one marking the 25th anniversary or silver jubilee of the calendar event. Bewley’s provides the coffee free of charge for the fundraisers with two euro charged for every cup sold to the attendees, who also queue to purchase raffle tickets. These tickets, three strips for a fiver or one strip for €2.00 also help to increase the funds raised. Plus additional money is raised with the sale of home-baked muffins, scones and knitted baby clothes. The local GAL’s group from Ringsend and Irish-
Mary Ward, speaking for them said. “We wish to thank again on behalf of the GAL’s, the many small businesses and shops in Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount, from Barrow Street and South Lotts Road, from pharmacies to publicans who helped us and contributed the raffle presents.” The winners for nearly 70 prizes, from foodie hampers, wine bottles, toys and far more besides were called out to receive their prizes in a cheerful and party like atmosphere. The total raised this year was €2789.01 up by more than €200 from 2016.
town was hosting the event for the second year. They had taken over the fund-
raiser from Mary Thompson and Angela Murphy last September and Mary
attended this year ’s event as an unofficial guest of honour.
P i ct ured f rom l ef t : P aul i ne Casey, A nne M urphy, I da R ooney, Jean Cummmi ns T heresa R ooney, M ary Deni m, M ary Ward, B et t y Campbel l , Gret ha Wi l l i ams, M argaret Gray, B onni e B oyl an, Dol ores Cahi l l . P hot o by Kat hri n Kobus
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Chris crossing:
CHARITY / NEWS
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October / November 2017
from grief to light
O
n Kathrin
Kobus n 4th of June last year, 12 Gardaí and one relative of Chris Byrne, his brother Eugene, undertook the long planned crossing of the Irish Sea from Holyhead back to Dublin in memory of Chris Byrne. Garda Caroline Byrne’s husband Chris had been diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour in December 2014 and to help support her and the family, her colleague John Dolan came up with the idea to do something special. “All in all, 15 of us were involved. We wanted to give the family – Chris and Caroline – something to focus on. To give their lives another purpose and something to keep them looking forward and help them through the difficult times.” He explained how he had originally come up with the idea back in November 2015 and rallied colleagues and Chris’s brother into the rowing challenge to cross from Holyhead back to
Dublin port. Sadly, Chris passed away in the Spring of 2016 but the entire team involved continued training. Thankfully, due to the ongoing help and support at Stella Maris Rowing Club, Ringsend and also the Poolbeg Yacht Club, the criss-crossing expedition got the go ahead from Irish Ferries weather forecast to set out for their rowing trip by early last summer. Once the gear and crews were safely on the other side of the Irish Sea, they set off from Holyhead at four am in the morning and reached Dublin Port again 15 hours and six minutes later, having covered 60 nautical miles. And it was only now that the donation books were finally closed. On the last Friday of August, Chris Byrne’s widow Caroline and his brother Eugene presented the cheque to Paddy Delaney, the manager of the Charity Foundation Beaumont Hospital. The cheque was for the very handsome sum of
€116,601 The endeavour has been a massive success as the sum had exceeded their expectations and was more than double the amount the charity rowers had set as their aim when they started their initiative back in November 2015. The money will go towards funding Beaumont Hospital with their National Neurological Centre.
“We will use the money to buy an intraoperative scanner. Whether a mobile one or stationary in a special operating theatre we still haven’t decided yet.” Paddy Delaney said. “It is a welcome sum, but overall we have to talk about a seven figure sum for the equipment.” For the first-time rowers of Store Street garda depot and Terenure station who took part their shore crossing, adventure
is at an end. But a new journey commences, with the money being used to help some of the 450 patients who undergo neurosurgery at Beaumont Hospital every year. Pictured above: The result of their combined effort, not just the actual rowers but the various support teams on and off the water accompanying the skiff on its way home.
Big bang at Anglesea Bridge
A
n Kevin
Mac Sharry n unexploded hand grenade thought to be from the time of the War of Independence was discovered under the Anglesea Bridge in the Ballsbridge area on August 28th. Gardai were immediately alerted and submitted a request to the Irish Defence Forces. The Army Bomb Disposal Team arrived on the scene at 11.05 am. After “they carried out an initial assessment of the scene,” the area was sealed off to ensure public safety. The “historic munition” was then destroyed in a controlled explosion by the team. A number of curious onlookers watched the bomb disposal. A video taken by one of the witnesses, Anthony Kelly, was uploaded to Twitter, where it was liked and retweeted over 70 times. The video shows the bomb disposal team under the Anglesea bridge. They can be heard readying themselves. This is followed by a brief, bright flash, during which a surprised
onlooker yells an expletive, after which the video ends. The area was declared safe at 12:45pm. Speaking with NewsFour, Captain Ciara Ní Ruairc from the Irish Defence Forces’ Press Office, confirmed the device was a Mills 36 grenade. This type of grenade was invented by the British in 1915, during WWI and was commonly used during the War of Independence. The Mills 36 grenade continued to be manufactured as late as the 1980’s.
For obvious security reasons, Cpt. Ní Ruairc could not describe in great detail the exact procedure taken when a bomb is detonated and destroyed. However, she explained that when the unit are called and find an explosive munition, firstly, the danger is assessed, and then all the options are considered. This may mean the munition is destroyed on-site in a controlled explosion. On the other hand, if a grenade was discovered during road works, it would mean it had to be “made safe and then moved to a safe site,” before destroying it. In a statement issued from the Defence Forces press office after the incident said “Historic munitions from conflicts in the early 20th century can be encountered from time to time.” And it warned that if members of the public encounter these “munitions” they are “advised to maintain a safe distance, inform An Garda Síochána, who in turn will request Defence Forces assistance.” Left: A Mills 36 grenade
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October / November 2017
HOSPITALITY
BBQ celebrates four stars for Sandymount Hotel
O
n Thursday, 21st September, Dublin’s oldest and largest family-owned hotel, Sandymount Hotel celebrated being awarded its fourth star by Failté Ireland and the launch of its €6 million refurbishment with an end of summer BBQ. Guests were treated to an evening of music and tasty BBQ bites in the newly refurbished surroundings. Over 200 corporates, locals, media and influencers were invited to join in the celebrations, and explore the stunning new interiors across the Line Out Bar and Whitty’s Restaurant, while the garden and bedrooms, are a must-see. Known for its outdoor BBQ’s during the summer (equipped with oversized
games and a beautiful covered patio) Sandymount Hotel showed that there is no stopping the celebrations in rain, hail or shine. Speaking about the night, Hotel Owner John Loughran said: “It has been an exciting and busy year for us, with completing our €6m refurbishment, and achieving our fourth star, which is just the icing on the cake. We are thrilled to be recognised for our hard work and are excited for this new journey ahead.” Make-A-Wish Ireland were delighted to add to the night, with a special award ceremony, marking each of the companies who generously contributed to the charity over the year. Guests were also entertained by a Latin band, The Havana Club, who provided the music on the night. A great night was had by all. Cooking up a storm in the kitchen was Head Chef, Shane Hickey, who served a range of delicious BBQ bites in the newly renovated garden. Guests were treated to eight-ounce prime Irish beef burg-
ers served with soft ciabatta baps, as well as flame-grilled chicken fillets with lemon, garlic and thyme dressing. There were generous accompaniments including coleslaw and chili and lemongrass roasted sweetcorn. Not forgetting those with a sweet tooth, a delicious range of bespoke cupcakes and delicacies went down a treat with guests. It was a superb taster of what the hotel offers; great food and a warm and generous hospitality. The Hotel also takes its eco and green policies very seriously, receiving European awards on this front. This hotel is a great amenity for a night out or bite to eat that deserves recognition for its integrity. Just a few steps from the Aviva Stadium, perfect for some after-match relaxation and food.
Pictured right: John Loughran of Sandymount Hotel and Susan O’Dwyer of Make a Wish. Photo courtesy of Richie Stokes. Left: The Havana Club, all white on the night.
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O
n Kevin
Mac Sharry n Wednesday September 13th, Sports For Schools, in partnership with Subway, launched their campaign to encourage children to get involved in physical activity at Our Lady’s National School in Clonskeagh. Ulster and International Rugby Star Tommy Bowe helped give the class on the day. He said “Sports for schools has been a great success across the water and I’m delighted to see it’s now being rolled out in Ireland.” A press conference was later held at the Dylan Hotel in Donnybrook, where Bowe, a Subway brand ambassador known as a “Famous Fan,” elaborated further, stating how important it was that children take part in some physical activity and “keep active” as well as praising the other athletes working with Sports For Schools. The campaign is also fronted and backed by Irish paralympians as well as olympians from the field of athletics.These worldclass competitors include Clare Cunningham, a British team paralympic swimmer and paratriathlete and Kelvin Bates, Ireland’s top BMX rider, who qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics,
YOUTH EDUCATION
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Tommy Bowe launches Subway Sports for Schools
though he was ultimately unable to compete. Michael Ledzion, founder and “chief sportivater” of Sports For Schools, explained that the enterprise’s “main aim is to encourage kids to take up physical activity,”
even if it isn’t necessarily a sport. Ledzion was keen to extol the benefits of exercise, especially on the brain. He explained that the brain actually grows from physical activity. The effect of this is increased concentration. Children
October / November 2017
who are persistent with physical activity outperform children who are less physically active. Ledzion explained that a physically-active child can be as productive in four hours as a less active child would be in five. The net effect of this
was that “the top 10% of students are physically active.” Sports For Schools begins with a “sportivator” who organises the event and instructs the children, they are aided by a star athlete. The pupils of the school then go through a fitness circuit, where children do star jumps, press-ups and similar activities. Ledzion stated that children were overwhelmingly “fans” of the fitness circuit at schools. Sports For Schools focus on doing a fitness circuit rather than a particular sport, as many children do not like sport and “can be put off from exercising” as a result, explains Ledzion. He referred to the familiar experience of being “picked last for the team,” and how that can affect young children. Of course, the benefit of physical activity on mental health is well attested, with a common result of exercise being a positive effect on mood. Ledzion stated it is “incredibly important for developing confidence, self-belief ” in children and that the initiative was based on encouraging children to take up “any physical activity.” Photograph courtesy of Sinead Finnegan.
Dublin Bus celebrates 30 years of service to the community
D
n Kevin
Mac Sharry ublin Bus was created when the original CIE separated into the subsidiaries of Iarnród Éireann, Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann back in 1987. Since then, Dublin Bus has gone through many changes. The population of Dublin has grown significantly over the last 30 years. This has meant more offices, more houses and of course more bus routes to serve them. In the Ringsend area, at one time the No. 1, 2, and 3 buses served the community. Now it is principally the No’s 1, 77A
and the 15A and B. John Saunders is the manager for the South Dublin Area Bus services. He is responsible for the Conyngham Road, Donnybrook and Ringsend depots. According to Saunders, the buses themselves have been altered and upgraded quite a bit since the mid-eighties. They were a creamy green colour, blue and orange as well as limited run of wedding buses during the Nineties before becoming their recognisable yellow and blue from the year 2003. Of course, a well-known upgrade to Dublin buses was the
wheelchair ramp, which meant that getting on and off buses was easier, quicker and, more importantly, safer for wheelchair users. This was first introduced in 2000 and the entire service was wheelchair-accessible by 2012. There were notable changes, one major one being the loss of the bus conductors. There was a driver and a conductor on each bus up until the mid-eighties and indeed the loss of the conductor’s role made a great many staff redundant. Looking back on those days, Paul Larkin talked about how close the relationship was between a conductor and a driver. “It was like a marriage. You spent more time with them than you did with your wife and family,” he explained laughing. Indeed, this sense of goodwill and support was reflected in the closeness between many of the drivers and their regular customers. It is still common, in particular, on the smaller routes. Larkin recounted the story of a regular driver, who knew many of his customers by name. Unfortu-
nately, he was unable due to illness to drive his regular route for a number of weeks. His customers sent him cards wishing him a quick recovery. There were, of course, some funny tales from those days, many of which are recorded in the book “Dublin Legends: Celebrating 30 Years of Dublin Bus Stories” which has been published. One humorous story concerns the beloved “Statue of Our Lady” fixed to the side of the Ringsend depot, which was recounted by Larkin and Saunders. The statue had to be taken down to be repaired and as such was no longer visible. The community was rather taken aback, some Dublin Bus drivers took it upon themselves to spread the rumour that it had been removed so as to be nondenominational. However, this fib was driven out when the statue was returned to its rightful place on the Ringsend Bus depot. Dublin Bus has celebrated 30 years of service to the communities of Dublin, through many
changes in the cityscape and through cycles of emigration and immigration and changes to the look and character of areas such as Ringsend and Donnybrook. A principle of Dublin Bus is its commitment to “equality, diversity and inclusiveness” which is clear from their “diverse workforce of drivers.” Another proud boast of Dublin Bus was that in 2016, “for the very first time, an all-female class of new women drivers graduated from its dedicated training centre.” Dublin Bus has served the community for 30 years, a stalwart service amid many changes, and will surely continue to do so for many more. From left: 1990s and 1980s buses. Images courtesy of Dublin Bus
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P
n Kevin
October / November 2017
Mac Sharry erhaps the most iconic of Billy Joel’s songs is the stunning Piano Man. It is set in a lonely, beer-filled, smoky New York bar. It plays to many people’s sense of isolation and of unimportance. It teaches us that music is a sort of raw feeling screaming inside of us. A passion that yearns to escape. John Murphy, a piano tuner and repairer, came up with the idea of installing a piano in Pearse Street train station. Pianos have previously been placed in public buildings in Britain and America to great success and so Iarnród Éireann “enthusiastically got on board.” Sara Edmonston, a Waterford Artist and NCAD graduate, set up the piano in Pearse Street’s busy train terminal. She styled it on the idea of sea creatures, which recur in her art. She gave it the coy caption “Music Can Take You Anywhere.” The piano itself was bought second-hand and refurbished by Murphy in his East Wall piano workshop. He stated that “If you can play at all you have the ability to brighten up someone’s day. Music has the power to take you anywhere you want to go.” Mick O’Grady, Manager of Pearse Street Station, expressed how delighted he was to have the instrument in the station, encouraging station-users to use this “great amenity to give us a tune!” There have been many great scenes in the station so far, such as four merry tourists giving their rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody while station-users waited to make their Sunday night journey home. A solitary older gentleman performed an impressive classical piece by Mozart on the beautifully decorated piano. These passengers were just passing through. They may not have been professional musicians, like Mercury, or composers, like the great Mozart. However, their spirit captured a sense of whimsy and fun and the aspiration we all have buried deep within us that we can all play and all sing to our own tune, whether or not we have a piano nearby. Photo by NewsFour
LIFE
Piano passion at Pearse Street
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EVENTS
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October / November 2017
Micro breweries look to future I n Paul
Carton
t seems, at nearly every festival nowadays, whether it’s about flowers, music or dogs, that a craft beer showcase is included as standard. However, when it comes to focusing purely on the booming Irish brewing and distilling industry, the RDS Craft Beer festival is the place for purists to go. Between the 8th to 10th of September at the RDS, brewers were given the chance to showcase their beers and the public got a chance to meet the craftspeople behind these foamed flavours. Although, what is surprising, when you meet some of the head craft brewers is that many of them are from abroad. When Killarney Brewing’s head brewer, who was from Oregon, left the company earlier this year, co-founder Tim O’Donoghue told NewsFour that they advertised for three months for his replacement but to no avail, and they had to advertise internationally, eventually recruiting a brewer from New York. A similar situation occurred with Priory Brewing, when setting up. Priory Brewing is Ireland’s first social enterprise brewery and is based in Tallaght. After weeks of the advert having been placed on Beoir.org had passed, the only applicant to apply and who ended up being successful in his application, had just moved to Tallaght from Poland. Looking back, Ireland had a large amount of microbreweries many moons ago but surveying these, the majority have been bought out by the giants of the industry and the trade itself no longer hangs on the family tree. However, the industry is looking to the future with Ireland’s first degree course in brewing and distilling based out of Carlow IT. The course, which is in its first year and takes four years to complete, has filled its eighteen places this year. NewsFour spoke with the programme’s Director Dr. David Ryan on how well prepared the students and the industry will be
when they graduate. “The industry expects over 100 breweries to be in place by 2025 and right now the number is at between 80 and 90, so there is no point graduating more brewers than is actually needed and so this year we have taken in eighteen and next year the same,” said Ryan. The course which is facilitated by local breweries, O’Hara’s, Costellos and Walshes, is structured to give the students experience in a brewery or distillery in their third year with the task to come back for the fourth year with an industry problem for them to solve through lab work and research. Recently, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) have also launched a two-year course in brewing and distilling at their new Grangegorman campus. The Carlow Brewing Company (CBC) who produce the O’Hara’s range are intrinsically involved with the advisory board of the Carlow degree course and are also founders and co-organizers of the RDS festival. They have had an adventurous year, to say the least. In April, they took in an investment for 32% of their business to Hijos de Rivera, the family-owned beer producer and distributor based in Galicia, Spain. This will see a partnership between the two with
the O’Hara’s products set to benefit from potential sales to international markets, which include South America, Russia, China and Australia. The Carlow Brewing company also opened a new microbrewery, bar and restaurant called Urban Brewing in the CHQ building at Georges Dock. The microbrewery boasts a mezzanine level for the fermenters that hold the beer, made exclusively, for the establishment. These feed the product down to the taps, a ‘taps and tapas’ area below. Underneath this bar sits the vaults. The vaults, which had not been used in 100 years, and were once used as a storehouse for wine and tobacco, have been converted into a restaurant and bar. NewsFour spoke with CBD’s Director Seamus O’Hara, on the venture and the idea behind it, “I was kind of fascinated by the docklands and I’m surprised why it hasn’t taken off more yet, and hopefully we are another part of the jigsaw to help it take off. It’s the natural things here, the river, the history, the buildings here, the famine memorial.” The Dublin Docklands Development Authority originally spent €45m on the CHQ building, but in 2013 former Coca-Cola boss Neville Isdell bought it for €10m and advertised this spot for let, and according to Seamus, the Urban Brewing microbrewery for Dublin city has been in the works since then. The Carlow Brewing Company have been in business for over 20 years, which explains how and why they would venture to such a prime location, but with newer brewing companies like the Irishtown Brewing Company (IBC), who are hoping to set up a brewery in the town of their brewery’s namesake, it’s a little more difficult. NewsFour met with IBC director Director Joey Shore at their stand at the RDS festival to catch up with the closest thing D4 has to a brewery. ”We are trying to get a site for a brewery at the moment. Irishtown is not looking suitable… you can’t buy a one-
bedroom house for less than four hundred grand,” said Shore. Despite the brewery still renting out fermenters in the Hope Brewery in Kilbarrack, they are moving at a fast pace. The last time NewsFour met with the Irishtown Brewery in the April issue, they were in 55 bars and currently they are in 240. An especially profitable aspect of the industry lies in tourism. A clear example of this is Mia Tobin, the recipient of the Inner City Employment (ICE) female entrepreneur of the year award. Mia opened up breweryhops.com in 2014, which facilitates trips around breweries in Ireland taking in famous landmarks with the cultural heritage thrown into the mix. Mia has some regular customers who return each year, a Texan brewery and a homebrewers club. She also provides bespoke tours to suit the customers’ needs. Mia does all the bookings and drives the bus too. With a new craft beer bill on the horizon, which is set to regulate how breweries allow customers onto their premises, in that they need to take a tour rather than just walk in from the street, it remains to be seen how this will affect breweries of all sizes so NewsFour asked Breweryhops tour operator Mia how she thinks it will affect her business, “I’m not sure if it will benefit me or not, but anything that supports the Irish craft beer industry is good,” said Mia. Although the numbers who attended last year’s RDS festival are down, both in brewers and attendance, the amount of craft beer festivals is on the increase, and according to one of the RDS festivals’ organizers Bruce Mansour, the RDS festival will be hoping to attract more international breweries to the festival in the coming years which in time might spread its name internationally and see a more competitive festival which would mean more tasters for everyone!
Above: New microbrewery bar at CHQ. Left: Urban brewing microbrewery in CHQ.
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n Jessica
October / November 2017
Ellis he excellence of Irish craft was on show again this year from August 2-13 at the RDS Craft Awards Exhibition. There were 336 entries across ten categories on display and for judging and while they may have been somewhat overshadowed by the hubbub of the Horse Show, which took place at the same time and in the same venue, this year’s crop of talent was definitely hard to ignore. Chairman of the RDS Committee of Arts, Joseph Lynch said “This annual competition provides an open platform
ARTS AND CRAFTS
RDS Craft Awards Exhibition
for Irish craftspeople to have their work assessed by an independent, professional judging panel of Irish and international craft experts. Prizes are awarded in recognition of excellence, and our judges assess each entry across four different areas: craftsmanship, design, creativity and presentation.” One of the more striking art works displayed was by Ann Fleeton, an established maker, entitled ‘Remembering the Magdalenes.’ The textile wall hanging was made using recycled household linens
and featured printed photos of the women who worked in the laundries and official documents listing their names and assigned roles. A stark reminder of what the institutionalised women went through. The exhibition then took the visitor from contemplating past histories to admiring distinctly modern-looking jewelry created through the act of play. Emerging maker Orlagh Milligan made a necklace entirely out of things you would find on your desk, such as colourful paper clips, thumb tacks and elastic bands. The aim of the piece
Page 11 was to engage the onlooker by transforming overlooked everyday objects. The visitor could then finish off their visit to the exhibition by watching a live demonstration of emerging maker Alan Meredith at work. Alan was the woodturning category winner and received the Irish Woodturners’ Guild Award and he demonstrated his skill in using a woodturning lathe. Below, from left: Remembering the Magdalenes by Ann Fleeton; Mourning the bees by Vivienne Molloy; Monday Blues by Orlagh Milligan.
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n Kathrin Kobus
n Monday the 11th September Dave Tilly and Donnacha McCarthy set out for Rotterdam. Thanks to weekend overtime work at the Bicycle Design Centre, Naas, their tandem was repaired just in time and ready for the World Championship in Paratriathlon. Donnacha is a blind para-athlete and Dave is his sighted guide runner who has had a long passion for the triple sports event. The two first met a year ago at the Irishtown Stadium. Born in 1991 and raised in the south of the country, Donnacha a young man from West Cork, moved to
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EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE
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October / November 2017
50/50 for 2020 Paralympics
Dublin five years ago and explained his reason: “I got the chance to study at DCU, did my degree there, and now I am working in IT for Vodafone.” Donnacha had lost his sight, due to illness, aged 11 in 2001 and what he missed the most was playing GAA and football. Now he describes himself as a multisport athlete and his focus has shifted to track, road and water thanks to a seemingly fated meeting with Tilly, who explained why they didn’t stop at just running together. Tilly, who I talked to on a Tuesday evening just before they set off on their regular run, says “We met in September 2016 here
at the stadium with Crusaders and just before Christmas that year I had convinced him to take on triathlon.” Actually, it was his brother Eamonn Tilley, head coach from Paratriathlon Ireland who brought them together. On the track, bound whether they are joined together wrist-towrist, or separately on their own, Donnacha and Dave, clock up to between 50-60 km per week and that’s just running. Running is only one part. For the swimming they go for a dip somewhere close in D4 as well. “Grand Canal dock,” says Dave with a laugh. “The water is not that bad, actually. I’ve been swimming there my whole life and never got sick.” That may be good practice for the open, salty water they face in competition, but for speed and technique Sportsco offers them one lane in the evenings for something a little more comfortable and perhaps safer for training. For the cycling part, they use a tandem with Dave up front and in swimming it goes as follows: “We go leg to leg. It’s easy – for us, “ says Donnacha.
In cycling, they train with support from Arcane CC to get their time for 20km under the mark of thirty minutes. Donnacha also has a turbo trainer at home to endure and get over moments of jelly legs. The race course plus the weather plays its part. Their first race this year, mid-January, was the Naas Duathlon, where they won a silver medal. This was followed by gold in the National Championships in Galway this summer. This event not only got Donnacha his first points for worldranking but also booked them their tickets for the trip to Holland They travelled to Rotterdam for the open power race category event. This comprised of a 750m swim, 20/25km cycle on the bike and finishing off with a 5km run. “I didn’t make it this time into elite event. You have to be in the top five for that. And at the moment I am working my way up and I am now 28th.” Donnacha displays only a hint of regret, because his aim is not just to represent Ireland on international level but to pick up titles and medals as well.
Dave elaborates on the qualifying system. “We did one event, the National Championship where we got points for the ranking. We need two more events or competitions next year to get the results and the scores.” The race in Rotterdam saw them just finishing outside the medals after Donnacha had to overcome cramps in the swimming opening part. So the disappointment was minimal and it simply sets the goals for the next season. “It was a great experience. The fourth place is an excellent result for our first international race. A long winter of training for year two of our triathlon adventure. We will get a medal next year.” Fun and joy as it is to train and compete, to travel, without their families’ support Donnacha and Dave wouldn’t have achieved what they did in year one together on track, on the bike or in the water. One big event in Donnacha’s and Dave’s calendar is already marked in red for sure: the 2020, Paralympics in Tokyo.
Photo by Nora McCarthy
Battle for the bike lane
n Jessica Ellis eople are protecting cycle lanes all over Dublin recently. More and more debate surrounds the safety of cyclists on the road and how to create bike paths that will encourage more people to cycle the city, but with the best practice infrastructure in place. I conducted a Q & A interview with David Ó Laıġeanáın, a member of a growing group called I BIKE Dublin who meet at peak traffic times and volunteer their spare time to protect bike paths. Q. Tell me the story of when the group formed and why you saw the need for it. DO’L: The group was born out of discussions between Dubliners on Twitter who were tired of being abused and endangered by some motorists while cycling and walking through the city, as well as having to deal with the chronic lack of enforcement of the rules by local authorities and An Garda Síochána. The hashtag #FreeTheCycleLanes might be considered the progenitor to I BIKE Dublin and it was used to keep track of motor vehicles illegally parked in cycle lanes. This is a serious
problem that continues to plague Dublin. It was decided that something had to be done, as the State is clearly not prepared to protect vulnerable road users. Q. How do you think your events protecting the cycle lanes have been received by other road users? DO’L: The reaction to our campaign has been overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority of feedback received during actions usually consists of bell-ringing, thanks from passing pedestrians, cyclists and motorists as well as applause, shouts of encouragement and thumbs-up. Similarly, most of the online feedback has been encouraging. Many commenters are curious about our point-ofview or want to discuss the issues faced by people who use bikes in Dublin – we love engaging in this sort of discussion as it helps us to understand other perspectives and it allows us to provide the public with evidence and statistics, which often helps in dismissing some of the myriad urban myths about cycling and the people who do it. An Garda Síochána have been quite supportive, too. At our most
recent Sandyford action, they came out to support us and actively fined motorists who were illegally parking in the cycle lane outside the Beacon. However – as is the case whenever people who use bikes put themselves out there – we have received our fair share of abuse from people who are either ignorant or who wish us harm. Several people have threatened us with injury and or death and others have expressed their wishes for us to be severely beaten or run over by a lorry. The worst part is that we were already used to this sort of abuse, simply as a result of cycling around Dublin, so it didn’t faze us as much as it probably should have. Similar stories can be heard amongst those who regularly use bicycles here Q. How have your numbers been growing and why do you think your campaign is becoming more well known? DO’L: The number of core volunteers have grown by a few since the first action at the start of the summer, which include my wife and I, who joined after a few weeks. The core team is a non-hierarchical collective in which we
all openly discuss the issues such as our policies, when and where to stage actions, public relations, events such as CycleHack etc. Decisions are made by consensus and we operate on a policy of mutual respect and focus towards a shared goal. With regards to actions, the number fluctuates over time as anyone is free to take part by simply showing up and protecting the cycle track. Last week’s action outside the Custom House attracted 29 people, which allowed us to provide considerable protection for the cycle track there. We have been actively engaging the public to raise awareness of the issues. Stephen McManus has been interviewed on Newstalk and I gave a similar interview on Raidió na Life recently. We are very active on social media: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
By promoting ourselves and our actions, we are trying to attract more citizens to volunteer their time and skills to the campaign and our actions. We have reached over 100,000 people on Facebook alone and we are gaining more followers every day. Q. And finally what is your wish for the future? DO’L: We do not seek confrontation with anyone and to the best of our knowledge, our actions are legal. An Garda Síochána have witnessed and supported several of our actions and have never expressed any complaints. Many of us are drivers, too. We are ordinary people who just want our streets to be safe for us and our families to cycle on.
Pictured: Human signpost on Westland Row. Image provided by Ciarán Ferrie
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n Jessica
October / November 2017
Ellis he third Doggie Do with Dogs Trust was another amazing success, with pooches prancing on the dog walk in a bid to become The Dog of Dublin 2017. The furry festival took place on September 10th in Herbert Park and turned out to be a ruffing good riot. The day kicked off with a parade of all the aspiring entrants before they battled it out on stage to see who was the best-dressed man’s best friend, all introduced by master of ceremonies Darren Kennedy. If your pooch preferred to be pampered instead of paraded, there was a place for you to relax at the Doggie and Soul
FESTIVITIES
A Mardi Gras for mutt and man
Page 13 leading a talk on how to become Instagram famous, and with over 77,000 followers Buttercup is a bit of an expert. The Dogs Trust were also on the hunt for doggie doppelgangers. In a dog and human lookalike competition, festival goers had their ‘pawtrait’ taken by Audrey Dalton at the pawtrait.ie photo booth. All the photos are on the Doggie Do facebook page, where you can still vote for who you think are the spit of each other. Clockwise from bottom right: Jasper, resting from the razzmatazz of the fair, George and the judging panel. Photos by Lizzie Doran
tent, where blankets and cushions kept everyone cosy on the particularly windy day. There was also a mini-market for a spot of retail therapy, which was chock full of dog-friendly foods. ‘Stuff for your Woof’ owners Kim and Sara can even supply your fur baby with a
birthday cake that both of you can eat! At the Cultured Canine tent
kids could partake in workshops, where they had their faces painted and learned how to train a new puppy and approach other people’s dog in a safe manner. There was a celebrity in our midst too, Buttercup the Cavalier King Charles spaniel was
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COMMUNITY PROJECTS
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October / November 2017
Buses, culture and book launches at ALIGHT!
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n Jessica Ellis
e have covered the ALIGHT! Project a lot here at NewsFour, it feels like we have been with them every step of the way. On a Thursday evening on September 14th participants and collaborators of the storytelling, dance and performance art project met to celebrate all the amazing work they had done with a book launch. The Vintage Inn was packed with members of the local community who had come together during four weeks in January to hop on a big orange bus that connected them, quite literally, to their culture and creativity. Every dance workshop, day out
and mystery history cabaret was paid tribute to in a beautifully illustrated book that you can cherish and use to reminisce on all the memories and friendships made. All of this thanks to Dublin Culture Connects in collaboration with Coiscéim Broadreach and the National Neighbourhood. Director and choreographer Muirne Bloomer looks back on the project, “It was a fantastic project. The idea of the number one bus route was the start of it, joining all the people of the area together. It has been lovely meeting all the different people and groups. The children are not here tonight, but we worked
with lots of youth groups as well. The bus was partly a journey, partly a work of art and performance space. We also introduced people to local parts of their neighbourhood that they had never been to before. It was brilliant having chats and learning folklore and memories from people. The book is part of the legacy of the project, there’s lots of photos, we’ve recorded loads of stories. The full potential hasn’t been realised yet, I think this is the beginning of something that will grow and grow.” Iseult Byrne, Project Director with Dublin’s Culture Connects adds “What’s interesting is that from working on the project,
many participants, the artists, the local community groups and businesses want to keep working together. Maybe create an arts festival and create more events, to set up something that is sustainable in the area and through arts and culture, connect and celebrate their local community.” To finish off the book launch, Jitterbug Jackson, clowned around by juggling knives, sang and danced. Kathy Gleeson led a sing-a-long of The Auld Triangle and another community member, Anthony, helped get the crowd going by singing Take Her Up To Monto and I still cannot get the tune out of my head!
Clockwise from top: Participants from groups including Ringsend Active Retirement Group, The GALS, Betty Watson Group, Greenore Community Choir and the Dazzlets were at the Vintage Inn for the ALIGHT! Book Launch. At the ALIGHT! Book Launch, from left: Kathy Gleeson, Vintage Inn; Iseult Byrne, Dublin’s Culture Connects; David Bolger, CoisCeim; Councillor Dermot Lacey; Senator Kevin Humphreys and Muirne Bloomer, CoisCeim. More participants from local groups enjoying the night. All mages by Sandra Rodriguez and courtesy of Rowena Neville, Director of Dublin Culture Connects
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October / November 2017
HERITAGE
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A celebration of the River Dodder
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n Jessica Ellis
free event for Heritage Week 2017 took place recently on the 19th and 20th of August. It was presented by the Beaver Row Heritage Players and organised by Glenda Cimino. Artists, musicians, poets and pets gathered in Donnybrook, at the beautiful Beaver Row footbridge that spans the river Dodder to celebrate the importance of the water. The group partook of a meditation walk along the bank towards the weir below Ashton’s in Clonskeagh, stopping at points to listen to original songs and prose and to witness a river blessing. Katie McLoughlin and Marie Mooney kicked off the event with some traditional music in the sunshine. The theme of the walk was nature and celebrating it and people. So actors James Martinez and Derek O’Shaughnessy read stories
about the history surrounding the river, focusing on the Easter Rising, notable floods, drownings and daring rescues. Catherine Ann Cullen sang her song penned just for the event ‘A Donder on the Dodder’ right next to the sounds of the rippling water. Jason McDonnell also sang ‘Down by the River’ by Neil Young, which attracted a few more people to join our group and wander along with us. Glenda Cimino, the artistic director explained how this year’s walking event was different to last year’s performances, which focused on the centenary of 1916. “Each year we have expanded, the first year we did it in my house at Beaver Row, the second year we did it around Donnybrook, altogether we got about forty people on each of our walks last year. And then this year we have expanded in a different way by offering people an opportunity to put forward original songs and original poems and that was a lovely experience, a lot of people got in touch and wanted to participate. And I think Catherine Ann Cullen is particularly talented, she is a wonderful poet and her songs are just amazing.” The walk culminated in a Choctaw river blessing performed by Waylon White Deer and a dance on the small beach at the weir. Waylon has a connection to Ireland from over a hundred years ago. The peo-
ple of the Choctaw nation collected a sum of 170 dollars in famine relief and donated it the to the Irish people in 1847, an amazing amount of money for the time. Waylon had brought a pouch of tobacco from his home state of Oklahoma which everyone touched and infused with respectful thoughts of the river. Then as he threw the blessed tobacco into the river a heron flew down and rested on the rocks of the weir to watch, perhaps to let the group know that the blessing was received with good will! Clockwise from bottom left: Event organiser Glenda Cimino; musicians Marie Mooney, fiddle and Katie McLoughlin, mandolin; Dodder river celebrants walk the heritage route; Waylon Gary White Deer, Choctaw artist. Images by Kathrin Kobus
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SOCIAL MATTERS
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October / November 2017
Russelling up the footwork
A day out with May
n Jessica Ellis
ou may remember reading a previous NewsFour article about a local lady from Sandymount, May Roddy. She turned 100 years old this year, quite the achievement! I visited May while she was having her birthday party back in April and while I was interviewing her and her family May’s love of attending the Horse Show in the RDS every year became apparent. Well, some kind person on the RDS media team must have spotted their Horse Show being mentioned in the article, because they reached out to the Roddy family and May’s friends at her nursing home and gave them all VIP tickets to this year’s show, which took place at the start of August. May, her fellow residents and the carers at Ailesbury Nursing Home in Sandymount were given the VIP treatment and could hang out in the VIP lounge. Her complimentary tickets were also enjoyed by her nieces and nephews, Tommy, Olivia, Jackie and Paddy, who used to argue over who May would bring to the show as children. May enjoyed browsing the stands, eating ice cream, above, and meeting Bo Bo the pony from Wicklow and it all brought back great memories of her previous visits. Above: May enjoying her ice cream. Below: May with, from left, Tommy Tuite, Olivia Tuite, Jackie Connelly and Paddy Tuite. Images by Jessica Ellis / Tommy Tuite
D
usk, on a Friday evening in Donnybrook village and most of the workers are heading home, already loosening their ties and letting down their hair with a bite to eat, an after-work drink or cranking the music up and getting ready to put on the ritz, but not Mary Moore. Mary was doing a different kind of footwork. Ms Moore was busy, still working, surrounded by boxes in preparation to open her new business Donnybrook Footmechanics, a sports podiatry clinic with a particular interest in female athletes and active woman that specialises in 3D motion gait analysis for runners of all levels, and fitting custom foot orthotics for shoes, sandals and slippers, as well as, maybe most importantly for tricky feet that need support – stylish footwear. The countdown was on and she was hard at work. But if the mountain won’t come to Mohammed then Mohammed must go the mountain and Ms Moore was about to have a very unex-
pected showbiz night, that was more tinsel town than green glitter, with a bona fide Hollywood star. She was busy unpacking shoe boxes from her car just near Kiely’s pub and spotted a gang “of four huge guys having a smoke outside.” “You know when you see someone and you think, ‘I know him,’ well that’s what happened. I was unpacking boxes and I looked up and saw this man and was ‘I know that man’ and then I realised, I do know that man,” she emphasised, laughing, “It’s Russell Crowe. And I looked at him and was ‘Ok Russell Crowe.’ My first instinct was to go ‘Ah well’ that’s nice and simply continue about my business but then he turned to me and said, ‘Do you want a hand?’ And they all jumped up and started carrying the boxes and helping me.” She said he was “extremely chivalrous and really down to Earth. A really nice guy.” Russell was in town with his band Indoor Garden Party to make an appearance on RTÉ’s The
Late Late Show. “They were all in very high spirits, a real party atmosphere on a Friday night in Dublin, very, very funny and really enjoying themselves. There was a great atmosphere around them.” Ms Moore said he was “completely different” than the less than flattering media portrayals of him that paint him as grumpy or gruff. “He couldn’t have been nicer. He was an absolute gentleman, very gallant and they were all in great form.” After carrying the boxes “I asked him for a photo and he said, ‘Better still, let’s take a selfie,’ and made sure we got a great shot.” Mary Moore’s studio is Donnybrook Footmechanics 26a Donnybrook Rd and can be found online at www.donnybrookfootmechanics.ie Ph 015637596 or Follow her on Twitter @marymoorepod and Russell Crowe @russellcrowe Photo Courtesy of Russell Crowe and Mary Moore
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October / November 2017
CanTeen: soul survivors
I
n Kathrin Kobus
t was a FamilyFunfest with all the usual activities, face painting, a DJ, board games, fun races in a hall and outside on the astroturf at Clanna Gael Fontenoy. But this, first, family event organised by Canteen Ireland, was an afternoon party with a bit of a difference. All the invited teenagers who came along with parents and siblings in tow, have or have had cancer. NewsFour spoke with some of them, like Anna Sargent, 14 years old and from Dundrum. She was diagnosed with bone cancer back in 2013 after pain in her lower right leg wouldn’t go away. After she couldn’t move at all at a friend’s birthday party her worried parents took her to the hospital. Initial treatment was given at Tallaght and afterwards, further treatment was given at Crumlin Hospital. Anna talks calmly and is very composed and almost re-
served about it. “I had to grow up fast to face all of it. Six months chemo, then three months radiotherapy and another four months chemotherapy again. I missed a lot of fifth class because I was in hospital.” It was a social worker who got her family into contact with CanTeen Ireland, a nationwide support group for young people between the ages of 12 and 25 who have or have had cancer. The group CanTeen was founded back in May 1990 by healthcare professionals and now Evelyn Griffith is managing the group. “In a way they lose their childhood, teenage time. It’s taken away from them. We want to give something back. Give them a chance to meet up with other teenagers who came through the other end of their treatment.” She can count on the help of her 25 volunteers, who are her steering committee. CanTeen Ireland offers the young people
SOCIAL MATTERS
who join them support meetings where the teenagers can talk about their cancer, the treatments and how it has affected them and their families. One of her volunteers, Liam Quinn, is the effective chairperson, as he dubs it himself. “I had Hodgkin lymphoma back in the early nineties and they put me in an adult ward. I was one of the first to use the group as a patient and now I am giving something back with volunteering.” There are about seven to eight weekend trips per year. CanTeen is the only Irish support group
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especially for young people with cancer. Membership is free and currently there are above 260 members. “We all love the trips. This summer we went to Disneyland, Paris. And it was great. The best trip of my life, well so far.” Says Ashleigh Kiernan, also 14 from Dublin. She was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 7 in 2010. “I missed second class because of the treatment, but I was so happy when I could walk to my communion with the special crown a friend of my father designed especially for me.“
It was a gloriously sunny autumn day and everybody had a good time, and this first FamilyFunDay was surely not the last. Anna and Ashleigh like Liam Quinn are now cancer-free and have the normal problems of any other normal teenager. The Junior Cert of third year Secondary School, early next summer. For further information and to support CanTeen Ireland text CANTEEN to 50300, or visit them on www.facebook. com/CanTeenIreland Pictured: CanTeen, yes we can!
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October / November 2017
Training course for jobs in local construction
A
n Paul
Carton n initiative to upskill the unemployed to fulfil the job criteria desired by building contractors involved in the construction at the local North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) is underway. The three-week course covers all the legal, health and safety certificates construction workers are required to have before they step foot on to a site. It is free to apply for if you are unemployed and already its first two courses have been fully subscribed and the St Andrew’s Resource Centre are awaiting funding for a third run. As part of the original masterplan for the Dublin docklands development, a stipulation meant that the developers were required to have a certain percentage of their staff coming from the local area but, unfortunately, this was an impossible task, as the skilled workforce wasn’t there at the time. However, now in conjunction with the DCC, Dublin Port and the Dublin Docklands this opportunity to enable the unemployed to return to work is being taken advantage of. The practical aspects of this three-week course will be taught on a location in Dublin Port which mimics a construction site, allowing instructors supplied by Construction Industry Training (CIT) to train the unemployed in the most essential skills needed to find work in the construction industry. These include the safety use of harnesses at heights, the erection of scaffolding, use of the consaws and the angle grinder, vehicle banksman and basic labourer training. It also comes with a workshop to guide trainees in their application for work, including preparing a CV and the interview itself. Although the push for developers to employ locals is only an objective of the Docklands SDZ and not a legal requirement, the DCC have made assurances to the St. Andrew’s Resource Centre that if developers don’t meet those objectives the DCC say that the planning enforcement department will shut it down, which will hurt developers financially for each day the site lays dormant. The SDZ is a long-term affair and this is just the beginning. St. Andrew’s Resource Employment Coordinator Jim Hargis spoke with NewsFour about the project: “Our aim for some time now has been to deliver an accessible course that demonstrates real work skills to employers, something they say they desire for obvious reasons and we have started with the construction industry, where we see job vacancies and a skills gap, particularly at general operative level. We have written to all the TD’s and Senators in the area to bring them this good news story, and all being well, we believe that we can continue to deliver this model of engagement and move many more from the live long-term unemployment register.” In the past, developers were using international recruitment agencies for the construction jobs and they could be delivered from outside the country when required, but if this is successful these developers won’t have to look far afield for their skilled workforce and will prevent any day stoppages of work due to meeting the local workforce objectives of the Docklands SDZ. Photo courtesy of the St. Andrew’s Resource Centre
Tickets for a Thriller Night
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real excuse to get all your Halloween kit on is on the cards. Film Fatales’ final big blowout event of the year will take place Sat Oct 28th in Kilmainham as terrible beauties rise again for Danse Macabre, Ireland’s most decadent Halloween party. For one night only on Saturday, October 28th, the 17th century halls of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham become a haunted house with a touch of the cirque du freak as the beautiful and the damned rise again for Film Fatale’s Danse Macabre, Ireland’s most decadent annual Halloween party. Beware this Halloween, for the door between the living and the dead is opening for a night of unspeakable glamour complete with fiendish fan dancers, frightful Follies and avante
garde performers who will haunt the stage for the Danse Macabre show while aerialists tease on the trapeze. A vintage-themed event and strictly fancy-dress, ghoulish guests are encouraged to take part in the pre-event Thriller dance class and join the Thriller dance-off later in the night. Cavort from space to space, wandering through silent cinemas, carnival and Halloween games rooms and Madam Mim’s fortune booth, before flaunting yourself at the midnight procession as a twisted collective of performers prance and dance around the 17th century courtyard surrounded by lurkers and Brides of Dracula! In the great hall, dance like the devil to live old-meets-new vintage fusion, red hot jazz and the brasstastic Stomptown Brass. Sacrifice yourself at the altar of the gothic chapel, and jive for your soul to the Monster Mash, Thriller and the favourite music of the dead and the damned while terrible beauties and blood-soaked burlesque dancers entice and terrify. It is a night for the surrealists, the ghosts of Weimar, the masqueraders, the gothic goddesses, the vamps, the femme fatales, the steampunk princes, the vintage queens, the retro kings, the flappers, gangsters, the beautiful and the damned, the fantasists
and the other-worldly. Wish it could be Halloween everyday. To win two free entries, answer the question below by email and we will pick a winner from the tombola of correct answers. Tickets can also be bought at ww.ticketweb.ie €32.00 each more information can be found at www.filmfataleevents.com Who sang Thriller? A) Michael Buble B) Michael Jagger C) Michael Jackson Please send your answers to editornewsfour@gmail.com Winner gets free entry for themselves plus a friend on guest list. Photography courtesy of Claire Buckley
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October / November 2017
Upcycling plastic to bio-plastics
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Paul Carton o matter how environmentally aware, you might be, in how you manage your household waste, your neighbour might not be so inclined. This is one of the reasons why a convoy of trucks now deliver our rubbish straight to the incinerator, whether it’s recyclable or not. The incinerator is here to stay for the foreseeable future unless a more economically-viable option is available. Until then, in order to reduce the incinerator’s emissions, which are of concern amongst residents, a possible way of reducing the plastics which go into the furnace will be for Ireland to promote bioplastics. Right now in UCD, Belfield, Professor Kevin O’Connor has a number of projects with the objective of reducing the amount of waste that needlessly goes to the incinerator. Kevin is doing this in two separate projects, one is through a company he set up called Bioplastech and the other is P4SB. Bioplastech are currently turning waste into biodegradable polymers which are now being tested with international adhesive companies and is in the process of building a demonstration facility to produce these products. P4SB is a €7.4m European Union Horizon 2020 project through which Kevin and his team at UCD aim to propel the sustainable production of new biopolymers from waste plastic. Both of these projects are using bacteria and their enzymes to biochemically upcycle these waste materials. Kevin is also Chairperson of the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBIJU) a €4 billion public / private partnership between the EU and the bio-based industries consortium, which aims to develop sustainable bio-based industrial activity in Europe. The funds being invested in these green and clean technologies are stacking up and in regards to this technology it can’t go fast enough for all our sakes. n
Pictured: Professor Kevin O’Connor
T
Real time just in time
n Paul
Carton he word ‘smart’ gets thrown around a good bit these days, whether we are talking about phones, televisions or cars and now the whole city seems to have become smart overnight with the aid of technology. Smart technology uses real-time information relying on sensors and algorithms to provide data to local councils for analysis to adapt and make improvements for the future. An example of smart technology would be the Dublin Bus Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) that we wonder now how we did without. As of March last year, smart technology has enabled the four Dublin local authorities to come together under the ‘Smart City’ initiative to bring Dublin into the next generation of Smart Cities. One of the aspects of this ‘Smart City’ programme, according to programme manager Jamie Cudden “is to engage with smart tech providers, researchers and citizens to solve challenges and improve city life.” An example of this is the new ICON light for cyclists developed by SeeSense and supported by Enterprise Ireland to be rolled out in October. According to Irene McAleese from SeeSense “the light, which has 270° visibility and transfers the data it collects to the rider’s smartphone via bluetooth, measures characteristics about the road conditions such as the location and formation of potholes. It also logs situational information such as near-miss events and how often cyclists use roads, cycle lanes and greenways. This data will be sent to data science experts at the University of Belfast who will obtain meaningful data from it to improve cyclist safety and infrastructure as a whole.” Recent attention has been brought to the treacherous journeys cyclists have to make in this area, with our coverage of the blocking of the cycle lanes in this issue. Being a cyclist myself who knows the D4 area, I’m well aware of spots that need to be improved, like the bend at Kielys of Donnybrook and the Blackrock road where for some reason the adjacent bus lane becomes as narrow as the bike lane, resulting in the cyclist sharing half his lane with half a bus. Not forgetting the impossible route on Strand Road that needs a whole new infrastructure completely. However, we might be scratching our heads about that one for a while to come. Photo by NewsFour
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NATURE AND FITNESS
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October / November 2017
There is a buzz about Trinity Q n Jessica
Ellis ueen Mebh and her fellow bees have worked hard and the first batch of honey has been produced by Trinity College’s beehives! Trinity College Dublin is one of the many colleges and communities which are taking part in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. The aim of the plan is to reverse pollinator decline in Ireland and Dr. Jane Stout, Senior Lecturer and Research Group leader in the Department of Botany has been ‘buzzy’ gathering evidence to further help the cause. Dr. Stout explains what has been happening on the roofs of Trinity: “We installed an apiary on the roof last year for research purposes and to understand the cause and consequences of pollinator decline, particularly in urban areas. We wanted to find out what exactly do bees feed on in urban areas and do we have to keep bees in order to save them. The honey bees are being looked after by aspects of the commercial sector, because we use them to ensure good crop growth. The other 96 species of wild bees need to be monitored and protected also.” Researchers from Trin-
ity working on a project called POLLIVAL, which has received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, attended the National Ploughing Championships recently
with new guidelines for Irish farmers to help save the bees. Even President Michael D. Higgins stopped by the All Ireland Pollinator Plan showcase stand to show support for the
new guidelines because pollinators are vital to our local and global agri-economy. I am sure the honey was tasty too! Above, left to right: Beekeep-
ers Marcus Phelan and Susie Bioletti, Trinity Provost Patrick Prendergast and Dr. Jane Stout photograph courtesy of TCD. Image supplied by Professor Jane Stout
Get fit for free in Herbert Park’s outdoor gym
Y
n Jessica
Ellis ou may have spotted the fancy new outdoor gymnasium that was installed in three different zones in Herbert Park over the summer. Dublin City Council have plans to introduce even more workout equipment to the area and are in the process of rolling out the idea to parks across the whole city. Instead of jogging around in boring old circles, D4 residents can try out all kinds of easy to use and safe facilities you would only find in an expensive gym. The City Parks Department have chosen some interesting machines to keep the locals moving. One is the leg raise, where you use your arms and chest to work out your all important core muscles. A few reps of this is an excellent way to burn calories. Another machine is the shoulder press, based on lifting approximately 30% of the user’s body weight, it uses mostly the shoulders and arms, giving a
great upper body workout for all abilities. If you want to get your whole body moving at the same time, then the cross trainer is your best bet. It is designed to give the user a good cardiovascular workout, but you don’t have to worry about it taking off on you because you can set your own pace, to suit your fitness level. If you need a break from cardio, then you can move onto the bench. It is up to you whether to use it for standard sit ups to work
on your abs or perhaps the harder incline press ups or tricep dips. The instructions on how to use each piece for maximum efficiency are clear and easy to understand, so you can avoid pulling something funny. The best thing about all these bits and bobs is that the manufacturing company that supplies them plants a tree every time a machine is bought! Left: Soulder press Below: Hand bike and leg raise
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October / November 2017
WHO do you believe?
D
n Paul
Carton espite the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) declaring that the use of the herbicide, glyphosate is ‘unlikely to cause cancer’ and extending its license for sale, the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) have recently passed a motion to ban its use and now the topic is on the DCC’s table for discussion. Councillors Enda Fanning (SF) and Ossian Smyth (Green Party) requested a ban on the herbicide, based on a study done
by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) who are a research arm of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that concluded that the chemical glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” So far, only the SDCC have passed a motion to ban its use within the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown area continuing its use as advised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. A spokesperson for Fingal Council said they are continuing with its use while it implements
ENVIRONMENT
its open space strategy with the use of more ground cover that they say reduces the need for glyphosate. This month, NewsFour ap-
Page 21 proached the DCC to see at what stage the discussions are on the herbicide and were informed that it is being progressed through discussion with the elected representatives at Area Committee meetings and Strategic Policy Committees but that as of yet no formal public consultation has been proposed. The subject of its licence being temporarily extended by the EU in June of last year for another 18 months was a contentious issue among some considering the World Health Organisation reported it as potentially carcinogenic. Sinn Féin Councillor for South East Area, Chris Andrews raised the question of alternatives to the herbicide and how much of the budget is allocated to its use to DCC Chief Parks Superintendent, Leslie Moore. In his answer, Moore, although mis-spelling glyphosate as glyphosphate, went on to inform Cllr Andrews that the DCC have several departments that use glyphosate-based products. The amount used per year is approximately three thousand litres in total which is used by the Parks Service, Dublin City
Council’s Roads Maintenance Division and Housing Maintenance. Moore said that Dublin City Council, at that time, were in the process of a cross-departmental review of the use of herbicides which will ‘explore, among other things, the viability of alternatives.’ The EFSA evaluation of the herbicide has been met with criticism in the media and at the end of September this year they released a statement on their website explaining the peer reviewed process that the study went through and took pains to point out they believe the distrust of their findings are ‘based on a misunderstanding of the peer review process.’ They denied plagiarising studies carried out by the companies applying for the re-authorisation of the active substance but, however, that is not what some media outlets were concerned about. Thatsfarming.com reported that the EFSA study was done on pure glyphosate without the surfactants that aids its uptake by a plant’s roots, that it is normally combined with, thus changing the result and perhaps explaining why it was found to be non-toxic in their studies.
LIFESTYLE
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October / November 2017
Tasty Halloween treats: No tricks
n Jaclyn
Doyle
Sugar: The Hidden Horror It’s that time of year where the days are getting cooler, the nights shorter and the winter months are coming in fast. Unfortunately, this is also the time of year that leaves us reaching for the sweets far too often. Sugar, more specifically refined sugar, can affect our sleep, mood, energy levels and may be the cause of weight gain. A small bit of sugar here and there is not going to kill us, but right now we are simply eating too much of it. It is everywhere. From our salad dressings to pasta sauces to what we put in our morning porridge. Ever wonder why it is so hard to lose that last five pounds, or why you feel fatigued around three o’clock? Sugar may be more harmful than we think! Below are just a few ways that sugar can negatively impact our health. Sleep Consuming large amounts of refined sugar can cause problems with falling asleep and can also cause interrupted sleep. Do you ever find yourself checking your clock or alarm every two hours, up all night, when you should be asleep? Consuming unhealthy amounts of sugar
throughout the day can often cause these interrupted sleep patterns and leave us feeling cranky and unrested in the morning. Mood Sugar creates a cycle of cravings. When we eat too much of it, we become addicted and it gets increasingly harder to break this vicious cycle. When we eat sugar, it creates a spike in insulin which further leads to the “sugar crash”. A sugar crash
leaves us feeling anxious, moody and can sometimes lead to depression. To beat the sugar cravings, you have to consciously be aware of what sugar is doing to you and the addictiveness that it can create. I believe that a 21-day sugar detox is great to pursue if you are looking to rid yourself of cravings. Weight gain Refined sugar leads to spikes in blood glucose levels and drops just as quick,
The Culinary Corner
leaving us craving more. Sugar does not satiate us, meaning it does not make us feel full, so we often eat more than we need to. Refined sugar also does not carry much nutritional value, so not only are we consuming empty calories, we’re also not getting any nutritional benefits from eating this refined sugar. All the nutritional information can seem overwhelming. I mean, I love chocolate as much as the next person but I find that swapping my normal sweet treats for a healthier version keeps my sweet tooth and cravings at bay. Check out the culinary corner for my sugarfree, quick recipes to have on hand when you need something “sweet”. If you are looking to wean yourself off sugar, please email me at info@healthistic.com for one-on-one coaching and meal plans that will help you lose weight and beat those sugar cravings for good! Jaclyn Doyle is a Nutritional Therapist and Health Coach. You can find more recipes and contact information at www.healthistic.com. All these ingredients are available at the weekly local market or for online delivery from www.supernatural.ie Photographs by Jaclyn Doyle
Sugar-free treats Feel free to double and triple these recipes!
Coconut Cinnamon Roasted Almonds What you need: 1 cup raw, unsalted almonds 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil 1 teaspoon cinnamon Pinch of sea salt What to do: Preheat oven to 350F Mix together 1 cup almonds, melted coconut oil, cinnamon and sea salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely (20 minutes).
Dark Chocolate Bark
What you need: 1 bar of 85% dark chocolate 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds (or any nuts/seeds) Pinch of sea salt (optional) What to do: Melt dark chocolate (in a microwave, stir every 30 seconds for a total of 2.5 minutes or until melted) Pour the melted chocolate onto a small plate with parchment paper. Top with almonds and sea salt. Freeze for 30 minutes and keep in the freezer thereafter in a sealed container.
No bake pumpkin spice balls What you need: 1/4 cup coconut flour 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (100% pumpkin puree) 2.5 tablespoons cashew or almond butter 2 tablespoon of vanilla protein powder 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (optional) What to do: Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well (I use my hands to mix!) Roll into small balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Keep in the fridge in a sealed container.
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H
n Suzanne
October / November 2017
Murphy
ello. My name is Dr Suzanne Murphy, I’m a local GP working in Irishtown Primary Care Centre alongside Dr Tony O’Sullivan and living locally too. Public health and women’s health are special interests of mine. Recently, the HPV vaccine has been in the news, perhaps raising concerns amongst patients about it. I would like to share some knowledge and information about the vaccine and the virus to answer some questions patients may have.
HPV or Human Papilloma Virus is an infection that is spread by direct contact with someone who has the virus. The most common way this occurs is through sexual contact. It is a common infection that many women will acquire but, thankfully most infections are cleared naturally by the body’s immune system over time. Ireland has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in Europe and approximately 90 women die each year from it, many of these young women. Treatment for cervical cancer is intensive and can include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
HEALTH
Health matters: HPV vaccine
The vaccine that is given in Irish schools at present is called ‘Gardasil’ and this gives protection against the two high-risk types of HPV (16 and 18) that cause the majority (70%) of cervical cancers. It has been licensed for over ten years and over 200 million doses of this vaccine have been given worldwide since then. All vaccines must go through comprehensive safety testing prior to being licensed and then they are continuously monitored and studied for side effects. Any problems that are reported are investigated fully to see if there is a valid link to the vaccine. This vaccine is best given at the age of 12 or 13 years, as the stud-
ies show there is better uptake of the vaccine if given in schools. It is also important to give the vaccine before teenagers become sexually active and become exposed to the virus. Since it has been given in a school programme in Australia, the rate of cervical cancer has dropped by over 50%. There are possible side effects of the vaccine. The side effects that we know can happen include: pain, redness or swelling in the arm where the injection was given. Headache can also occur. Recently, there are groups maintaining there are more serious side effects and this has been receiving media coverage. I can understand why parents are confused about whether to vaccinate their own teenagers now
in light of this. Rarer side effects are usually some nausea or a rash. Severe allergic reactions or anaphylaxis are very rare and occurs in approximately one in every one million patients. Worldwide, regulatory bodies including the World Health Organisation (WHO) report no increase in long-term medical conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome in vaccinated compared to non- vaccinated girls. They maintain that the vaccine is extremely safe and that we should continue to vaccinate our teenage daughters to reduce their risk of developing this cancer. What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)?
Page 23 This is a condition that presents with severe tiredness for more than six months. The fatigue affects a person’s ability to do their normal day-to-day activities, such as go to school. It is more common in females and in younger teenagers. Large studies in the UK, Norway and worldwide have investigated whether there is a link between the HPV vaccine and this condition. So far, none have found evidence to support this at this point in time. Unfortunately, this condition presents at or around the age at which the vaccine is given, which is why there may seem to be a link. So, there is overwhelming evidence to support the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine. It is important that we continue to reduce our daughters’ risk of developing a potentially, life-threatening, cancer. I can understand the questions and confusing thoughts that parents are having right now and as GPs, myself and Tony are happy to address these questions and listen to your concerns. Our door is always open and we welcome your questions. More information on immunisation and the vaccine is available at www.hpv.ie
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COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
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October / November 2017
O Happy Day for Sandymount Gospel Choir
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n Kathrin Kobus bout ten years ago, the Sandymount Gospel Choir came into being with just three songs for their very first performance. One of them, O Happy Day, is still part of their repertoire. After a long (but not too hot) summer they are back practising and as is customary for their first get-together in September after the summer break, there was an open night to entice new singers to come along. There’s A Table in The Wilderness sounded loud and proud on their open night on September 5th. Nearly a dozen potential new members accepted the invitation to audition and on arriving were strongly encouraged, given songsheets and quickly joined in, singing scales and songs. Olga Keogh, librarian for the choir says “It’s a chance to explore new hobbies, new ways, once the kids are off to, say, secondary school and you have a bit more time available for yourself, to do something for yourself, improve your life a bit in maybe another direction.” Cathy McEvoy is their director of music and joined them from Ballymun Gospel Choir. She plays fiddle, is a full-time musi-
cian in addition to teaching at Walton school of music and next to Sandymount Gospel Choir she also directs the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir. She was hoping some new male voices might be added to the group. She’s philosophical about it “It is a universal mystery that nearly all choirs have to deal with.” The choir also has a choreographer on board in Sharon Kinsella. Her influence changed the arrangements of their concerts in to performances. So far, the female singers have resisted a change in costume from skirts and/or dresses into the traditional gospel gowns. “We learn by singing and prac-
tising and since we got Sharon, we’ve started moving with the songs and clapping and it gives a wholly different, another, energy to the arrangements,” explains Cindy Carroll, who as events coordinator, looks after the schedule for bookings. Up until last September, the choir had performed regularly at Sunday mass in St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church. After the sudden passing of Father John Hyland in September 2016 this opportunity was gone and sorely missed. “Yes, it came as a great shock to all of us. We’ll hope soon to be part of Sunday Mass again,” says Cindy Carroll.
The wait for a new parish priest is coming to an end, with Fr Cormac McIlraith from Booterstown taking up his post. Hopefully, the weekly concerts will resume shortly. While the concerts at Mass from the Choir were missing for the past year, the singers were busy and performed regularly at various events in and around Dublin. They gave performances in nursing homes and were part of the Darkness into Light walk in May. Usually, they will sing 18 songs in pairings of two with a little introduction to each piece. A valuable lesson was learned about selection and sequencing from the outset at their very first
concert this became a guide for their choice of songs, according to Keogh. “We noticed suddenly that we had accidentally chosen songs that all related to the sixties civil rights movement. So, since then we try more of a variety when putting together or selecting the songs for an event.” A cherished highlight for the ensemble was the trip to Bunratty Castle in January for the Winter Music Festival. Despite cold temperatures both outside and inside plus some frozen toes, it was an experience the group is looking forward to repeating at the beginning of next year. Cindy Carroll has the next Bunratty performance on her books already. “We will travel again from the 19th to 21st January. And this time we will not only sing in the great hall but also at mass.” Now with the school year in full swing and the Halloween break just weeks away, the choir is busy with practise and upcoming concerts. New members to the choir are always welcome. Just drop in on Tuesday nights, from 7.30pm onwards at Christ Church Hall or ring in advance mb: 087 9725220 Photo by Elizabeth Doran
Summer shut-downs at Sandymount Strand
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n Jessica
Ellis irds and sewage spills are to blame for the multiple bans on swimming at Sandymount Strand over the summer. The latest temporary ban, which occurred in August, was due to heavy overnight rainfall. This resulted in spot flooding in east Dublin and the overflow of sewage and wastewater, which entered the Liffey and eventually contaminated the seawater at the strand. The ban extended to Merrion and Dollymount Strand also. The closure of the strand in late July was blamed on the large number of seagulls in the area. According to Dublin City Council, the seawater and beach were contaminated by the gull droppings. The presence of so many gulls and other sea birds can be explained by a sandbar along the coast which seems to attract large numbers of birds and leads to
higher levels of bacteria in the water. NewsFour contacted local Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey, who has spoken out on the issue before, and asked him how can further closures
be prevented. He said “The upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant will help. In addition a Labour delegation are meeting Irish Water later this month regarding what is called the Pembroke Rath-
mines Drainage scheme – when done, this will improve the overall situation. We also need better litter bins along the promenade and installation of another couple of public toilet facilities, perhaps at
the northern end and adjacent to the nature park. I have put the issue of investigating the overflow onto the Area Committee agenda. Sandymount Strand is potentially the greatest natural amenity within the Dublin Bay area and money spent on it is necessary and worthwhile.” NewsFour also contacted Green Party leader and TD for Dublin Bay South Eamon Ryan about the issue. He said “The problem in Dublin is that when it rains the storm water mixes with the sewage and overflows. This is exacerbated by problems at the Poolbeg wastewater treatment plant. It is a political issue, are we willing to make big investments, particularly in separating the storm water and the sewage systems.” Picture: A natural amenity that deserves money and attention. Photo by Kathrin Kobus
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October / November 2017
DUBLIN PORT
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Port adds to city skyline
D
n Kevin
Mac Sharry ublin Port Company has made a striking and a bright change to the city’s skyline with the resurrection of one of its iconic 1960s cranes. Crane 292 stands tall again after 20 years. The 115 feet tall, Crane 292 has been lovingly restored to its former glory, with an illuminated cabin for powerful night-time impact, and now stands proudly adjacent to the Port Centre once again. The crane is steeped in Port history, having served as a ‘workhorse’ loading and unloading bulky material from ships at Alexandra Quay from 1964 through to its retirement in 1997. It was constructed by the famed Stothert and Pitt company of Bath, whose origins dated back to the great Victorian era of engineering. Crane 292 derived its name from its position as the second crane at berth 29 in an era when cranes were synonymous with the City and Port skyline – with up to 60 cranes at that time extending right down to Custom House quay, much closer to the city centre. Speaking at the topping out ceremony to install the crane, Eamonn O’Reilly, Chief Executive, Dublin Port Company, said “The crane’s installation is part of the softening of the Port’s boundaries with the city and our drive to provide public amenity and realm at Port Centre for the first time in 35 years. The Port has always been integral to the City and this is a wonderful reminder of a time when the physical operations of the Port extended right into the heart of the city. This is a wonderful new city landmark and marks a significant commitment in our Masterplan for the future development of the Port. Dublin Port employee, Paddy Paisley was one of several operators who regularly worked on Crane 292. “It brings back so many memories to see Crane 292 back and literally in lights, at the Port Centre. Modern Port operations have moved on so much in recent times, but it’s not
so long ago that these cranes were the heartbeat of the Port and ensured everyone got the goods they needed on time, on a daily basis. It’s a wonderful way to remind modern citizens of the importance of the Port in all our lives.” The restoration and installation of the crane was carried out by leading civil engineering firm Wills Bros on behalf of Dublin Port Company. Project Manager for Dublin Port James Kelleher said: “The restoration and installation of the crane presented a number of significant engineering, architectural design and logistical challenges including the closure of roads and deployment of heavy machinery and the realisation of quality targets for paintwork and the rebuilding of the cab assembly to a very high specification. The months of planning paid off with a seamless install delivered in line with health and safety best practice.” The Port Centre has been a hive of activity in recent months as the development of public space progresses. Ongoing projects include the removal of a section of the existing old boundary wall to create new pedestrian entry points at Alexandra Road and East Wall Road. Visitors will discover a landscaped “maritime” garden with seats for reflection and relaxation. NCAD graduate and up and coming Irish artist Eimear Murphy’s new sculpture ‘The Drop’ will feature in the garden. The sculpture is made from solid concrete and plays with notions of fluidity in its design. The commissioning of this piece highlights the Port’s long-term commitment to supporting the arts. Dublin Port Company is now focused on plans for a new internal road network, cycle lanes and pathways. Approved by Dublin City Council and scheduled for development, the three-kilometre route will give pedestrians and cyclists access to the Port estate for recreational use for the first time. It includes a perimeter route with vantage points overlooking the Tolka Estuary. Photography by Conor McCabe
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ARTS / BOOKS REVIEW
Artful characters
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n Paul
Carton o you remember the guy who used to camp down at Sandymount Strand that locals called ‘Moses’? Did you ever speak to the man or ever find out his background? Or how about the man who used
to live down in Ringsend Dump and travelled through Sandymount and Donnybrook with his bike, draped with items people had thrown away and creating so much noise as he went due to the wheels not bearing any tyres. Or any other ‘street personal-
ity ‘ for that matter, walking the streets of Dublin who was part of its fabric but perhaps you never stopped to find out more as you went about your day. A book released two years ago called Walking-Class Heroes? Dublin’s Remarkable Street Personalities, 1955-2015 recalls these characters to our consciousness and is proving to be a very successful venture for its author Rory Campbell. Campbell selfpublished the book under his imprint Killiney Hill Press and told NewsFour that local book shops, and the National Gallery shop, are re-ordering from him – in some cases up to their eighth batch. Campbell’s artistic endeavours in the past have allowed him to investigate other cultures and traditions throughout Europe through the Arts Council. He has held painting exhibitions both here and the UK and was a regular contributor for his cartoons, illustrations, graphic design images and written material in national and international journals. The book also found itself in the hands of Vincent Browne recently when TD Pat Carey presented it to him at his television farewell. The project, according to Campbell, has been ongoing for
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October / November 2017
14 years on and off and he says he released the book, which covers 1955 to 2015, in a niche 60th year celebration of these enigmatic individuals. Alongside the description of these characters, Campbell fills up the opposite page with a portrait of the character. Campbell generously explains his method of how he did
his sketches at the rear of the book as a final note to the reader, like a tradesman passing his knowledge on to an apprentice. Walking Class Heroes? by Rory Campbell €30.00. Left and above: Dublin street personalities of the past. Images by Rory Campbell
Review: The Secret Life of Ashley Brown by George Fitzgerald
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n Kevin
Mac Sharry he novel The Secret Life of Ashley Brown by George Fitzgerald is a challenging and compelling read. Dealing with drugs, class and love in a complex and at times controversial manner. Ashley Brown, the title character, reads many love stories and as such has a romanticized view of life and love. She is on a mission to find a man, despite being hardworking and successful, this is her dream. Unfortunately, such dreams can land heavily and having a good start and an idealistic nature is never really enough. The novel The Secret Life Of Ashley Brown is in a sense a coming of age book, despite the character being significantly older than one would expect. Ashley relates to us the story of her twenties and how she was made in those years.
Women and the role of women play a significant role within the book. Her mother is a dominant maternal figure and a strong household presence, whom Ashley fears, whereas her father is the put-upon husband who provides. Ashley moves into the world of publishing and a modern life to escape her family’s conservatism and her mother’s dominance. Another significant theme of the novel is class and how it consciously and unconsciously affects us, both in how we see ourselves and how we treat others. Ashley’s boyfriend Dean is from a lower class and in the novel she encounters many characters that society looks down on, including criminals, dealers and prostitutes. This is held in conscious contrast to the upper class publishing world in which she works and which she comes from.
George Fitzgerald, author of Ashley Brown, explained some of the inspiration for the novel. He admitted it was, “Difficult to write from the female perspective as a man.” He explained
that a method that allowed him to do so was to use the flowery language of her internal world in order to understand her perspective. Perhaps, the most striking aspect of the book is its treatment of drug abuse. Specifically how easy it is to go from having a “bit of fun” as Ashley’s publishing colleague Trevor says, to full blown addiction and the dire consequences that follow. Fitzgerald stated that he had been involved in drug rehabilitation outreach with young users and he was passionate about conveying how very easy it was to fall back into that cycle regardless of background. “People always think, ‘it will never be me.’” However, for Fitzgerald it is never as simple as that, nor confined to a certain class or type of person. The novel employs the concept of a higher power though
it is not ostensibly preachy. Fitzgerald made clear it was something in which he believed but he did not want the book to focus on. Rather he wanted to be honest about what people experience and what they need to invoke when they are going through drug addiction. The Secret Life of Ashley Brown by George Fitzgerald is a highly enjoyable read. It is of particular note in how it deals with women and the feminine as well as drug addiction and class. Though quite challenging in terms of the complex and sometimes controversial subject matter, it is a striking read, written with great passion and a powerful message. The Secret LIfe of Ashley Brown by George Fitzgerald €10.00. Photo of George Fitzgerald courtesy of Elizabeth Dolan
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October / November 2017
ARTS
Long Gaze Back shows great perception
D
ublin City Council’s award-winning initiative, One City One Book, has announced the choice for 2018: The Long Gaze Back, An Anthology of Irish Women Writers edited by Sinéad Gleeson. The scheme run by the public libraries service, which invites readers and libraries to nominate a book for a given year with a connection to the city for the public to read during that designated year, has been running since 2006, and astonishingly this
is the first time, in 11 years, women writers (and in this case editor also) are being celebrated. One would think with illustrious mistresses of the craft such as Anne Enright and Edna O’Brien in the canon that women writers would have been acknowledged before this. However, this particular book goes some way to bridge the breach. Being an anthology, it boasts a diversity of talented writers, featuring some of Ireland’s most gifted writers as well
SOLUTIONS FOR AUG / SEPT CROSSWORD Across: (1) The power of love; (8) Nostalgically; (10) Eel; (11) Cone; (12) Oesophagus; (16) Eve; (17) Acidic; (19) Rare; (21 & 26 down) No no; (22) Sir; (23) Eulogy; (24) Islet; (25) Ant; (27) Liberating; (30) Loo; (32) Art; (33) Emu; (34) Assessments; (38) Moi; (39) Cop; (40) Inconsequential. Down: (1) Tonic water; (2) Essential oils; (3) Opal; (4) Eagle; (5) Flapper; (6) Voyagers; (7) Conspiratorial; (9) Tee; (13) Serviette; (14) Ova; (15) Dingle; (18) Coy; (20) Emerges; (25) Alumni; (26) No; (28) Rasps; (29) Arm; (31) Bali; (35) Eco; (36) Son; (37) Toe.
as spanning four centuries of time and themes. Some names will be very familiar to readers, others will be a discovery; Elizabeth Bowen, Maeve Brennan, Mary Costello, June Caldwell, Lucy Caldwell, Evelyn Conlon, Anne Devlin, Maria Edgeworth, Anne Enright, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Norah Hoult, Mary Lavin, Eimear McBride, Molly McCloskey, Bernie McGill, Lisa McInerney, Belinda McKeon, Siobhán Mannion, Lia Mills, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Kate O’Brien, Roisín O’Donnell, E.M. Reapy, Charlotte Riddell, Eimear Ryan, Anakana Schofield, Somerville and Ross and Susan Stairs are all included. Sinéad Gleeson said: “I’m thrilled and delighted on behalf of the 30 writers, past and present, that The Long Gaze Back is next year’s Dublin: One City One Book choice. Anthologies are a platform for telling multiple stories and so many of the writers and their work included here are intrinsically connected to Dublin and its people. The book arose from a desire to amplify the voices of women who write, and being chosen for Dublin: One City One Book will help to introduce these talented writers to all kinds of new readers.” Sinéad Gleeson, who is an editor and broadcaster, is also a writer of fiction, poetry and essays as well as presenting The Book Show on RTÉ Radio 1. She shares a personal understanding of the craft and the anthology reflects her knowledge and feeling for the collection. The libraries will run a showcase of events and programme around the book, so keep your eyes and ears open in Ringsend and Pembroke libraries for the full programme of events to be announced in spring 2018. The Long Gaze Back, An Anthology of Irish Women Writers. Edited by Sinéad Gleeson, is published by New Island.
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The NewsFour Crossword Compiled by Gemma Byrne
Name:…………………………… Telephone:………………… Address:………………………………………………………… Prize of €25 book token. Post entries to NewsFour, 13A Fitzwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4 (Above Clyne’s Butchers) by 22nd November 2017. The winner of our August/September 2017 crossword competition is Fiona Moloney, Irishtown. ACROSS: 1) A series of experiments where you learn from your mistakes (5, 3, 5) 8) Male cat (3) 9) Leave a sinking vessel (7, 4) 11) Tactless (10) 13) Russian emperor (4) 15) Deviating from the usual (8) 18) Totally (7) 20) One of the twelve angry men (5) 21) Tiny golf ball stand (3) 22) Indonesian island (and dragon) (6) 25) Speak (4) 27) Those of little faith (2) 28) Not within eye line (3, 2, 5) 30) The world’s second largest bird (3) 32) Poultry heart, liver and gizzards (7) 34) Sleep (7) 35) Metamorphoses (15) DOWN: 1) Little Richard had a huge hit with this ice cream (5, 6) 2) Instantaneously (11) 3) Dodgy money lender (4, 5) 4) Desperate comic book cowboy (3) 5) Weakest of the litter (4) 6) Discuss an old topic again (6) 7) Parts of buildings built above the foundations (5, 10) 10) Abbreviation formed from initials of words (7) 12) Made a mistake (5) 14) British sovereignty in India (3) 16) Lavish, crazy, social occasion (7) 17) One of Nintendo’s Italian plumbers (5) 19) Popular hot beverage (3) 23) Chooses (4) 24) Edible internal organs (5) 26) Stabilising structure on underside of boat (4) 29) Irish are said to have the gift of this (3) 31) Houses which have been converted from stables (4) 32) Dublin nickname for Christopher (3) 33) Over the shoulder boulder holder (3) 34) Total (3)
COUNCIL NEWS
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D cc S outh E ast A rea C ity D4 C ommunity D evelopment news O ctober 2017
he South East Area villages have been growing from strength to strength over the last year in enhancing and improving the streets, greens, community areas, shops and local amenities. The annual awards night for the area was held in Dublin City Council, Wood Quay Venue on September 7th and Dublin 4 faired very well, with Sandymount winning best overall Urban Village and Donnybrook winning awards for the Team Dublin Clean Up and Mixed Use Street. Great credit must be given to the Tidy Towns committees who work tirelessly all year round to help Dublin City Council maintain and keep these busy villages clean, active and full of special community and family events. Councillor Paddy McCartan presented the awards to the winners on the night. Many shops and businesses in Dublin 4 also got special merit awards. The main winners from Dublin 4 were: Best Allotment Award: 4th Port Dodder Sea Scout Group Best New Entry Award: ULSARA – Upper Leeson Street Area Residents Association Best Garden category: Jack O’Brien, O’Connell Gardens Best Urban Village Award: Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association Best Individual Contribution Award: Joe McCann, BADRA and 4th Port Dodder Sea Scout Group Best Mixed Use Street Award: Donnybrook Tidy Towns Best Team Dublin Clean Up Award: Donnybrook Tidy Towns
and people wore ugly masks and disguises to confuse the spirits and stop the dead identifying individuals who they disliked during their own lifetime. Dublin City Council Community Section is working with all the villages in Dublin 4 in preparing to celebrate Halloween. The events listed below will take place in October: Please remember Halloween is a fun time but can be scary for older and vulnerable people and domestic pets, especially with loud bangers and fireworks. Respect your neighbours, keep an eye out for the vulnerable, be very careful with any fireworks and only use in company of an adult and most of all keep your pet dogs and cats in and cosy. No tricks. Just treats. Happy Halloween everyone and watch out for the veil rising.
Halloween in D4 with Dublin City Council: The nights are closing in and as darkness falls it’s time to get ready for Oiche Samhan – All Hallow’s Eve. For the ancient Irish and the Celts, Samhain was a spiritual time. It was regarded as the end of the harvest and a period of transition when the ‘veil’ between the Otherworld and the human world became less secure so that puca, banshees, fairies and other spirits could come and go quite freely. To ward off the evil let loose at Samhain, bonfires were lit
Ringsend and Docklands: Provisionally 27th October TBC A brand new Halloween festival is being planned for the Ringsend area this year. Word has it, a ship of strange characters is on a chartered course for Dublin bay and is due up the Dodder on Friday 27th in time for Halloween. A feast of cultural activities, storytelling, scary walking tours, zombie disco and a party of dockers and demons is being planned for Halloween night. Keep an eye out for more news
on this very special new event to creep into Ringsend when night falls at the end of October! Sandymount: Halloween & Harvest Festival 2017 The Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association (STTCA) is spooking up for the Halloween scarecrow and pumpkin festival 2017. All businesses, residents and young people are invited to decorate and enter their shops and homes in the village competition. Prizes for the scariest and most imaginative Halloween/scarecrow theme will be awarded. From Thursday 26th October, all the way through to Halloween, the village shops and houses will be decorated in the most fun and imaginative spooky themes. It has to be said that a great effort is made by the traders which in turn brings a lot of visitors to Sandymount village. Once again, there will also be a special competition for the best carved pumpkins. Saturday 28th October: Children’s Fancy Dress Competition, Pumpkin Festival and Halloween Awards ceremony On Saturday 28th October, Children can bring their pumpkins to Christ Church hall at 12 noon and the Fancy Dress competition will take place at 3.00 pm beginning on Sandy-
mount Green which will be followed by a special spooky trail into Christ Church hall where the pumpkin adjudication will take place. The most creative pumpkins will be awarded one of our many special Halloween prizes along with the best dressed and the scarecrow/ Halloween business and residential awards. Entry forms, details and rules for all competition are available at AIB Sandymount or by emailing sandymounttt@gmail.com or on facebook Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association. The Green and Village will be especially decorated for Halloween from Wednesday 27th October to November 1st so be sure to come to Sandymount to see the amazing Scarecrows, Village Halloween themes in shops and houses, and watch out for witches and goblins on Halloween night on October 31st. The Green may see some very spooky ‘goings ons.’ All events are free so come along and enjoy the fun for all the family. Donnybrook: 29th October: Souls of Donnybrook 6.30 pm – 7:30pm Sunday 29th October will see the “Souls of Donnybrook” celebrated. This will consist of a Halloween costume parade and competition for all ages, with lots of prizes, a dance display from the local Youth Club and a remembrance finale for all “Souls of Donnybrook” using music, light and special effects. This is a very poignant moment that allows us all remember those who have passed on at this special time around the feast of All Souls Day. There will also be a tour at dusk of the local Donnybrook graveyard by local historians as a preamble to Souls event.
Bottom from left, Cllr Paddy McCartan makes awards to: Vincent Ryan from Sandymount Tidy Towns Association with the Best Urban Village Award; Joe McCann receives his Individual Contribution Award ; Andreas Dodis accepts the Allotment Award on behalf of the 4th Port Dodder Sea Scout Group; Jack O’Brien, O’Connell Gardens with his Award for the Garden category.
South East Area Community Development Team. Email: friendsofthesoutheast@dublincity.ie • Phone: 01 222 2243 • Website: www.dublincity.ie • Facebook: Dublin City Council
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GRAFITTI, TRAFFIC AND ANTISOCIAL ISSUES
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October / November 2017
here was no South East Area meeting during August. A South East Area meeting took place on the 11th of September. Cllr Mannix Flynn raised the issue of how graffiti was being dealt with through waste management in the South East area in general. Specifically, he enquired into the roster of the various waste companies, the number of staff employed and whether additional staff were being hired to keep “the streets clean and washed.” The South East Area manager, Rose Kenny explained that Dublin City Council (DCC) removes graffiti from “street property and furniture” and contacts private owners if their premises are graffitied. The waste management service involves “routes based cleaning by compactor sweeper, manelec, handvac, handcart and large road sweepers,” providing the necessary cleaning services. There are currently 148 staff employed in total in this area with 52 “waste management operatives,” hired recently to ensure effective delivery of the service locally. Cllr Paddy McCartan requested that the lampposts at Wilfield Park in Sandymount be repainted and that a specific date can be given for the repaintings. Kenny replied that the council would investigate whether repainting works were required, subject to finances.
DCC Notes Compiled by Kevin Mac Sharry
Cllr McCartan requested that the traffic “issues” around Bremen Road and Bremen Avenue be investigated. He added that when an event takes place at the Aviva Stadium it becomes heavily congested. He inquired whether “no parking” signs could be used, and added that there were issues with speed. Kenny stated that there are at present, no parking restrictions if the cars are parked legally. She further added Dublin City Council may progress with a pay and display system and ballot for residents to see if they are in favour. It will then be given to the Traffic Advisory Group,
who will examine it further and write a report. Cllr Patrick Costello recalled the “ongoing safety concerns,” at the Royal Hospital Donnybrook (RHD) that had been brought up by Cllrs Frank Kennedy and Paddy McCartan. Costello referred to “the concerns of the hospital board of management in relation to the serious safety issues arising from traffic and/or parking management on Bloomfield Avenue,” which they were seeking to bring to the attention of Dublin City Council. Kenny explained that she had made a request to the traffic advisory group to “rescind the pay and display parking on the south side of Bloomfield Avenue, Dublin 4.” Costello would be informed on any updates “in due course.” Further to this issue of traffic around the Royal Hospital, a motion was put forward by Cllrs Paddy McCartan and Frank Kennedy that “Bloomfield Avenue be designated as a no parking zone on the left hand side of the avenue from Morehampton Road to the entrance of the hospital.” During busy times, on-street parking is so prevalent that “only one vehicle can use the avenue at any one time as there is insufficient space for two vehicles to pass on the remaining roadway.” The councllors asserted that it was an absolute necessity that the hospital had 24hour ambulance access. Cllrs Dermot Lacey and
Claire Byrne asked for the area manager to see if “installing safe, secure bike parking facilities in the Dart Stations within Dublin Bay South, in particular Sandymount Avenue and Sydney Parade Dart Stations,” were possible. They ar-
gued such facilities were currently lacking in the area and would be of great use to people in the area. Kenny replied that there was insufficient space to place bike stands in the area. She further clarified that lighting issues in the nearby areas of Holyrood Park and Ailesbury Gardens meant that bike parking was not recommended in the area. Cllr Claire Byrne put forward a motion urging the council to tackle anti-social behaviour in the South East Area as a matter of urgency. She referenced crimes such as burnt-out cars, break-ins and bonfires. Kenny explained that the Abandoned Vehicles Section removed burnt-out cars and that Cllr Byrne’s concerns would be relayed to the relevant Garda stations. Kenny concluded that “huge improvements” had been made by Dublin City Council in reducing bonfires over the last two years. DCC were supported in this initiative by Supt Gerry Delmar and Gardaí from Donnybrook station. Pictured: Ugly grafitti and bonfire issues?
SCOUTING
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n Kevin Mac Sharry
he Donnybrook scouting group celebrated their 90th birthday with a group camp in Herbert park during the second week of September. It was the first time anyone had been given permission to camp overnight in the park. All sections of Donnybrook scouts were represented from beavers right up to ventures. The Donnybrook scouting group is made up of one group of venture scouts, two scout troops, two cubs scout troops and one troop of beaver scouts. The entire Donnybrook group had not camped together in six years. The camp was highly organised, with the scouts troops taking the lead. They organised the cubs, with whom they shared the tents. The scouts and cubs put up their own tents, while a group of parents assisted the beavers in setting up. This sharing of duties feeds into the key goals of responsibility and teamwork that Donnybrook scouts teaches. Paul Russell, chairman of the Donnybrook scouts was proud of the “education in life skills,” that scouts gain, saying that these sort of experiences “stayed with them throughout their lifetime.” The scouts’ patrol leaders echoed this sentiment. Eabha Reid explained, enthusiastically, how they played a number of games, all of which were based on a patrol working harmoniously to complete the task as quickly and efficiently as possible. Games such as the spider web, which involves tying ropes to trees, and then overlapping them into a rough web formation. The scouts then have to pass through them with no scout passing through the same hole
twice in the web. As an extra complication, the web is not horizontal. As Emma Brien explained, this means they must choose who goes through which hole in terms of height and age. Consequently, they must plan beforehand to make sure they can complete the task. Most of the games or tasks could not be simply executed and completed without forcing the patrols to think ahead. Another game, follow the string, illustrates this further. Follow the string involves some scouts being blindfolded and following a string around various trees in order to find a key, while other scouts guide them. The key opened a box containing sweets. Most of the games involved sweet-based prizes as rewards. The games were competitive but despite this there was a spirit of camaraderie. Katie Ryan joked with her friend, Clara Gibson, about how she had helped her out when her team got stuck. Ciara Grant summed up the attitude in scouts, saying it built relationships where you “learn to laugh.” Emma then told the story of how they had lost their freezer once, meaning that all their meat “went bad,” so they spent two hours cooking noodles, but “it didn’t matter,” she said, laughing. They had a great many activities over the weekend, including a pig roasted for 12 hours on a spit, a 90th birthday cake for the club, and spelling out the number 90 in human formation, which was captured by a drone flown overhead, which was provided by Cllr Dermot Lacey. Lacey has long been involved in Donnybrook scouts and as well as providing the drone for the spectacular 90th shot, he
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October / November 2017
Donnybrook Scouts
celebrating 90th ‘birthday’ with three-day camp in Herbert Park
camped out with the scouts and parents for the big event. As the camp came to a close, group leader, Andrew Bishop, handed out a number of prizes, after which he said a few words. Bishop thanked scout leader Catherine Sheehan for providing the food over the weekend and in addition awarded her a badge for her 30 years of service. Another person who was awarded was leader Tania Nebbelunde, who was promoted to the role of camp leader. Tania was the key person in organising the camp. She was given a bottle of wine and box of chocolates in gratitude. Deputy group leader Darragh O’Briain, was introduced as the “funny man” in part because he shares the name with wellknown comedian Dara O’Briain, and for his sense of humour. He was thanked for his assistance in
organising the highly successful camp and awarded for his years of service. Badges in recognition of service were given out to Paul Buggy, Clare O’Ruairc and Robin Keating, who had been leaders for five years as well as Erica Rafferty and Suzy Lynam, who had been leaders for ten and 20 years respectively. Bishop was grateful for the parents’ support, many of whom had camped out themselves. Finally, Bishop expressed his gratitude toward Dublin City Council for giving them permission to camp out in the park. Bishop stated they were actually the first group to have ever been given permission to camp in Herbert Park, which raised a chuckle from the parents. After, each thanks there was a chorus of “Bravo” and “Bravissimo” from all present. The
event concluded with the newly redesigned Donnybrook scout flag being taken down by the patrol leader (no, not the actor by the same name) Hugh Grant. Group Leader, Andrew Bishop, added that Donnybrook scouts is always looking for new leaders to join their ever-growing group. If you are interested in getting involved, you can contact Andrew on 01 - 2691449 or email groupleader@donnybr ookscouts.org. Top: Cllr Dermot Lacey with the celebratory feast. Bottom left: Spokeswomen from left to right C. Moore, É. Reid, A. Ryan, C. Grant, E Brien, C. Gibson, K. Ryan, A Campbell Front L. Keogh, Far Back Scout Leader T. Nebbelunde. Below: Thumbs up for 90 years! Images courtesy of Dermot Lacey
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October / November 2017
n Lorraine Waters
he new school year has just begun and with it, its associated costs. The list is endless and it’s like a financial vicious circle. Most people could not afford to cover the back to school costs out of their income. Many families are still recovering from the effect of the extra financial burden placed on them. Mortgage/rent, electricity, gas and many other household bills are no doubt neglected. Loan repayments and credit cards are left unpaid. Also, for some the money lender is their saviour. Being unable to pay your household bills and debts can spiral out of control. It can cause feelings of helplessness and stress. It can also have an enormous negative impact on our family’s lives as well as our health and wellbeing. So what can you do about it? Budget. What is a budget? A budget is a plan for managing your money and how you spend it. A well-planned budget will help you to organise the money coming in (income) and the money going out (expenditure). Your spending should be less than or, at most, equal to your income. It will help you to manage better and worry less.You will then be able to make better decisions about how to spend your money. It will help you to plan for bills and unexpected expenses and also to save for special needs or events The best time to plan your budget is when you get paid or at the beginning of every week or month. You may need to make a new budget if things change, for instance if you suddenly need to pay for extra healthcare or if there is a change in your income. First, add up all the income that comes into your household. All income, after tax and levies have been taken from it. Only include overtime if you receive it regularly. Check that you are paying the right amount of tax and claiming all your tax allowances, social welfare benefits and child benefit payments. Include contributions from other people who live in your home, such as
FINANCE
Back to school budgeting
adult children or partners (nondependants) Try to make sure that any non-dependent person living in the house is paying enough towards the household expenses. If you are finding it difficult to make ends meet, you may be entitled to money which you are not claiming. The Citizens Information Helpline on 0761 074000 www.citizensinformation.ie or www.revenue.ie provides information on entitlements and claims. Work out with your family how much money you need to spend each week on basic living expenses. You can get a free Weekly Spending Diary from MABS ph 0761 072000, or visit our website, www.mabs.ie. You can use this spending diary to keep track of all your spending. We recommend that you do this over a four-week period. The spending diary will help you to see where your money is really going, rather than where you think it’s going. Include all of the following outgoings. Rent or Mortgage If you are paying rent to a local authority, make sure you are paying the correct amount for a person on your income. It is important to fill out your annual review form, so that the local authority is
aware of any changes in your circumstances. Housekeeping This should include food, toiletries, cleaning materials etc. Gas and Electricity Call your electricity and gas suppliers and ask how much your bill was for the last year. Divide that amount by 52 to get an average weekly cost. If your usage is very high, enquire about energy efficiency from www.seai.ie. If you are worried about being disconnected, you should seek advice from the MABS Helpline, 0761 07 2000. TV Licence Divide the cost of the licence by 52 in order to get a weekly payment or divide by 12 for monthly payment. If you do not hold a current licence you may be fined. You can purchase TV licence stamps from your local Post Office. Clothing Estimate how much you spent last year on clothes for yourself and your family. Divide the amount by 52 to estimate the weekly cost. School Costs Estimate how much you spent last year on sending your children to school. Include the cost of school uniforms, books, fees, trips, contributions and the smaller amounts you’re asked for every few weeks. Divide that sum by 52 to estimate the weekly cost. Phone (landline and mobile): Only include your ongoing bill. If you are worried about being disconnected, you should seek advice from the MABS Helpline on 0761 07 2000.
Yearly Costs This includes car tax, car insurance, home insurance etc. Divide these yearly costs by 52 to estimate the weekly cost. Loans If you pay back loans by the month, multiply the monthly amount by 12 to see how much you have to pay back in the year. Divide that figure by 52 to get the amount you will include in your weekly budget plan. Holidays and Entertainment It is important to include this in your budget plan, because all work and no play is not good for you! Savings Be sure to put some money
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Page 31 aside, no matter how small, for a rainy day or that special occasion. An ‘OK’ budget plan You will know that your budget is ok if you have more money coming in than you have going out. This gives you the opportunity to save more money. A ‘Not OK’ Budget Plan. You will know that your plan is not ok if you have less money coming in than you have going out. You will have to look again at your budget to see where savings might be made. See if you can reduce the weekly cost of other items. Shop first for what you need and then for what you may want. Shop from a list you have prepared, covering the basic food needs for the week. Shop around for the best prices and special offers. Please note: To change a monthly bill to weekly multiply by 12 and divide by 52. To change a weekly bill to monthly multiply by 52 and divide by 12. To change a yearly bill to weekly divide by 52 or to change it to monthly divide by 12. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service has helpful information, budget sheets and sample letters available on the www.mabs.ie. Advice and information is also available by calling the MABS helpline 1890 283438 (Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm.) Dublin South East MABS is contactable on 076 1072520 or by e-mail at Pearse_ street@mabs.ie
Hulgraine Tony
nna, Denise, Ann, and Tommy, and Tony’s nephew and nieces, would like to thank all those who sympathised with them on the death of their beloved only son, dear brother and cherished Uncle Tony. To everyone who called to our home it meant so much to all of us. Please accept our thanks for the beautiful flowers, gifts and the wonderful food and goodies dropped in to us. We really appreciate all the help and kindness. To all who attended his funeral mass in Ringsend Church and for the guard of honour from his workmates from Jacobs Engineering Merrion Road.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
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Children’s craft workshop
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at the National Print Museum
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he National Print Museum in Beggars Bush Barracks is planning a mid-term week full of fun for kids! From Tuesday the 31st of October to
Friday the third of November, the museum will run daily craft workshops for children to enjoy on their school break. On Tuesday the 31st, there are
two special Halloween workshops - Mini Monster Printmaking for 4 - 7 years at 11.30am to 12.30pm, and Spooky Bookmaking for 8 - 12 years from 14.30pm to 15.30pm. Booking is required for these workshops, which cost €12.50 per child, and the fee can be paid on the Shop section of the museum’s website. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the museum will hold a Family Drop-in Workshop each day from 14.00 - 16.00, which will be suitable for all the family. No advance booking is required for these workshops, and the charge of €5.00 per child can be paid on the day. Parents and guardians go free! On Wednesday and Friday, the Family Drop-in Workshop will be Fingerprint Fun, where children can learn how to use simple finger printing to make a whole range of fun characters and pictures, and create easy and unique prints of people, animals and vehicles. On Thursday, the Family Drop-in Workshop will be Brilliant Bookmarks where children can design their own personalised bookmark using
printing stamps, markers, pencils, and crayons, and decorate it with stickers, glitter, gems, ribbons and feathers. Why not join in the fun at the museum and make some special masterpieces this MidTerm? An inclusive and very budget friendly option for all the family. More information on the workshops can be found on the National Print Museum’s website www.nationalprintmuseum.ie, by email to education@nationalprin
tmuseum.ie, or by contacting the museum on (01) 6603770. Photos Courtesy of The National Print Museum.
Are you a secret crafter?
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n Jessica
Ellis he Best Little Market held its third event recently on Saturday 16th September and despite the little bit of rain, crafters made a creative display of their wares at The Vintage Inn in Irishtown. There were ceramic cats, colourful handmade jewellery and wooden bird feeders for sale, so if you are looking for a present for someone, then keep an eye out on Facebook for the next Best Little Market event coming soon. I have a feeling it may be christmas themed!
Paula Moen and Kathy Gleeson are the market masterminds. As the space behind The Vintage Inn was ripe for some community development, Kathy’s idea was in the works since last Christmas, but finally came to fruition this July with the first market. Barbara Burke and her business BBpapercuts occupied one of the stalls She said “I’m here because I just want people to get to know me because I am a local artist. I make gifts for weddings and christenings and birthdays, I can make anything on commission. I make it all in the front
room of my home. I’ve been doing this for a year and a half. I’m a designer by trade but I wanted a change, I wanted something more creative and I developed my maps and fell in love with the craft. There used to be a market in Sandymount, but it is gone now, so it is nice to have a local market again.” Kathy Mooney is another crafter on display. It was her third time attending and her stall was a riot of colour, with ceramic foxes sitting quite well behaved next to a flock of glazed hens. She has quite a variety of good-value gifts from cute tea bag holders, tea light towers and fairy doors for your back garden. Kathy said “I found out about the market when my son-in-law sent me the link on my facebook page and then I decided to try it. I have a stall at the Flea Market in Newmarket Square, too. I have a shed in the back garden and I go down every day and I make my things. I didn’t study anything, I’m self-taught. I loved art and
I started to experiment with clay and loved that also.” Paula Moen herself is a creator and illustrator, she explains “I do it for my bread and butter but then I do illustration to keep me sane. I collect vintage plates from various places and I illustrate initials on them with a sharpie marker. Sometimes I bake the sharpie onto the plate, other times I have to use a varnish spray because the plate may be too delicate. I have had local people knock on my door and say they craft at home and ask should they bring it along and I always say yes.” So if you have a secret life of
craft and want to get out there and show off your creations, The Best Little Market may be the place for you. Whether it is knitting you did in front of the television or a wooden bowl you turned in your shed, there is a stall for you, just remember to bring along a business card! The next dates for Best Little Market are Sunday 12th November and Sunday 3rd December, email for info bestlittlemarket17@gmail.com Left, beautiful gold leaf port map and below, animal tags, both at the Vintage Inn. Photos by Kathrin Kobus
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onor Dodd is a Dubliner from Bath Avenue and a man of stories. Born, raised and living in the house he grew up in, his parents’ house which he inherited. He knows every nook and cranny of the neighbourhood and the neighbours. In his profession as a postman he got to know virtually every street corner in over 30 working years and for most of the last decade he has been training the new postmen for delivery duties. He says “I’ve been a postman in Dublin for all my life. I know every road and lane. There isn’t a house I haven’t delivered to. The way things are going I can’t rule out being back on the street to bring letters and more packets these days to people’s homes.” After his postal work his other passion is GAA and umpiring. He spends much of his spare time either at the premises of Clanna Gael Fontenoy or, at weekends especially, at any other GAA pitch in Dublin that just happens to have a game scheduled, with him as referee or umpire. His knowledge regarding GAA camogie clubs in and around Dublin is therefore encyclopedic. According to him, “I’ve been to all the places, all the clubs in and around Dublin, I think. I know how long it takes by car or bus to get there.” Club chairman Bernard Barron recalled his first encounter with him. “When I first came to the Club back in 2004 Conor was one of those great members, who was ever-present around the club and involved in a number of activities especially the camogie section.” He has always been engaged in Gaelic football and hurling, or rather football and camogie, because as a coach he has helped a number of Clanna Gael teams to titles over the years, indeed decades. Proof of that as can be seen on the walls of the clubhouse that lead to the refreshment area, otherwise known as the bar. The memory of more recent achievements is still fresh. “I was assistant coach when the camogie adult team won their shields and league competitions in their divisions in
PROFILE
Conor Dodd – 35 years and counting
Page 33 Croke Park for the first time since the 2005/06 season he was carrying out his umpiring duties at the 44th edition the Kilmacud Crokes seven a side All Ireland tournament. Sunday, 10th of September was the first time a Dublin junior team made it to the final since the 2005/06 season. They lost 1-6 to 1-10 against Westmeath. This time there was no Clannna Gael player on the panel. Hopefully, that might change in the future. That’s something every coach hopes for his charges. Conor Dodd says, “You are proud, when you see players you trained and looked after put on the Dublin jersey. It’s the players who win matches, they deserve the credit.” The credit on the last Sunday this September went to Rebecca McDonnell. She and Kate McKenna were the two Fontenoy players on the Dublin panel for the All Irelands Ladies Final. The call-up for the day came only for Rebecca to warm up on the pitch at Croke Park. Rebecca, who had transferred to Clannna Gael from Westmanstown a couple of years ago, was one of the subs. While she didn’t play, she was among the Dublin players who made their way up to the Hogan stand to lift the trophy. And at only twenty years of age there is a good possibility she and Kate and more Clannna Gael players will get to wear that blue Dublin top again. Conor Dodd will certainly be rooting for them. Photograph: Kathrin Kobus.
the first decade of the millennium. But my main focus, especially at the beginning of the noughties, were the underage and women’s football panels.” Conor Dodd himself had played till the age of 39. His interest in coaching came while he was still a teenager. The year was 1980. “The coach back then had too many kids on their hands, so they just asked us to come along and help out. That’s how it started for me,” he remembers, continuing “Before that in the early Seventies, we trained in Ringsend Park, changed our clothes on benches or behind some bushes. Or we just played at the shell of the old Ringsend
school building at Cambridge Square. Sean Moore Park was just a swamp.” Bernard Barron explained how the change to playing fields at the turn of the decade came about. “After the dump in Sean Moore Park was closed, the original development of pitches was in 1979. But the significant development of the two sandbased “Prunty” pitches came in 2000.” Conor Dodd may have left the football panels back in 2011 and is now solely affiliated with the camogie panels and focuses mostly on refereeing. He remains busy and is a sought-after umpire. Just the day before the Dublin junior ladies returned to
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Dubs Cup victory lap
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Kathrin Kobus he Brendan Martin Cup travelled around Dublin since the Dublin Ladies won the finale 4-11 to 0-10 against Mayo. Both Kate McKenna and Rebecca McDonnell were proudly donning the blue again and enjoying the homecoming and the celebrations with girls and boys from various Clanna Gael teams who had finished training or games or either had specifically come down to the club to see them and the magnificent cup and to experience lifting the very heavy trophy themselves. Rebecca McDonnell said smiling, “We have a spreadsheet, basically. So that we all know, who has it, where is it going next, when do we hand it over. And we’ve had a week now of celebrating. It will be good to go back on the pitch.” It won’t be just good it will also be necessary. Both Kate and Rebecca have been training and playing with the Dublin panel since last November, now they are finally back home with the club team. A semi-finale against St.Maurs and a Leinster Championship Final is up ahead and still all to play for in the coming weeks. However for Kate McKenna it’s not just the football that’s back on the cards. She said “I split my time between Clanns and Railway Union, where I also play hockey. I picked that up when I studied at DIT. I wanted to keep it local.” So it’s a balancing act for her with fixtures and training. And maybe in the not so far away future she might also be one of the coaches who will train the next group of potential Dublin players supplied by Clanna Gael. After all, this season saw young women and girls participate not just on the ladies’ panel, but also for the Dublin minors and in the under 16’s and under 14’s groups. n
Clockwise from top right: Kate McKenna in action; future dreams mentored by present winners – Under 12’s lift the cup; Kate McKenna, Maria O’Dea on Dublin minor panel and Rebecca McDonnell – well able for the weight of glory; Dublin Ladies Team celebrating; Rebecca and her dad Martin ecstatic with the cup. Photographs of Cup at Clanna Gael by Kathrin Kobus; Kate McKenna in action and Dublin Ladies Team courtesy of GAA
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n Kathrin
Dublin double
Kobus week after the Dublin men’s team won the All Ireland football title against Mayo, the ladies followed suit with a 4-10 to 0-10 win over the same county. It was Dublin’s fourth finale in four years, and Mayo had beaten them in this season’s league game. But on the last Sunday of September 2017 they fought and got their big prize.
A record crowd of 46,286 GAA supporters came to watch an exciting and entertaining game. It was a close affair, with only Niamh McEvoy’s goal separating both sides in the first half. One player from our local club Clanna Gael Fontenoy, Rebecca McDonnell had been on the panel for the game, but despite warming up, taking off her bib, it was no. 24 Sarah McCaffrey who got the call from Dublin Coach Mick Bohan.
Derby night at Shelbourne
T
Carton here were loud scenes both inside and outside the Shelbourne Park greyhound stadium on derby night on the 23rd of September. The BoyleSports derby final was the highlight of the night which attracted racing enthusiasts in their thousands from all over the country and abroad. Gardai were also in attendance, but were needed only at the entrance, as several different concerned animal welfare organisations shouted at attendees as they entered through the gates. NewsFour spoke with one of the activists, Katie Cochrane, from Greyhound Awareness Cork, who is against the racing of dogs as she feels it is quite dangerous for them to race, but more importantly is concerned with the amount of drugs that are being found in their systems via lab tests. “The greyhound board of Great Britain, have insisted of January of this year that any greyhound that was bought in Ireland will have to go through drug tests before they are allowed to run over there. Irish dogs are being singled out for it,” said Katie. Katie also spoke about the recent media coverage that report-
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The Clontarf player came on and scored, not once but twice in the dying minutes of the game. Carla Rowe had put the third one in between. Shortly before 6pm that Sunday evening it was clear the Dublin Ladies would get their hands on the Brendan Martin Cup. Congratulations! Above: The victorious Ladies Dublin team. No 22 is Rebecca McDonnell from Clanna Gael.
Irishtown Football Club
n Paul
ed trainer Graham Holland and a champion greyhound under his coaching, Clonbrien Hero, who tested positive for a prohibited substance related to cocaine use. Holland who is registered as the trainer on a number of dogs on the night had one dog in the final, Sonic, who unfortunately got bumped at the first turn. The winner Good News went on to bring home €150,000 to her owners Sandra Guilfoyle and Mary Kennedy. There were 13 races on the night with the first beginning at 7.20 but the doors opened earlier at 4.00 that afternoon with the annual event kicking off with live music.
Throughout the night it was hard to find anyone who looked like they came away losing, as most were up dancing over a confetti of torn-up betting slips to the sounds of Johnny Cash being played out on guitar and mingling at an accelerated pace so as to not miss the next race. At the presentation of trophies after Good News won the Final of the 2017 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby. Left to right: Jenna Boyle (BoyleSports), Joint Owners Mary Kennedy and Sandra Guilfoyle and Trainer Pat Guilfoyle Courtesy of IGB
Irishtown Football Club over 35s presentation. Left to right: Peter, Jim (Shipwright) and James.
Left to right: TJ, Kevin, Jim, Eoghan (Shipwright) and Charlie.
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Kenneth’s Liffey Swim
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n Paul
Carton ublin Swimming Club, based in Ringsend’s Sportsco, produced two winners in this year’s Liffey Swim. The male and female races started at different times and also to coincide with the height of the tide. Approximately 500 swimmers from as young as thirteen all the way up to eighty, completed the 2.2km swim which started at the Guinness Brewery and finished at the Custom House. The race, which is a handicapped swim, enabled direct competition between swimmers of all ages and levels, with faster swimmers needing to catch up with the less experienced in a race to the finish line at the Custom House. Based on a swimmer’s performance in the six qualifying races from the Leinster Open Sea calendar, the swimmer is given a handicap which determines when he or she begins the race. The winner in the male category was Colin Monaghan with a time of 36.30 minutes and handicap of 30 seconds. Anne Marie Bourke, who has been partaking in the race for over 20 years, took home gold in the women’s category at a time of 33.48 with
a handicap of two minutes. Local man Kenneth Dent from Bath Avenue, who had taken a break from swimming for a few years, competed in the swim for the first time this year. NewsFour asked Kenneth how it came about that he entered into this All-Ireland challenging swim. He said, “My wife bought me membership for SportsCo… so I told the lifeguard that I was thinking about doing the Liffey swim and he said ‘that would be perfect for you.’ So, I just signed up to this club and from there on it was all Go! Go! Go! ” Kenneth said he pulled a calf muscle during the race and thought he wouldn’t finish it, but completed the race at the 46minute mark. The event which is in its 98th year was originally designed by the engineer, Bernard Fagan, of the former Dublin Corporation, who wanted to demonstrate the good quality of the Liffey’s water. Times have
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changed in the area since then, with the arrival of the Ringsend waste water treatment plant and NewsFour asked Eoin Gaffney of Leinster Open Sea, who organizes the event, regarding this all-too-familiar issue with water quality on the D4 coastline. He said “The water quality in Dublin is excellent since the
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opening of the water treatment plant at Ringsend in the late nineties. Testimony to this is the increase in the large marine life which can be seen in Dublin Bay, including dolphins, porpoises and seals. We no longer hear of swimmers suffering from medical conditions arising from pollution after competing in open sea races. The water quality in Dublin Bay is regularly tested by the respective local authorities in Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire and they will close a beach if they have any doubt on the quality of bathing water.” Perhaps a testament to this would be that, according to
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n Kathrin Kobus
f you went for a walk towards Sandymount Beach in June across Sean Moore Park, you would have certainly heard the grass grow. The two pitches get time, annually, to recover from training and games before the end of July when the summer camps come along. This year, it was the first camp for Johnny McGlynn (37) who has taken over at Clanna Gael Fontenoy as Games Development Officer from Clara Ryan. He was happy with the numbers of children signed up for fun and sports. “We had 185 in the first week, at the end of July, 140 in the second week and now the Cúl camp has 240 kids running around.” During the summer camp, the play factor was the most important element as Sally Vaughn, from Muckross College ex-
Clanna Gael summer camps plained. “They mostly like the games we play with them in cage, the obstacle courses.” She was one of ten members from Clanna Gael’s under-16 team who were assistant coaches during this year’s event. Another one was Emma O’Leary from Loreto College, Stephen’s Green, who said,
“It was part of our fourth year Gaisce programme. You have to do 26 weeks of community work. And so we did a foundation course with Claire Ryan our coach and then the three days Halloween camp last year.” For inspiration for all the aspiring gaelic players and hurl-
ers, Dublin midfielder No.10 Ciaran Kilkenny came along before the Dubs won their semi against Tyrone and a few weeks after that, of course, the long anticipated final against Mayo. Good humoured Ciaran picked four winners from the drawing competition and answered questions, ranging from
Eoin, some of the older swimmers have competed thirty, forty and even fifty Liffey Swims. If you are interested in competing in the Leinster Open Sea Races in 2018 go their website on www.leinsteropensea.ie or follow them on social media www.facebook.com/leinsteropensea or @LeinsterOpenSea for more information. Above: Kenneth with the Dent family, from left son Chris, wife Adrienne, other children Sarah, Luke and Mark. Photo by Eoghan Doyle Left: Kenneth, centre, in action. Photo by Adrienne Dent which of all the two games is his favourite – football or hurling? His answer was very diplomatic, both it turns out. He wasn’t just being polite, either, he played both right up to minor level. His advice for future players, no matter if they prefer football or hurling, was simple: “Train well, practise your ball drills, even after camp, and one day, maybe you can play in the Dublin team. Doesn’t matter which position, three, four, five, you just work your way up.” By now the summer camp might be a memory, but the Halloween camp registration is now open via the club’s website. It will run from Wednesday November 1st till Friday 3rd. So just an idea to get active again after all those sweets and treats from Halloween. Photo by Kathrin Kobus
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n Kathrin Kobus
October / November 2017
he second Sunday in September 9.30 am and the back pitch at the Aviva saw the beginning of the new rugby season for Lansdowne’s youngest rugby players, the minis. Ages six and seven boys, and since 2015 girls as well, are welcome to try out, and give carrying the oval ball over the line a go. “The youngest that can start right now, born from 2012 but not younger. The girls play tag rugby at the moment. When we get the numbers up for a team someone from development from the IRFU might come, we’ll wait and see,” says chairman Kieran Walsh at the beginning of the new season. Next to fun comes the safety of all young players. A gumshield is mandatory, of course, and also recommended is the head gear protection. With around 400 children registered for practising, the pitch at the Aviva is clearly not enough and other venues are also pressed into service. The pitch in front of Marian College and for the last two years a pitch in Ringsend Park has been added, plus, if
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Under 15s and Minis at Lansdowne
New A-game at Clanna Gael Fontenoy
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n Kathrin
Kobus ast Friday, a new games development officer Johnny McGlyn welcomed the coaches of the teams at the club house for the introduction of the new Player Pathway Program. A new games strategy and performance improvement plan that, it is hoped, will improve performances on all levels. Based on following the strategic steps of ‘Plan, do, advise and review,’ this new approach sets out fresh and ambitious aims for the future
teams and their strength of play both in training and in competition strategy. It is designed to improve learning outcomes and performances for all the club’s players and games, at all levels. Pictured left to right: Chairman Bernard Barron, Games Promotion Officer Ciaran Pollock, Club Secretary Brian Delaney and Games Development Officer Johnny McGlyn. Photo by Kathrin Kobus
necessary, the shared facilities with Old Wesley RFC at Ballycorus. As well as, for skills games, the astro pitch at St.Michael’s College being available to the club. The previous season proved successful. The U13 and U15 finished in May with big wins and brought back the silverware from their Leinster Metro Cup finals in Donnybrook. The largest challenge comes from off the pitch for the squads. Once the players enter secondary school and begin to get called up for teams in their respective schools, from second year onwards for the Junior Cup (JC) squads. “That’s really a problem but we always hope to get enough players still coming through year after year so that we can put up enough for the teams in the Youth section as well.” For now, Lansdowne FC is open for business, every Sunday from, usually, 9.15am in the mornings. It’s a great opportunity for interested players to get on the right track with training and encouraging their talent and enthusiasm from the youngest age. Who knows, maybe one day, they will also run out in a Lansdowne jersey at a cup or league finale in Donnybrook, the RDS or the biggest dream of all, the Aviva in a green Ireland top. Who knows? Contact: Tel. 668 9300, email: lansdowneminis@gmail.com or simply go to the Mini & Youth section on their website www. landsdownerugby.com Top: Under 15’s. Above: Landsdowne Minis on the back pitch at Aviva. Photographs by Kathrin Kobus
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Dapper Harry Chatton: a dashing footballer
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n Gavan
Bergin arry Chatton was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in 1899 and grew up in Dumbarton in Scotland. Harry loved football and was blessed with a talent for the game. By the age of eighteen he was a star player with the junior team, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy. In 1920 he was signed by the Scottish League club, Dumbarton FC. He was quick and strong, good in the air, read the game well and was extremely cool under pressure. The Manchester Athletic News, when reporting on Harry in April 1921 referred to “that dapper player Harry Chatton,” a description that conjures a picture of Harry, straight-backed and upright, marshalling the rearguard, intercepting danger with the merest flick of a foot, or perhaps at most the nudge of a shoulder. Although mainly a centre back, Harry could play well in any position in the defence. He excelled at full back, getting forward to fire in crosses for his strikers to finish. He occasionally played to great effect as a forward. In January 1923 he hit the headlines for scoring two goals in a league match against St Johnstone. After two seasons with Dumbarton, Harry moved to
the Division One club Partick Thistle in 1923. He was then selected to play for Ireland against England, at Liverpool in October 1924. The Times’ preview of the match approved of his selection, saying “Chatton is an outstanding young athlete, and with 5’11” to help him he has developed a high degree of accuracy in his head work, and with a rich reserve of natural strength he lasts out the most strenuous game. Just 24 years old, Harry Chatton has the world before him.” Harry did just fine for Ireland and soon afterwards he won his second international cap, playing for Ireland against Scotland at Belfast in February 1925. Again, Harry played a good game in what was an Irish loss and kept his place for the most important match of the year, Ireland at home against England on the 24th October. Ireland were given little chance of anything but defeat. Harry’s play as Ireland’s last line of defence was impeccable. The Irish defenders fought for every blade of grass on the pitch and held back the waves of English attacks. The greenshirted heroes furiously resisted for ninety minutes, right to the moment when the final whistle sounded in the Belfast air. For the first time in years, Ireland walked off the pitch undefeated by England.
That was to be the last-ever international football match between Ireland and England. One year later came the partition of Irish football, leading to the formation of two separate Irish international teams, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Harry finished the 1925/26 season with Partick having proved himself one of the best defenders in the Scottish league. He was ripe for a transfer. It would have been no surprise if Harry had left Partick to play for a big English club, and press reports stated that he had been sold to the English FA Cup champions Sheffield United. That story was inaccurate, but there was no doubt that Harry was on the move, and when the new football season kicked off in 1927 he was nowhere to be seen in England or in Scotland. No, he was far far away, across the wide Atlantic Ocean, playing for Indiana in the new American Soccer League. He played 31 games in the 1927/28 season and stayed for another year. The Indiana club relocated to become the New York Nationals. The Nationals were one of the league’s best teams and won the 1928 Challenge Cup, beating Chicago 4-1 over two legs in front of a crowd of 31,000. He also played for the team when they won the 1929
Poolbeg parkrun
The Poolbeg parkrun is a weekly free five-kilometre timed run. New to the area since August, it takes place every Saturday starting at 9.30am in Sean Moore Park, Sandymount, Dublin 4 and continues through nearby Irishtown Nature Reserve. The run is timed, so it’s you against the clock. It doesn’t cost anything to join, but please register before your first run. You only ever need to register with parkrun once, which you do online but don’t forget to bring a printed copy of your barcode (request a reminder). If you forget it, you won’t get a time.
You don’t need to be super fit or fast. We all run for our own enjoyment, so please come along and join in, whatever your pace. Poolbeg parkrun needs you! It is entirely organised by volunteers. Every week we grab a post parkrun coffee in Café Java, Sandymount – please come and join us there! We get on average 80 runners/walkers each week. See www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg for more details. Email: poolbeghelpers@parkrun.com to help.
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October / November 2017
League Cup Final. It was expected that Harry would return from the USA to play in the Scottish League, but he again confounded predictions and came home to Ireland, signing with Shelbourne for the 1930/31 season. The move was a success. Shelbourne won the Leinster Senior Cup and the League of Ireland in 1931, and Harry’s form with ‘Shels’ was such that he was selected to play for the Republic of Ireland against Spain, seven years after his last international appearance. The match was in Barcelona on April 29th 1931, three days after his 32nd birthday. Many footballers would have been in decline by that age, but Harry still had plenty left in the tank and showed he was a real class act throughout the match, which took place before a crowd of 100,000 fans. That day Harry was utterly steadfast for Ireland, inspiring his fellows as he ran the show at the back. All danger was repelled that day, no attack succeeded, and no thrust went unparried. Harry was a rock, against which Spain’s relentlessly rolling waves of attacks were steadily and unendingly broken. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, an excel-
lent result for the Republic of Ireland. Harry’s performance in the game ensured his ongoing place in the Irish team. He played his last international in 1934. Following his season with Shelbourne, Harry was off again, returning to Dumbarton in late 1931, playing two seasons with the ‘Sons of Rock’. In 1933, he came back again to Ireland, this time to end his exceptional career in his homeland. Harry joined Cork for the 1933/34 season. It was his last season as a player and he made sure he went out with a flourish. Harry starred for the Cork men throughout the year, expertly anchoring their defence all the way to glory in the 1934 FAI Cup final. It was Cork’s first significant success and it would be Harry’s last. It was perhaps fitting that his first and last major trophy wins came with Irish clubs. Harry may well have been bred in Scotland, and schooled in Scottish football, but he chose to play for the country of his birth whenever it needed him. Dapper Harry Chatton, was through and through a footballing man of Ireland. Above: Harry Chatton
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October / November 2017
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Pathway plan for Clanna Gael
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n Felix O’Regan
he reduction in on-field activity during the summer months has the benefit of allowing time to remind all involved as to the Club’s role in the wider community and how this has gone from strength to strength: We have over 850 active members All areas of the local community are represented: Irishtown, Ringsend, Sandymount – with 98% of members from these areas We have more than 50 teams at adult and juvenile grades, men and women, boys and girls Over 2,000 people are involved in the club on a regular basis: players, parents, coaches and administrators. The juvenile section has doubled in numbers in the last five years No child is ever turned away from the club due to limited financial means or ability. Our facilities are regularly used by various local community groups and schools. Player Pathway Programme There was a great turnout of team coaches, mentors and interested parents for the recent launch of the club’s new Player Pathway Programme. This programme is a long-term player
development model which should provide a consistent platform from which the club can enable players to reach their full potential. The programme is the brainchild of our new Games Development Officer, Johnny McGlynn, with support from Ciarán Pollock, the club’s new Games Promotion Officer. The overriding message from them is that the programme is for the benefit of coaches in helping them to help their players; and ultimately, it will make that task easier for all concerned. Both Johnny and Ciarán bring a wealth of experience with them which will be invaluable in the development and promotion of coaching standards and playing skills at the club. Johnny has most recently worked with St Judes and with the Oliver Plunketts Eoghan Ruadh club, where he was involved with both under-age teams and senior teams. He also spent a number of years working with the hurlers, footballers and camogie players at O’Tooles, as well as playing a role with Dublin hurling development squads and Dublin colleges hurling teams. Many of his own playing days were with the Good Counsel hurling and football teams. Ciarán comes to us from St
Anne’s GAA Club where he fulfilled all the duties of a Gaelic promotion officer and in that role liaised actively with local schools and teachers. He has also been closely involved with Firhouse Taekwon-do club in teaching and designing classes for both kids and adults, as he has also been with Coach Approach in setting up and running events for kids. Recent successive summers have seen him working as sports counsellor with age groups 7-15 at Kamp Kohut, Maine, USA. Senior moments Among the many standouts in the recent calendar of activity at the senior level is the success of our adult footballers in securing their league division status. As the season draws to a close, they find themselves safely positioned just short of a mid-table position. Off the field of play, the adult hurlers held a very successful fund-raising event in the form of a Race Night at the club. Taking place on the eve of the All-Ireland football final, the event drew a lot of added interest with two stand tickets up for grabs for the winner of the closing auction race.
hosting of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, a number of the Canadian rugby squad visited the club to see for themselves what camogie was all about. A number of our club coaches and players were on hand to show them the drills. A great fun time was had by all, prompting one of the Canadian team members, Julianne Zussman, to say: “Today was a wonderful opportunity to be able to experience one of Ireland’s traditional sports and learn camogie from a great group of young ladies. We want to thank Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club for such a memorable experience.” Other club visitors from closer to home, but no less important for all of that, included a number of the Dublin senior football squad. These visits coincided with the club summer camps, which again proved a great success for the hundreds of kids who turned out for skills development, fun and games. Their presence at the club was to prove all the more precious for the kids in light of their subsequent involvement in winning the All-Ireland football final and thus securing three in a row for the Dubs.
Club Visitors Coinciding with
Community Gain Fund The Club is hoping for a
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positive response to our latest grant application to the Community Gain Fund to finance a number of important improvements to our facilities for the benefit of all who use them from across the communities of Dublin 1, 2, 4 and 6 and indeed further afield. The following projects have been identified: enhancement of our grass playing pitches, gym development and function room/community hall upgrade, refurbishment of the all-weather playing area and provision of an additional allweather playing area. Fingers crossed our application will be successful! Clockwise from bottom left, left to right: Chairman Bernard Barron, Games Promotion Officer Ciaran Pollock, Games Development Officer Johnny McGlyn and Club Secretary Brian Delaney. Clanns adult footballers in action against St Finians (N). Members of the Canadian ladies rugby team get to grips with Clanns camogie players Dublin footballer, Jack McCaffrey, visits the Clanns summer camp. Photos courtesy of Brian Moran, GAApics and Kathrin Kobus.
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