Come Here To Me!

My thanks to da’bruder who has a passion for old Dublin songs and songwriters and forwarded on this excellent number from Sean Tyrrell, The Black Hole. It’s a look at a previous economic collapse, or, as some people know it: the 1980’s.

Emigration, Geldoff, wine bars and a down-and-out Dublin. Give it a listen. This was recorded in Mother Redcaps. Powerful stuff from the past, as relevant as ever.

Blogland is a small place. Dublin Blogland is even smaller. One of our favourite blogs has always been Dublin Opinion, with its mix of culture, history, politics and music it’s up a similar street and was one of the sites that inspired us to hit the ‘Register’ button on WordPress in the first place and give it a go ourselves.

Conor McCabe from Dublin Opinion has a new book hitting the shelves this weekend, entitled ‘Sins Of The Father’. It’s a look at the car crash that is the Irish economic collapse. If you follow that blog you’ve no doubt seen some of Conor’s posts on the economic situation which make you move the chair back a bit from the computer and just go ‘fucking hell’. His use of social and historical sources well beyond the confines of many economists areas of research has always offered unique insight on the collapse.

It’s been published by The History Press, who have been on a roll as of late in my opinion with some excellent works like Maurice Curtis’ look at militant catholicism in Ireland and Pat Poland’s history of the Cork fire service. I’ve always enjoyed Conor’s historical research, particularly around Irish labour and working class history, and think historians always bring a unique approach to all studies of the present.

I don’t expect to find ‘sure we are where we are’ in its conclusion, to say the least.

These are the questions set by this book. It will look at the development of the Irish economy over the past eight decades, and will argue that the 2008 financial crisis, up to and including the IMF bailout of 2010 and the subsequent change of government, cannot be explained simply by the moral failings of those in banking or property development alone. The problems are deeper, more intricate, and more dangerous if we remain unaware of them, but also potentially avoidable in the future if we break the cycle.

4-1. Who saw that coming? Derry City went crashing out of the FAI Cup, and the crowd sang ‘Wallace For Taoiseach’. Love Mick Wallace or hate him, everything he does is interesting. From decking a football team out in pink to ending up in the Dail, he’s what many would refer to as ‘some character’, you could say.

I’ve never ate in Wallace’s Tavern, La Taverna, but I pass it almost every day. I’ve always just imagined that it’s expensive. The ‘Italian Quarter’ even sounds pricey, doesn’t it?

I don’t eat out enough in Dublin. In a city where nobody thinks twice of handing over a fiver for a pint glass of booze, value for money is something we can only really pretend to be passionate about. A mate suggests we drop into Mick’s as we’ve something to chat about and need a venue. It beats the pub.

“He’s nearly bankrupt isn’t he?”. Jesus, I’d hope not. If it endangers this place anyway. Living next to an Apache Pizza I’ve been eating what I thought was pizza for years. It wasn’t. It was pure crap. This is pizza. It’s huge, its piping hot, it’s covered in Italian sausage and it’s got a glass of red wine beside it.

A glass of red and a very sizeable pizza comes in at €10 on the lunch menu, which is hard to fault. We were in at 3:30 and the place was very quiet, but as my mam says of the recession “where isn’t?” There was no rush to get us out the door (how annoying is that in any environment?) and we were left to chat away, happy as larry.

Ray, you have a challenger, a scruffy hairy one by the name of Mick. While I love Ray’s, maybe this northside contender will become a frequent spot to drop in on.

Great stuff from The Brian Boru over in Phibsboro, love it. Thanks to James.R for bringing it to my attention via Facebook.

The Brian Boru in Phibsboro is actually a great spot, my pub of choice before the saints ever take on Bohs up the road in Dalymount. This one is from April. “Buffit. Or Buffet as they say over on the southside”

I’ve been loving the new Mercier Press series on the Military History of the civil war. For too long the period wasn’t given the academic attention deserved, but Mercier’s series has been a very welcome addition to the historiography of the civil war. The first two works both looked at the conflict in Munster, with Tom Doyle looking at Kerry and Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc taking on the battle for Limerick. Now, it’s a Dublin historians turn and Liz Gillis takes on the fall of the capital.

I was impressed by a presentation Liz was involved with at the Military History Society of Ireland conference on the War of Independence in late 2009 which looked at the burning of the Custom House, and knew of her work as a historian based at Kilmainham Gaol. She’s made good use of some unusual archives and sources here, and at 128 pages, the main body of research is incredibly readable.

The work is written chronologically, with the crucial days of fighting receiving chapters to themselves. Great praise is due to the folks at Mercier Press for turning the focus onto this great, complex and often still heatedly debated chapter of our history.

Liz will be giving a free walking tour of the Liberties as part of this years Liberties Festival on June 15.

Those interested in the civil war may enjoy this brief piece here recently on the unusual plaque to Cathal Brugha above a Burger King on O’Connell Street!

Tribute to Harry Clarke, stained glass artist (1889-1931)

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