Historic photos of the past from the North Inner City Folklore Project at The Lab art space.
Frequently we draw upon the work of historians much longer in the field, and the work of Terry Fagan and the North Inner City Folklore Project has appeared on this site on several occasions. We have had reports from the 2011 (Patrick Heeny) and 2010 (Connolly Siblings and Molly O’Reilly) North Inner City Folklore Project Easter commemorations, and in the past we’ve drawn upon Terry’s research on a range of topics from Monto to women in the republican movement. The beauty of Terry’s work is the fact he is a local, raised in the Corporation Buildings. People are always more willing to talk to their own. Terry is refreshingly dismissive of the nonsense one often hears that “we were poor but we were happy”, and rather the Folklore Project focuses on telling Dublin’s history from a working class perspective, warts and all.
Newspaper report of DMP riot in Corporation Buildings, 1913.
I’d long wanted to sit down with Terry Fagan and talk about the complex history of the north inner city, but not limit ourselves to one specific subject. I met him at the small flat which has become a sort of HQ for the project in the heart of the community in which he grew up, and talk for well over an hour on the history of the local area. When walking through the area with Terry, we constantly passed people who know him and acknowledge him, the area is not only his historical area of expertise but also very dear to him.
If you listen to this interview, which I feel confident in saying will appeal to many of you regardless of whether or not history is the main draw for you to the site, you’ll hear a whole range of topics discussed. The tragic history of prostitution in Dublin’s inner-city (over 1,600 women worked in brothels in the city at one point), the history of youth criminality and gang culture, the forgotten history of women in the area, the role of the Legion of Mary in changing Monto and the revolutionary period were all discussed.
In this interview there are stories as diverse as Maud Gonne and the Countess visiting the north inner-city tenements at the time of the Lockout to stories of the ‘Solemn Blessing of Monto’ by the Catholic Church and Frank Duff. There are stories which show the failures of both church and state in this area historically, but there’s also stories of hope. Stories of how a working class community decided to mark and honour it’s own history. There are huge personalities who shine through in this interview, like Lugs Branigan and Jim Larkin, but there’s also stories of the community as a whole.
I had some technical issues at the very beginning, but this opens with Terry answering my first question, which is what it was like growing up in the Corporation Buildings. He began by talking about those buildings, his school days at the ‘Red Brick Slaughterhouse’ and more besides. The interview below is one hour and twenty minutes long, put the kettle on and enjoy.
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Brilliant interview,wow.
Massey Great work DF. I was told Terry keeps a small flat full of stuff in Liberty House. It just pisses me off every I pass yet another bleedin’ gallery or “art” project sporting a little sign that says “grant aided by ..DCC or the EU. I doubt theres’s one of them inside Terry’s flat.
Great stuff.
I’ve been on Terry’s tour and it’s fantastic.
You should get him on the drug scene and how the establishment ignored it for years because it was only in a low class area. Terry has a long record in opposing drugs in the area and direct family experience of the devastation it causes.
I was very touched by this monument at the corner of Buckingham St. and Seán McDermot St.
Terry explained that the torch was forged from the communion and confirmation medals etc. of the victims of drugs. A really massive emotionally charged piece of work. Make you cry to even think about it let alone stand in front of it.
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Póló, try to get hold of a copy of Smack by Sean Flynn and Padraig Yeates. It was banned soon after it was published but there may still be copies floating about.
Great stuff Donal, I was looking around for Terry Fagans book about Monto but couldn’t find it anywhere, so far. Also a short video from storymap:
Excellent interview as Terry explains Monto concise and to the point….well done …a true North Inner City Dub
I was down in the flat with him last week off Foley street. It’s packed with stuff. There needs to be a campaign to have a proper museum set up on the Northside. They give enough grants for bleedin’ golf clubs so why not a museum to ordinary Dubliners.
I’m trying to contact Terry for some doctoral work I’m doing. Could you email me a contact point by any chance? Great interview.
Hello
If you pass me on your details I can get in touch with him: dubusa-AT-hotmail-DOT-com or you could try his facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/dublinfolklore
Very interesting interview, would be of great help to Leaving Certificate Students doing research projects in Irish history with regards to the tenement life in early 20th century or the woman of the revolution. Thank you TF
good man tarry i know of your famliey and i know you are a true and true 100% north inner city gentalman and thanks very much for shareing the history of the north inner city.
great work terry long time no see must drop down to see you
johnr dowling
[…] https://comeheretome.com/2012/01/19/audio-interview-terry-fagan-north-inner-city-folklore-project/ […]
[…] woman addresses a crowd of strikers during the 1913 Lockout (credit – Terry Fagan, North Inner City Folklore Project). TOP IMAGE: Members of the Irish Women Workers Union (IWWU) at its Dublin headquarters (credit […]
[…] One of the joys of Come Here To Me to date has been interviewing people who we feel have made a real contribution to this city and its culture. We had the honour of publishing an interview with the late Philip Chevron of The Pogues and the Radiators of Space, and we’ve also discussed the city with people as diverse as the street artist Maser and inner-city historian Terry Fagan. […]
[…] January 2012, we had the privilege of sitting down and chatting with Terry Fagan, the driving force behind the North Inner-City Folklore Project. The Project has been responsible […]