www.newsfour.
ie February / March 2020
Web: www.newsfour.ie  Email: newsfour@gmail.com  Local newsdesk phone: 01 667 3317
Serving Sandymount, Irishtown, Ringsend, Pearse Street, Docklands, Ballsbridge & Donnybrook
GCID: Community needs guarantees
E
n Dermot Carmody
arly in January this year
the cabinet accepted the
recommendations of a
report from the Grand Canal
Innovation District (GCID) Ad-
visory Committee and commit-
ted government support for the
TCD-led initiative.
At the heart of the GCID will
be a new Innovation Campus for
Trinity in the Grand Canal Dock
area, which is proposed as the
centre of an innovation district,
physically and practically acting
as a bridge between existing ele-
ments for economic and techno-
logical growth and development
in the middle of the city.
These elements include near-
by tech companies like Google
and Facebook, as well as busi-
nesses in the Financial Services
Centre. The proposed develop-
ment seeks to include the local
community that will host it as a
further element.
The Advisory Committee
was composed of representa-
tives from all stakeholders in
the proposed initiative, govern-
ment departments, multination-
al technology companies, state
agencies, start-ups, universities
and members of the local com-
munity.
Broadly speaking, the plan is
to create a partnership between
all these elements to ensure that
a vibrant business environment
is fostered, where space is given
Page 16: Housing stories
for startup companies with sup-
port from a strong academic re-
search hub, while committing to
working with representatives of
the local community, such as the
St Andrew’s Resource Centre to
ensure a net benefit for the local
community.
The report aspires to “the de-
velopment of a range of educa-
tional, cultural and social pro-
grammes that will ensure the
innovation district evolves in
a way that is respectful of and
meets the educational, employ-
ment and space needs of the lo-
cal community.”
It states that the development
should improve quality of life
and increased opportunity for
all who live within it. It also
In this issue…
Page 18: Valentines flowers
envisages “the development of
a cultural and creative hub that
connects our artistic community
with our technology commu-
nity.”
The report cites examples of
similar development initiatives
internationally, for example the
Kendall Square innovation cen-
tre in Boston spearheaded by
MIT. Like Kendall Square, the
GCID will involve a big invest-
ment over a ten-year period to
develop all the elements envis-
aged. These include spaces for
startup companies and provid-
ing a location for research and
innovation centres for major
companies, as well as public
spaces, and spaces for engage-
ment between the arts and tech-
Page 20 & 21: General Election
February / March 2020
nology.
The report envisages an eco-
nomic benefit of €3.2 billion
from the development of the
proposed innovation campus in
the GCID. Government would
provide €150 million of the
expected €1.1 billion develop-
ment costs.
The indication by the govern-
ment of a willingness to part-
fund the project was welcomed
by stakeholders in the GCID,
including Dr Diarmuid O’Brien,
Chief Innovation and Enterprise
Officer at Trinity, who said the
the GCID would “connect the
significant assets we already
have – globally leading busi-
nesses, world class research in
our universities and a thriving
Page 1
FREE
start-up ecosystem.”
Dr O’Brien said that the de-
velopment “will have a positive
impact on the local community,
Dublin city and the country as a
whole for generations to come.”
He also mentioned the need for
the innovation centre to evolve
in a way that “meets the educa-
tional, employment and space
needs of the local community
and will improve the quality of
life and the breadth of opportu-
nity for all who live within it.”
Commenting as a local com-
munity organisation, St An-
drew’s Resource Centre, also
issued a statement in response
to the adoption of the report’s
recommendations by govern-
ment. The statement welcomed
the inclusion in the report, the
needs of the local community
as a priority in the development,
but sounded a cautionary note
saying that “Education, employ-
ment and above all social and
affordable housing are crucial if
the traditional community is not
only to benefit from the planned
Innovation District, but even to
survive.”
They spoke of the need for
an outcome where local com-
munities survive and flourish
and specifically emphasised as
an urgent first step that there be
a guarantee that there won’t be
a reduction in social housing
stock in the area.
Continued on page 2.
Page 30: The Oscars
Page 2 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020

GCID: Community needs guarantees

Continued from page 1.
A similar note of caution was sounded by
Labour’s spokesperson on Transport, Tour-
NewsFour Newspaper ism and Sport, Senator Kevin Humphreys,
is part of a DEASP who noted that the plans envisaged support-
Community Employment ing up to 6,000 jobs in the area and spoke
Programme of the need to provide social and affordable
accommodation around the site. (In fact, the
NewsFour report mentions a larger figure of 7,000 jobs
which could potentially be created.)
It’s certainly worth looking at the poten-
Editor
tial issues around housing and of other such
Beibhinn Byrne city initiatives, as well as the undoubted
benefits in terms of bringing more jobs and
Online Editor investment from companies into an area. In
Kathrin Kobus Kendall Square, Boston, the example men-
tioned above, the success of the develop-
Journalists ment has led to concerns about increasing
Kathrin Kobus difficulty with transport and rising prices of
Eoin Meegan housing in the area.
Peter McNamara NewsFour spoke to Elaine Boland, Staff
David Prendeville Manager in Senior Care at St Andrew’s
Geneva Pattison Resource Centre. Elaine was one of three
Dermot Carmody people who sat on the GCID Advisory
Committee, not as official community rep-
Contributors resentatives, but to provide voices from
Felix O’Regan some who live and work in the community.
Gavan Bergin Elaine sees their role as being to ”try and
HookHockey.com inform the community as much as we can
[about the GCID development] and get the
Crossword community going on this.” She says that
Gemma Byrne the impact of the proposed development
will be huge. “It has major implications for
Design and Layout
everybody who lives and works in this area.
We’ve already undergone huge changes
with the companies that have come in and
what’s been happening already around us.
There’s a danger that the traditional com-
munity may be driven out. There is this feel-
ing that there will be better job opportunities
for communities, but there hasn’t been a lot
of proof or evidence of that.”
Elaine is particularly concerned about the
influx of people who will be studying, work-
ing and living in the area or who will need to
be transported in and out. There are doubts
about the ability of the transport infrastruc-
ture to cope with this. “As it is, our public
transport system is not fit for purpose,” she
says.
As part of their work on the Advisory
Committee, Elaine and others visited an
innovation centre in London “We spoke to
some of the people in the communities there
on the ground. They’d had a range of dif-
ferent experiences, but their advice to our
community was to get in and get what you
need, and to get a commitment, as much as
you can and as strong as you can. One of the
big things is, and one of the things we’ve
asked for a commitment on, immediately, is
that there will be no reduction in the social
housing stock that already exists in the com-
munity.”
The report by the GCID Advisory Com-
mittee does acknowledge that the planned
development “will put more pressure on is-
sues such as transport, access and housing,
both availability and rental prices.” It goes
on to say that the provision of 200 accom-
modation spaces, comprised of “a combina-
tion of single bed studios and three-person
apartment clusters,” is in line with models
employed in innovation centres internation-
ally.
There is a commitment from Trinity to
ensure that a number of these units will be
social and affordable housing. While the re-
port does acknowledge concerns relating
to social and affordable housing, there is no
specific commitment or guarantee, since at
this stage, it says, the Advisory Committee
“is developing principles for the district and
cannot commit to specific action plans.”
Undoubtedly the local community would
wish to have such guarantees in a solid and
deliverable form as the project advances.
Image: Grand Canal Innovation District.
Source: GCID Advisory Committee.

V
Eugene Carolan
THE EDITOR’S CORNER
ision. That’s the operative word for this upcoming elec-
Ad Design
tion, this coming decade and it’s the theme of this issue.
Dara O Riordain
You can read potted bio and candidate’s visions (pages
20 & 21) in our double spread. What we vote for – both in our
everyday lives and this election – has never been more important.
We stand at a critical juncture, on a precipice in fact. There has
Sandymount
never been more at stake for our environment, our society and our
Community Services, country. We must understand how serious it is.
13A Fitzwilliam Street, The prices we are paying both literally and figuratively are too
Ringsend, Dublin 4. high but they will be asphyxiating in the future if we don’t shout
‘Stop’. Now.
Telephone: (01)6673317 Ninety four years of a two-party state has not served us well.
The world has changed drastically and we need new thinking and
E-mail: action for a future that can exist, if we make it so. Who wants to
newsfour@gmail.com be a ‘have’ in a world of ‘have nots’? Who wants to live discon-
nected, amidst a damaged and dysfunctional society? Who, in a
Website: position of gain, would not want others to experience peace and
www.newsfour.ie privilege and indeed help them get there? We all know the single,
disturbing negative answer to these questions. Just as we all know
Opinions expressed in NewsFour the affirmative, life enhancing alternative. It is a choice. We must
do not necessarily represent make the right one.
the views of Sandymount William Blake’s ‘dark satanic mills’ comes to mind reading the
Community Services. report on the Grand Canal Innovation District announcement. The
wheels are in motion but it is distrustfully vague on detail. Big
Printed by tech and business’s empty promises towards the community must
Webprint, be rejected for guaranteed realities and a bonafide future for peo-
Mahon, Co. Cork ple. Issues such as publicly owned and affordable housing, pol-
lution levels, public service facilities and services that nurtures
families and real community, now, and in the future cannot be
fudged.
We need to ask whose and what kind of ‘vision’ is it? Espe-
cially in light of the, to date, gargantuan unpaid tax by some
of the players.
The old VW factory on Shelbourne Road (page 15) is a fascinat-
ing, though conflicting, read in vision and ‘innovation’. Pride at
ending a wasteful, grabby practice through independent, solution-
based thinking. Sorrow and anger at the mad waste of ripping up
so fine a tram system, a great public good extinguished by ulti-
mately, short term and unsustainable interests.
Vision requires looking ahead for generations, it asks hard ques-
tions and doesn’t gloss over problems but excavates them to en-
sure a solution. Vision is motivated. Derek Jarman (pages 26 &
27) whose bravery and insightful activism in the 1970’s is the
voice of today; a refusal to back down on what is right, an insist-
ence on the birthright of natural human expression and resistance
to anything that wants to suppress or crush it. Bjork (page 32)
who keeps pushing boundaries, is a one-woman lesson in per-
sonal evolution and boldly signposting positive future directions.
One of our own, the poet Paula Meehan (page 28) and the new
Irish poets (page 29) represent our empathy, artistry, intuition and
spirit, all of which are resurfacing from their suppressed impor-
tance in society, to take their rightful place as respected and pow-
erful ways of knowing and communication.
We are the system, we are the workers and consumers, the archi-
tects and dwellers of it, we are the watchers and the participants.
Economy must serve us, not us serving it. We need to demand the
world we want. We urge you to vote for better, not just in this elec-
tion but in your ongoing, everyday, interactions and transactions
also. Political ideology, decision making and legislation directly
shapes and dictates our day-to-day wellbeing, our purses, our ser-
vices, our communities, our environments, our securities and our
freedoms. On Feb 8th we urge everyone to vote. If you don’t use
your vote you lose the chance to exercise control over not only
what happens to you but to others and to future generations also.
Make sure you vote wisely.
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020 CHARITY SUPPORT Page 3

Dodder Sea Scouts help homeless

A
pproaching Christmas, Dodder Sea Scouts
wanted to help other people so they chose
to help the homeless.
Above are photos of the Sea Scouts sorting the
food donations received from neighbours, friends
and family of the Scout Group to be donated to
Brother Kevin and the Capuchin Day Centre to
feed the homeless. The Sea Scouts thank every-
St John’s Church, Park Avenue, Sandymount will host its annual
one for their very kind donations.
St Patrick’s Day Holy Eucharist Service on March 17th at 11am,
Pictured on the left is Oisin, a Cub Scout, with
featuring prayers and hymns in Irish and English and extracts from
Cathaoirleach Brennan at the Annual Wreath
the Seán Ó Riada Mass. Fáilte roimh chách – everyone is welcome.
Laying ceremony at the City Quay Memorial, St John’s would also like to thank everyone who attended the Carols
remembering those lost at sea. Cub Scouts and by Candlelight service that raised over €2,000 for the Capuchin Day
Sea Scouts carried the flags of the Irish Shipping Centre and received a lovely letter from Brother Kevin thanking all
Companies. who supported them.

For more information on our different membership options

email us on membership@sportsco.ie or call us on (01) 668 7022
 Page 4 LOCAL / COMMUNITY www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020

Sean Moore Community Awards 2020

W
orking with our sponsor, the Aviva Stadium, and our me- As always, we do not want to limit the criteria involved and therefore
dia partner NewsFour, we are delighted to confirm that the do not set a prescriptive account as to why somebody should be nomi-
Sean Moore Community Awards – first established during nated. It could be a good neighbour, a long-serving youth, community,
the 1988 Dublin Millennium – will again be presented in March 2020, or residents’ association leader. The person can be young or old, man
at a ceremony in Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club, Sean Moore Park, or woman. You, the community, determine that.
Dublin 4. Please send your nominees to the following no later than Friday 6th
The awards for “exceptional community service” were inaugurated March 2020:
to honour the memory of the late Sean Moore, former Dáil Deputy, The Chairperson,
Minister of State and Lord Mayor of Dublin, who represented the area Panel of Judges, Sean Moore Community Awards,
with distinction for so long. c/o NewsFour,
The awards are open to any person, or organisation, who have made 13A Fitzwilliam Street,
an exceptional contribution to the Community. It is adjudicated on Ringsend,
by an independent panel of judges and will be presented at an Awards Dublin 4.
evening later this year.
We invite you or your organisation to consider putting forward a Thank you for your cooperation and I hope to meet you at the Awards
nomination outlining the reasons why your nominee should receive an Ceremony.
award. There will be a number of awards presented. Dermot Lacey – Secretary

‘D Dublin Port Diaries

ublin Port Diaries’, a
collection of Dock-
land stories and a
collaboration between Port Per-
spectives and Fighting Words,
was launched at the end of 2019
at the Port Centre with renowned
Dublin author Roddy Doyle in
attendance. The book is a collab-
orative project between Dublin
Port’s arts commissioning pro-
gramme, and Fighting Words,
a creative writing organisation
established by Doyle with Seán
Love in 2009. The initiative is
the first time that the programme
has explored the written word
following successful theatre,
music and artistic productions.
Starting last year, Dublin Port
gathered 17 former dockworkers,
now members of the Dockwork-
Basketball: UCD Marian get silver
UCD Marian U20 basketballers had made it to the final of the Hula
Hoop U20 National Cup 2019/20
All the finals of the competition were played last January week-
end at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. UCD Marian lost
against Moycullen. So the team around coach Eddie Barron could
collect runners-up medals this time.
ers Preservation Society, and their
family members for a series of
storytelling workshops which
were facilitated by artists Theresa
McKenna, Orla Lehane, Colm
Quearney and volunteer staff
of Fighting Words. The stories
shared at these workshops, which
highlighted the rich history and
heritage of the Port and its com-
munities, became the Dublin Port
Diaries.
The book features insights and
stories from the retired workers of
life on the docks, how the docks
have changed over the years, a
Dockers’ Dictionary and even a
catalogue of some of the irrev-
erent and interesting nicknames
which were bestowed upon the
workers and their colleagues dur-
ing their time at the Port.
Fighting Words is an organisa-
tion which aims to help students
of all ages to develop their writ-
ing skills and explore their love
of writing. The dockers were en-
couraged to contribute to the Dia-
ries by writing their recollections
of life on the docks in their own
words and the stories contained
in the book are a combination of
these anecdotes written by the
dockers themselves, while oth-
ers are transcriptions of the oral with the artists at Fighting Words
retellings that were shared at the to create Port Diaries. The book
workshops. not only captures the anecdotes,
Dublin Port Diaries will be humour and friendships that were
available (while stocks last) in part of life on the docks but pro-
Port Centre, from Fighting Words vides us with an important piece
and in local community centres, of living history that might oth-
namely St. Andrew’s Resource erwise be lost. It’s so important
Centre, Sean O’Casey Communi- that we hear these stories first-
ty Centre, East Wall Youth Centre hand and preserve them for fu-
and Ringsend Community Centre. ture generations. That’s what
Eamonn O’Reilly, Dublin Port Dublin Port’s Port Perspectives
Company chief executive, said, programme is all about, and this
“Congratulations to the dockers, project is a very fine example of
their families and all who worked that in action.”
St Patricks Boys School Ringsend 1945-46
(update of names)
Our thanks go to Pat McGuire, who supplied several more
names for the boys in this picture from our previous issue.
Top, left to right: 1 ?, Fannon, 2 Joe Breen, 3 ? Dooner, 4 ? George
McKeever, 5 Eamon Flood, 6 Billy Connolly, 7 Michael Lawler, 8
Vincent Gillis, 9. Ollie Mc Donald.
Second row: 1 Gerry Olin, 2 Lar Ahern, 3 Noel Murphy, 4 Dan
Kennedy, 5 Pat McGuire, 6 Johnny Grimes, 7 Joe Kinsella, 8 Noel
Kavanagh, 9 Eddie Knot
Third Row: 1 Eugene Gaffney, 2 Willie Power, 3 Harry Hughes, 4
Eddie Donnelly, 5. Christy Murphy, 6 ? 7 ? 8 ? 9 ?
Fourth Row: 1 ? O’Dea, 2 Michael Donnery, 3 Ernie Clayton, 4
Joe Barry (JB), 5 Christy Lawless, 6 Paddy Behan, 7 ?? from Beg-
gars Bush.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020 LOCAL / COMMUNITY Page 5

Meningitis B vaccination available in Ringsend a catch-up programme to older children due to its cost.
Dr O’ Sullivan believes that ideally all young children
should have access to this vaccine. Finally, he would

I
n Eoin Meegan injury. The disease affects infants and young children like to thank Aviva Stadium for their generous financial
rishtown and Ring- primarily, but has a second peak in secondary school contribution that allowed this to happen.
send Primary Care age and young adulthood. In 2009, 58% of meningo- Men B can strike very quickly and either kill or leave
Centre was the venue coccal disease was caused by the B strain, but since the heartbreaking brain damage. Ireland has the highest rate
in January for the launch Men C vaccine was introduced some years ago, almost of meningitis B reporting in Europe. Perhaps that sta-
of the Men B vaccine all cases of meningococcal disease are now caused by tistic alone creates a special urgency for people to have
catch-up programme for the B strain. their children vaccinated.
the area. The launch was The vaccine used is Bexsero, which is the first ap-
the brainchild of Dr Tony proved vaccine for meningococcal B disease. It has Pictured left: Twins Lacey and Amber McDonald
O’Sullivan and his wife been added to the infant vaccination schedule for all in- with mum Carla.
Caitriona, the practice fants born after October 1st 2016, but was not offered as Photo: Eoin Meegan.
nurse in the centre, both of whom feel it is important
that young people get vaccinated against this potentially
killer disease.
Unfortunately, until now the vaccine wasn’t available
to most children born before October 2016, due to the
cost being so prohibitive. Now, thanks to very gener-
ous support from the Aviva Stadium Community Fund,
Irishtown and Ringsend Primary Care Centre are able
to offer this vaccine free of charge to selected children
within the area who are covered by a full medical card.
While every child under six now has a doctor visit
card, the child receives a full medical card only if their
parents also have one, by virtue of low income. For any
child over 10 months of age, two doses are required
(three doses below that age).The supply was industry
supported, and Dr O’Sullivan and his team at Ringsend
very generously administered the vaccines free of charge
in the interests of public health, and in Dr O’Sullivan’s
own words, “to give something back to the community.”
Tony believes getting the vaccine is very important
because it is so effective, and wants to assure people that
the vaccine is completely safe and they need have no
concerns about their child receiving it. “The vaccine is
incredibly effective, and extremely safe,” he says, “the
only danger is if children do not receive the vaccine.”
Dr. Sinead Beirne, a writer and regular on Doctor in
the House on Virgin Media One, and who also works at
the centre is fully behind the vaccine. She added: “We
forget just how high the infant mortality rate was before
these vaccines were available, but when you look at the
statistics you see the mortality rate has come away down
on the graph. That tells its own story. Vaccines have rev-
olutionised everything and they save lives. The problem
is we can get complacent and think this is the way it
always was.” Sinead said she has three children and she
thinks it would be unforgivable not to have them vac-
cinated.
Recently Tony witnessed the peril of meningitis first-
hand when the child of a close friend of his contacted
it. Thankfully, the child got to Crumlin Hospital in time
and has since made a complete recovery, but only be-
cause Tony happened to drop into the house on a visit
and saw how sick the child was and got it to hospital in
time. Not everyone will be so lucky.
Irishtown and Ringsend Primary Care Centre vacci-
nated 45 children so far this year, the same number as
in 2019, and they hope to do another 45 next year. At
this year’s launch Lee Sheppard, a pupil at Ringsend
College received the jab from Caitriona and he said it
was fine and no one had any cause for alarm. Also in
attendance was another recipient family, nine-year-old
twins Amber and Lacey McDonald, along with their
mum Carla.
Meningococcal meningitis is the most severe form of
the disease, with a very rapid onset causing the charac-
teristic non-blanching rash in minutes and death within
hours. Children who survive meningococcal disease
(meningitis or septicaemia) almost always have a brain
 Page 6 LOCAL / PROFILE www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020

Capital Credit Union and Studyclix.ie

provide free study service for three Deis schools
R
ingsend College stu-
dents are to get free
access to Studyclix.ie,
along with three other schools.
Ireland’s most popular study
website Studyclix.ie has teamed
up with one of Dublin’s largest
credit unions to give students at
four Dublin schools free access
to its service.
More than 360 students will
be able to access Studyclix.
ie for free, courtesy of Capi-
tal Credit Union, to get expert
exam tips and see past papers
broken down by topic.
Studyclix.ie simplifies the
study process by breaking down
each subject into topics. For
each topic past exam questions,
marking schemes, quizzes and
videos are available.  in Schools. Studyclix.ie aims
The site has more than
150,000 students across Ireland
registered while more than 90%
of second-level teachers also
use the service.  The sponsorship was an-
Capital Credit Union will
provide the Studyclix.ie service
for three Deis schools – giving
access (normally €39.99 each)
to 360 Junior and Leaving
Certificate students in a spon-
sorship package worth almost
€15,000. The service will also
be provided to an Educate To-
gether school.
The schools are:
St. Tiernan’s Community
School, Dundrum, (Deis)
Ringsend College, Sand-
ymount, (Deis)
OLM Secondary School,
Drimnagh, (Deis)
Stepaside Educate Together,
Leopardstown (Educate To-
gether)
The Deis programme was in-
troduced in 2006 and is aimed
at providing supports to 200
schools with high concentra-
tions of students from socio-
economically disadvantaged
backgrounds who are at risk of
educational failure.
There are 200 post-primary
Deis schools in Ireland. The
purpose of the scheme is Deliv-
ering Equality of Opportunity
to support other schools within
the Deis programme by offering
large discounts on their school
license options.  “As an integral part of the local
nounced at St. Tiernan’s Com-
munity School in Dundrum.
Commenting, teacher and Stud-
yclix.ie CEO and co-founder
Luke Saunders said: “Having
attended a Deis school my-
self, I am delighted to be able
to partner with Capital Credit
Union to offer Studyclix.ie ac-
cess to three Deis schools, and
to an Educate Together school.
Despite all the negatives we
hear about the internet, I feel
strongly that online learning has
opened up opportunities to driv-
en students regardless of their
location and socio-economic
backgrounds. We want to have
a tangible impact on enabling
good outcomes for students fac-
ing the pressures of study and
exams.”
Speaking at the launch, James
Liston, Business Development
Officer at Capital Credit Union,
which has over 50,000 members
and 10 branches in Dublin, said:
community, Capital Credit Un-
ion is delighted to partner with
Studyclix.ie in directly helping
hundreds of students with their
Junior Cert and Leaving Cert
exams. This partnership will
offer four schools a chance to
further develop the education of
students in our catchment area.
We are always looking for ways
to support students and believe
this will deepen our relationship
with schools and our younger
members.”
Capital CU already provides
20 third-level scholarships each
year to members who are going
to college. Each scholarship is
worth €1,500, meaning it gives
away €30,000 each year.
It also operates a School
Saving Scheme for primary
school students and a Student
Affinity Programme for col-
lege students. Partner univer-
sities include University Col-
lege Dublin, Dublin Business
School and RCSI.
Studyclix.ie is Ireland’s larg-
est study website with 160,000
registered secondary school users
and 26,000 registered secondary
school teachers.
Studyclix.ie sorts all the past
Junior and Leaving Certificate
exams into topics and, for each
question, gives students access to
the marking schemes and sample
answers to help them understand
how they can improve their an-
swering technique.
For more details, see https://
studyclix.ie/ https://capitalcu.ie/
Pictured above is Luke Saun-
ders of Studyclix.ie with St
Tiernan’s Community School
students Alison McGovern and
Ariana Charec.
Left: Luke Saunders of Studycix.
ie and James Liston of Capital
Credit Union.
Pictures: Orla Murray.

D4 pub reigns victorious at the Irish Hospitality Global Awards

G
reat news for local hos-
pitality and for Slat-
tery’s Pub D4, who just
before Christmas, was awarded
the ‘Best Sport’s Experience
2019’ amidst a very strong list
of Ireland-based contenders.
The Irish Pubs Global Awards
summoned the ever-lively and
cherished global pub commu-
nity to the Round Room of the
Mansion House in celebration
of another prosperous and suc-
cessful year for Irish hospital-
ity and tourism.
Found at the busy commu-
nity crossroads of Beggar’s
Bush and stirring in the shad-
ows of the bright lights of the
Aviva Stadium, Slattery’s can
be recognised as a bustling,
boisterous and buoyant bar that
successfully caters to sporting
needs for all, while remaining
latched to the heart to the local
community.
Slattery’s has been a corner-
stone establishment to locals
and visitors to Beggar’s Bush
for many years now and their
professionalism is unmatched
when it comes to catering for
their customers.
Following their win, Irial
Slattery, Owner of Slattery’s
said, “This award is very spe-
cial for us as we pride our-
selves on providing the best
sports day atmosphere. We
were delighted to be recog-
nised for this particular award
category, it means a lot to me
and the team.”
Bask in the atmosphere pre,
during or post-match as the delight rise to a crescendo from Rathmines, resulting in expert
crowd generates such an ec- the home of Irish sport. service, brilliant atmosphere
static energy it will course Slattery’s boast a family his- and the best pints around.
through your veins. For non- tory of over 85 years experi- http://slatterysd4.ie and found
ticket holders, catch key mo- ence in the business, with con- on Facebook | Instagram and
ments displayed across our nections to Slattery’s Pub in Twitter.
multiple large screens that are
scattered around our bar.
Perch yourself next to the
regular sports fanatics to ex-
perience live action commen-
tary or sit as a friend among
strangers. But don’t fear about
missing a single second while
you replenish your pint as we
cater for the crowds we expect
with a fully stocked bar paired
with charming and attentive
staff.
At Slattery’s you will watch
your team reign victorious
while hearing the screech of
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020 Page 7

NewsFour aro und the World

The Nolan Family and friends travelled from Ringsend to Toronto for Dave and Tania’s
wedding #irishcanadianwedding.
 Page 8
Dancing with the local stars
S
n Eoin Meegan
ome time ago NewsFour
visited Fitsteps, a new
dance and fitness pro-
gramme set up by Shauna Tilley
that was starting to create waves.
Recently, on a catch-up visit I was
delighted to find that Shauna and
the other Fitsteps girls are not
only still around but have gone
from strength to strength. The
class has trebled in size, become
involved with community events,
and now there is even a Fitsteps
for kids.
So let’s recap and catch up. Fit-
steps is a solo dance fitness pro-
gramme that was created by two
former Strictly Come Dancing
professional dancers, Ian Waite
and Natalie Lowe. The class
features all of the dances from
Strictly and Dancing with the
Stars such as jive, cha cha, salsa,
tango, quickstep, and so on. It is
suitable for all fitness levels as
every dance can be adapted to suit
different capabilities, and because
it’s solo no partners or dance ex-
perience is needed. It’s kind of
got something for everyone.
Shauna trained as a Fitsteps
instructor in 2017, and then
F Dublin Hackathon: “HackFastFashion”
n Geneva Pattison
ebruary 13th-14th will see
Dogpatch Labs at Custom
House Quay play host to
the “HackFastFashion” event
in partnership with Dublin City
Council and Oxfam Ireland.
The event was created to high-
light the negative impact that
throw-away culture is truly having
on the environment. The ‘hacka-
thon’ is calling all people who
want to be able to start getting to
the bottom of these problems, to
launched the first Fitsteps in
Ringsend in January the follow-
ing year, with only eight mem-
bers. Today there are up on thirty
in the class, largely thanks to
word of mouth. Shortly after set-
ting up the class Shauna gave up
her full time job to concentrate
on Fitsteps. A brave decision in
these economically challenging
times but one that shows the com-
mitment and passion she has for
the project. And her enthusiasm
really shows and obviously has
infected the other participants. On
my recent catch-up visit the ladies
were working really hard (I was
exhausted just watching them!)
and meticulously following Shau-
na’s intricate footwork.
The group has really bonded as
well. “We call ourselves our Fit-
steps family,” Shauna says, “be-
cause we offer a constant source
of support and encouragement
and laughter to each other.”
There is a social and commu-
nity dynamic as well, with theatre
trips, birthday celebrations, days
out to try other dance classes,
and even an annual trip to Black-
pool for the Fitsteps Christmas
party in the Tower Ballroom.
So it’s not just all dancing. Last
December, 17 of them travelled
over to Blackpool where Shauna
was awarded runner-up in the Fit-
steps Instructor of the Year award
for Ireland; a great achievement.
They also take part in a variety of
charitable work, such as the Karl
join them for two days of solution-
orientated discussions, workshops
and eco-based learning.
As relayed on the event page, “a
major contributor to the rise of mi-
croplastics in our ocean is the fact
that the majority of our clothing
and fabrics these days go straight
to the landfill after a short lifes-
pan.”
Information from the 2015 envi-
LOCAL / COMMUNITY
Doyle fundraiser, and performed
a dance routine at Darkness into
Light as the participants were
about to set off, which set a really
positive mood. The group is also
available for Hens and other so-
cial gatherings.
Recently the group filmed a
promo video down at the Poolbeg
Lighthouse. “It seemed fitting as
the class is all about the commu-
nity it was only right we filmed at
such an iconic part of the commu-
nity,” Shauna said.
New cutting edge research in
neuroscience and psychology
seem to back up the connection
between dancing and positive
mental health. Firstly, dancing fo-
cuses the mind and hones the con-
centration, therefore keeping us in
the present moment. And second-
ly, the process itself releases those
happy chemicals, such as dopa-
mine, that make us feel good. In
fairness all exercise will do this,
but with dancing there’s the social
and enjoyable aspects as well.
A new addition to the Fitsteps
entourage is Popdance for Kids.
Popdance is a fun energetic dance
class for children aged between
3 and 11. It is a non competitive
dance class designed to give the
children a place to have fun, and
be themselves. It provides a space
where they can express them-
selves, learn a new skill and build
their confidence at the same time.
There are two classes every week,
a tots class (age 3-5) and a kids
ronmental documentary ‘The True
Cost’ revealed that across the en-
tire world we now use over 80 bil-
lion pieces of newly-made cloth-
ing a year, which is “400% more
than we were consuming just two
decades ago.”
‘Re-dress’, the Dublin-based
initiative behind Better Fashion
Week, noted on their website that
every year, Ireland throws out
around 225,000 tonnes of textile
waste. If the majority of textiles
sent to landfills in Ireland were re-
cycled, this would reduce the “di-
rect greenhouse gas emissions by
over 300,000 tonnes per annum.’’
The goal of this event is to con-
nect like-minded individuals to
brainstorm a new startup or NGO,
that will work towards creating
practical and sustainable alterna-
www.newsfour.ie
class (age 6-11) totalling approxi-
mately 25 children. Both hap-
pen on Mondays. The classes are
jointly taught by Shauna and Dan-
ielle Doolin. It is great fun and the
kids love it. It is also a great way
to get children involved in health-
ier activities and group projects,
so well worth thinking about if
you have little folk at home.
Shauna launched Popdance in
Ringsend only last September,
2019, and since then it has got a
great reaction from parents and
kids alike. The feedback from
the parents is that the children are
really coming out of their shells
and they can see their confidence
growing. For their part the kids
love being able to express them-
selves and have fun. “We place a
big emphasis on kids supporting
and encouraging each other and
it's a lovely environment for the
kids to be in while learning to
dance.” Shauna adds.
We at NewsFour would like
to congratulate Shauna on her
award and wish the girls contin-
ued success. At its core Fitsteps is
a fitness class delivered through
dance; a rather ingenious idea.
tives for the fashion and retail in-
dustry in Ireland.
Guidance and mentorship will
be provided by experts in the field
over two days, while you work on
innovative new ideas. Your final
ideas will be judged by top profes-
sionals and leaders in government,
with the chance to win prizes.
Tickets for the catered event
are available from eventbrite
costing €16.87, and the event
will take place in Dogpatch
Labs in Custom House Quay,
Dublin 1.
For further information on the
event visit the eventbrite link be-
low:
h t t p s : / / w w w. e v e n t b r i t e .
ie/e/hackfastfashion-tick-
ets-87796059377
The “HackFastFashion” twitter
February / March 2020
Fitsteps happens every Monday
evening at 8pm, and Wednes-
days at 7.30pm in St Matthew’s
National School, Irishtown. And
on Saturday morning at 10am in
Ringsend Community Centre.
While the Popdance classes take
place on Mondays 4-5pm (tots)
and 5-6pm (kids) in the Ringsend
Community Centre.
If you would like to join Fit-
steps, or sign up your child for the
next Popdance term you can con-
tact Shauna at 0894299768. Face-
book Shauna’s Dance Fitness. Or
Instagram shauna_dancefitness
Left: Shauna relaxing.
Below: Shauna, Danielle, and
four of the Popdance kids.
(Photos: Shauna Tilly).
Above: The Fitsteps full ensemble
in training.
account: https://twitter.com/Hack-
FastFashio1
Ireland’s textile waste infor-
mation courtesy of the Re-dress
website: http://re-dress.ie/when-
fashion-is-finished-garment-end-
of-life-solutions/
Further information about “The
True Cost” documentary: https://
truecostmovie.com/learn-more/
environmental-impact/
Images: Landfill - wiki commons,
Clothes rail - wiki commons
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
T
n David Prendeville
his coming month, The Gerard
Byrne Studio will launch the
modern Irish Impressionist’s first
ever collection of lush tropical flora
plein air paintings from Asia.
The highly-anticipated Botanical Fu-
sion exhibition created during Gerard
Byrne’s Artist-in-Residence at the Sin-
gapore Botanic Gardens in Autumn 2019
has made its way to Dublin. It is curated
by The Gerard Byrne Studio, co-hosted
by the Singapore Botanic Gardens and
the Irish Embassy to Singapore, and sup-
ported by the Department of Foreign Af-
fairs.
It was seen by over fifty thousand visi-
tors to the Gardens as part of the com-
memorative celebration of the Singapore
Botanic Gardens’ 160 years in existence.
The exhibition formed part of the Gov-
ernment’s 2025 Asia Pacific Strategy to
increase Ireland’s visibility in the Asia
Pacific region. With the first chance to
see the collection in the artist’s home
country, visitors can expect to see new
works which show great contrast be-
tween the Singapore Botanic Gardens
and the National Botanic Garden of Ire-
land.
Being encouraged to travel across the
globe to experience “a different quality
of light, strong shadows and deep col-
ours” resulted in a collection of vibrant,
Gerard Byrne Exhibition
to run in Ranelagh
exotic and luscious large-scale paintings.
The series “captures not only what I see
but also the energy of my surroundings,’’
says Byrne.
Making his mark on the Singaporean
art scene, and notably featuring in art
magazine, Art Plural, Gerard’s work has
been recognised worldwide. “The rapid-
ly changing light, shadows and even the
noises and sounds around him, are some-
Page 9
how captured and expressed in the works
themselves,” said Pauline Gan in Plural
Art Magazine.
Ireland’s Ambassador to Singapore,
Patrick Bourne, added “The new works
that Gerard produced during his time
as artist-in-residence at the Singapore
Gardens are extraordinary and represent
a unique rendering of the colour and at-
mosphere of this tropical place through
the prism of a great Irish eye and talent.”
Gerard’s painting ‘Jungle Vibes’ is
now part of the permanent collection of
the Singapore Botanic Gardens, along
with many other works which hang in
numerous commercial and private col-
lections worldwide. Gerard has been
painting for over thirty years, having
grown to become one of Ireland’s lead-
ing contemporary artists.
The exhibition ‘BOTANICAL FU-
SION. Singapore to Dublin’ will run at
The Gerard Byrne Studio, 15 Chelmsford
Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 from Friday
28th February to Sunday 29th March.
It will be launched by Mr Ron Bolger,
Honorary Consul General of Singapore
in Ireland on Thursday 27th February
2020. The exhibition will be open daily
to the public and entry is free of charge.
Above: Gerard Byrne painting in
Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Photo: Leon Farrell.
 Page 10
T Mental Health and
n Eoin Meegan
aking the measure of our
mental health was never
more urgent than it is
today. That’s why it’s good to
see more people talking openly
about their own mental health is-
sues, considering that a growing
number of people today have ex-
perienced a mental illness of one
kind or another; be it depression,
anxiety, or loneliness.
And it’s not only adults. In-
creasingly this is a problem that
is spreading its tendrils into the
lives of our younger citizens,
with 58% of adolescents in Ire-
land being classified as having
depression or anxiety outside the
normal range.
When we drill deeper and look
at suicidal ideation we find that
23% of adolescents have at some
stage engaged in self harming,
while 41% have had thoughts
about taking their own lives. Be-
hind these figures are real people
and a situation that needs to be
urgently addressed.
The above findings come from
My World Survey 2, a report
conducted last year by Jigsaw
(a nationwide organisation that
works with people experiencing
mental illness), in conjunction
with UCD.
The survey found that levels of
depression and anxiety had in-
creased in adolescents and young
adults since the first My World
Survey, carried out in 2012, and
(more worryingly) where depres-
sion and anxiety did occur there
was an increase in the severity.
Another worrying trend is
that a large number of females
surveyed also had anxiety of
a severe kind at some time in
their lives. By contrast, levels of
self-esteem, social competence,
optimism and resilience have de-
creased, again more markedly in
Cycle
of
depression
HEALTH / WELLBEING
Ireland’s Youth
a Definitive Survey
the female population, over this
same period.
In terms of gradation the sur-
vey found that the trend at Sec-
ond Level was for depression
and anxiety to rise each year
from first year to sixth.
The survey comprised of
19,000 young people from 83
randomly selected Second Level
Schools, including some Third
Level Institutes, Youthreach par-
ticipants, people who presented
with disability, and from Com-
munity Training.
In total, over 10,000 adoles-
cents between the ages of 12
and 19 took part, and in excess
of 8,000 young adults under 25.
Just as with adolescents, the sur-
vey reveals there was a signifi-
cant increase in severe anxiety
among 18 to 25 year olds. How-
ever, for this piece I decided to
concentrate on the younger age
group.
When it came to questions
about body esteem, resilience
and personal competence, males
scored significantly better than
females. The reasons are not
immediately apparent but could
have a lot to do with boys feel-
ing less pressure about how
they looked, with the perception
among girls that they had to live
up to an unrealistic ideal, com-
paring themselves to images pro-
jected by the media; and perhaps
body shaming was a factor too.
Girls also fared less well on
questions of personal safety,
www.newsfour.ie
scoring significantly higher than
males on anxiety and perceived
threats to personal safety, that is
thinking someone was watching
them or following them around.
By contrast, girls did better in
areas of social interaction. For
example, when it came to school
and peer connectedness females
scored better than males, finding
it easier to make friends and gain
social support from peers or a
significant adult than their male
counterparts.
This shows us that despite
scoring higher in some areas
than boys, girls were more likely
to take proactive action by way
of reaching out to others. This is
a welcome aspect as when per-
ceived problems are talked about
they are less likely to escalate
into something worse.
In recent years independent
research points to a link between
prolonged exposure to social me-
dia and depression, ADHD, and
other forms of mental illness.
Over 96% of the adolescents
questioned in My World Survey
2 reported having a social media
February / March 2020
profile or account, which is hard-
ly surprising, and not an issue in
itself.
The danger is in the amount
of time people spend online,
and what they’re doing there. In
the survey 34% reported spend-
ing more than three hours every
day on social media (considered
too high), with girls being more
likely to be in the upper time lim-
it. The report also shows a link
between lower levels of self-es-
teem, body esteem, and personal
competence among those who
spend longer periods online than
those who don’t.
The worrying trend is that
young people facing challenges
may perceive online encounters
as a benefit and begin to substi-
tute these for real social contact.
It is heartening to know that
there are positives one can take
away from the report too. For
instance, the number of ado-
lescents who consume alcohol
has fallen since 2012, and there
is a decrease in reported bully-
ing. However, on the down side
among those who do drink many
reported problematic drinking,
particularly males.
In addition, 15% of adoles-
cents said they took cannabis,
again higher in the male popu-
lation, with many young adults
admitting to polysubstance use,
that is abusing both alcohol and
drugs. However, the biggest pos-
itive was the dynamic factor that
having ‘one good friend’ made.
Adolescents who reported hav-
ing one good friend (this could
be a parent, teacher, carer or
anyone close to them) tended to
perform better at school, had less
severe depression, and expressed
greater levels of confidence. No-
tably more girls fell into this cat-
egory reinforcing the tendency,
shown above, of females to con-
nect more easily.
We don’t really know what
causes depression and anxiety,
and any explanation will vary
from individual to individual,
and will inevitably entail a lot of
complexity. Sometimes depres-
sion can be a response to exter-
nal stimuli, but other times it is
not and there is often no apparent
reason.
This is probably truer for ado-
lescents, as they transition into
adults, but knowing someone is
there whom they trust and can
turn to makes a huge difference.
Therefore, each of us in our own
way should strive to be that one
good adult to someone.
The aim of My World Survey 2
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
was to profile youth mental health
at a national level across the age
spectrum of 12 to 25 years, com-
pare that with My World Survey
1, and from the information seek
to influence policy that will assist
young people going forward.
It has been reported that 75%
of all mental health disorders that
persist into adulthood emerge
before the age of 25 (Kessler et
al, 2007) with many going unde-
tected. Therefore it is imperative
that we strive to detect mental
illness as early as possible, and
to help alleviate it, as well as
where possible, getting to the
root cause.
Overall, the survey provides a
very useful and evidence-based
snapshot of how the nation’s
mental health among adolescents
and young adults has changed
over the past seven years. A dis-
turbing factor is that the propor-
tion of adolescents who reported
severe and very severe depres-
sion had almost doubled since
2012. It also shows that girls tend
to have a greater problem with
anxiety, self image and confi-
dence, but conversely, are much
better at reaching out and making
connections when needed.
HEALTH / WELLBEING
From this we can extrapolate
the importance of communica-
tion, and encourage adolescents,
particularly males, to feel com-
fortable in talking about their
problems.
The unique approach Jigsaw
take is that they consult young
people on what they want and
the kinds of services they would
find helpful. This is done through
their Youth Advisory Panel.
The adolescents who took part
in My World Survey 2 reported
that the top three stressors in life
were school, exams and home-
work (in that order), and the
most favoured ways of dealing
with stress were friends, music
and sport. This gives us a clear
indication of what specific issues
need to be addressed. Perhaps
we could make school and ex-
ams less stressful and encourage
more cultural and artistic activi-
ties.
Should education really be ex-
clusively about sitting at a desk
learning by rote? People also
learn by participation; and art,
music and sport are good ways
of doing this, as they will facili-
tate natural interaction that will
help build confidence and self-
Page 11
esteem.
Jigsaw services aim to pro-
vide tailored community-based
help for young people’s mental
health needs. Here in the Dublin
Centre they provide a free, non-
judgemental and confidential
service to anyone between 12
and 25 who may be experienc-
ing difficulties in mental health
or wellbeing.
To date, almost 125,000 have
attended their courses nation-
wide. Just this year Jigsaw has
teamed up with Lidl and the La-
dies Gaelic Football Association
to launch the ‘One Good Club’
Youth Mental Health and Well-
being Programme, which will
run for ten weeks starting in
April.
Jigsaw are located at 44 Es-
sex Street East, Temple Bar,
Tel. 016583070. For more in-
formation on the Lidl pro-
gramme and to get involved
contact Nicola Forde – nico-
la@pr360.ie / (087) 205 5541
You can read the full report at
MyWorldSurvey.ie
Images courtesy of Wiki
Commons.
 Page 12
B
n Eoin Meegan
illed as Ireland’s ulti-
mate wellness, lifestyle
and fitness experience,
the Thrive Festival returns to
Dublin’s Convention Centre
from Feb 29th until March 1st
next, with over 60 yoga classes,
80 talks and workshops, and
in excess of 250 classes and
workshops: Pack a punch with
Kobox (founded by Irishman
Shane Collins), discover the ul-
timate ‘party on a bike’ experi-
ence with Boom Cycle, or thrill
to F45 Unique Functional HIIT
Training.
There’s something for eve-
ryone here. As the promo says,
“Thrive is an explorium of
cutting edge fitness, cooking
demonstrations, yoga, medita-
tion and engaging panel discus-
sions.”
Thrive began life as a pop up
festival at the Groove Festival in
Kilruddery, Bray in 2018. Since
then it has expanded exponen-
tially and now has its permanent
home in Dublin’s Convention
Centre, which hosts the festival
jointly with Equinox Events.
In 2019 they welcomed just
over 5,000 attendees and in
2020 are hoping to increase that
to 8,000 over the two-day event.
Tickets start from just €25 for
a full day (9.30am-6.00pm) and
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Time to Thrive in Dublin
attendees can fit as much as they
like into their day.
Yoga is a fabulous fitness tool
both for body and mind, and at
Thrive you are spoilt for choice
with so many varieties: explore
the benefits of Power Yoga,
Electro Flow Yoga, Vinyasa
Yoga, Reformation Yoga, Ash-
tanga Yoga, Kundalini Yoga,
Yocella Yoga, Yin Yoga, and
many more.
Be amazed at the poetry and
artfulness of these performers,
or join in and see what you can
do. Then if yoga is not your
thing you might prefer dance.
Dance has become a very
popular way to integrate fitness
into our daily workout. Over the
weekend you can enjoy Hip Hop
Dance by Donking Rongavilla,
or watch Strut Fitness do their
exhilarating progressive work-
out; alternatively you can join
Zumba, in their mixture of low
and high intensity moves.
But don’t think it’s all about
tiring yourself out. There are
lots of yummy food on offer
too: ranging from The Gut Stuff
to Daniel Davey’s Performance
Nutrition and Cookery, with
cookery demonstrations and
talks sprinkled liberally in be-
tween, courtesy of food experts
Sinead Delahunty, Erica Drum,
Jeeney Maltese, Conor Spacey,
and Nichola Flood, to mention
just a few. So no need to bring a
packed lunch.
No festival of wellness would
be complete without meditation.
Kadam Adam Starr, a Buddhist
monk who is currently the resi-
dent teacher with the Tara Kad-
ampa Meditation Centre in Dub-
lin, fills that gap.
Adam will provide an oasis
of tranquility and inner stillness
throughout the weekend event,
while Sandra Lawes will be
along to provide reflexology.
Among the many talks avail-
able Jenny Murphy will exam-
ine humans through the prism of
energy beings in ‘Vibrations and
Energy Healing’.
Not to be missed is Richie
Bostock and his master classes
on breathwork. Richie is known
as ‘the breath guy’, and believes
we can attain blissful states of
‘no-mind’ in a very short period
of time by practicing only a few
simple breathing techniques.
For those of you plagued by
insomnia there are workshops
by Tom Coleman to help with
this problem, while the Coach-
ing Circle will offer advice and
helpful information on a diverse
range of topics from nutrition to
career to lifestyle.
And new to this year’s event
is Bev Porrino. Bev is a neuro-
muscular therapist who is pas-
sionate about helping people re-
discover just how amazing their
bodies are, and how quickly
people can change both physi-
cally and emotionally; one to
www.newsfour.ie
look out for.
Also appearing at Thrive will
be Vicky Shilling and Lauren
Healy, collectively known as the
Reset. The Reset is a movement
created to support women in dif-
ferent areas of life. Just one of
the things they do is organise
short breaks away for women so
they can recharge and just get a
break!
Unfortunately we don’t hear
enough about men’s health at
health and wellbeing gather-
ings, so, Milk For Tea, a social
enterprise that was created to
serve the well-being and per-
sonal development of the male
community, and which has the
support of the Prince of Wales,
provides a welcome corrective.
Good to see men coming more
to the centre in health issues.
In a special message to News-
Four readers, Equinox Events
MD Avril Bannerton says:
“I’m thrilled to be bringing
Thrive Festival to The Con-
vention Centre for its second
year. We’ve been watching
the health and wellness mar-
ket for a number of years and
the highly engaged Irish well-
February / March 2020
ness community has shown
us that the time is right for a
comprehensive ‘all under one
roof’ event that really lets our
visitors explore the options and
opportunities now on offer in
this exciting market.
Equinox Events’ partnership
with The Convention Centre
really has enabled us to set a
new benchmark for health and
wellness experiences in Ire-
land; the stunning, City Centre
venue offers an inspiring back-
drop to our exciting mix of cut-
ting edge and more established
health disciplines, inspirational
workshops and talks and care-
fully curated mix of wellness
industry brands. This plus a
range of food, drink and chill-
out zones really does mean that
we are offering the very best
experience on the market for
visitors to explore fitness, life-
style and wellness opportuni-
ties on offer today.”
So, why not check out Thrive
and find a fitness methodology
that is a match for you while
also having a really good time.
Thrive runs from Feb 29th
until March 1st, and you
can book by going to https://
thrivefestival.ie/
All images courtesy of the
Thrive Festival.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
T
eeth grinding or clenching, also
known as bruxism, is a common
condition that often remains undi-
agnosed until complications arise. The good
news is that your dentist can identify signs
of teeth grinding during a regular check-up,
and can suggest appropriate treatments be-
fore it is too late.  chotic medications and antidepressants.”
According to Dr Jennifer Collins, lead
general dentist at Northumberland Dental
Care in Ballsbridge: “Teeth grinding can
occur throughout our lives. Although it can
happen at any time of day, it is most common
during sleep. Many people are not aware
that they are doing it, unless their dentist or
partner points it out. Common symptoms
include worn or sensitive teeth, soreness
around the jaw in the morning, headaches,
and making a grinding sound while asleep.”
What causes bruxism?
The cause of teeth grinding is not always
clear, but it can be linked to both physical
and psychological factors.   cost-effective means to stop teeth grinding.
As Dr Collins explains: “Some cases of
bruxism are due to a slight misalignment
between the top and bottom jaw. Stress and
Page 13
Five steps to stop teeth grinding
anxiety can also be an underlying factor, By learning to relax your jaw muscles, your oral health, visit www.northumber-
and often teeth grinding only occurs during you can help to reduce the tension that landdentalcare.ie 
times of stress such as job interviews, ex- often leads to an aching jaw or headache.
ams or moving house. Some people clench Your dentist can suggest gentle, muscle About the author
teeth while concentrating, or during physi- relaxing exercises to ease tension and dis- Dr Jennifer Collins is lead general den-
cal exercise. It can also be triggered by comfort in the mouth and jaw area. tist at Northumberland Dental Care in
alcohol intake or from taking certain psy- 4: Orthodontic braces Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. She qualified in
The way your jaw and teeth fit together is dentistry at University of Wales, College of
a common reason for grinding and clench- Medicine in 2004 and has been working in
Five steps to stop teeth grinding  ing. Even at rest or asleep, your jaw sit- private practice in Dublin for over twelve
1: Regular dental visits. ting irregularly can cramp the muscles and years. Dr Collins has a special interest in
As you may not be aware of your teeth cause unnecessary wear and tear on your cosmetic, restorative and implant dentistry
grinding, it is important to visit your dentist teeth. If jaw misalignment is an issue, your and is fully trained in facial aesthetics.
for regular check-ups. Your dentist will rec- dentist might suggest orthodontic braces as
ognise signs of grinding such as worn teeth a solution to teeth grinding.  About Northumberland Dental Care
and fillings, or damaged dental crowns and 5: Relaxation techniques Northumberland Dental Care, formerly
bridges. To stop stress-related grinding, both chil- The Northumberland Institute of Dental
2: Use of a mouthguard.  dren and adults can benefit from regular Medicine (NIDM), was established over 25
If you grind your teeth, your dentist may physical exercise, a balanced diet, and re- years ago in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
recommend a custom-made mouthguard. laxation techniques such as meditation and Led by a multidisciplinary team of ex-
This is a specially fitted plastic guard that yoga. Relaxation techniques, especially be- perts, the state-of-the-art practice offers a
fits over your top or bottom teeth. A mouth- fore bedtime, can drastically reduce teeth full range of general, cosmetic and special-
guard is one of the most successful and grinding at night.  ist dental treatments.
Dr Jennifer Collins is lead general dentist Northumberland Dental Care is part of
It is typically worn at night but can also be at Northumberland Dental Care in Dublin the Dental Care Ireland group. For further
used during the day if needed.   4, part of the Dental Care Ireland group. information, visit www.northumberland-
3: Mouth exercises For further tips and advice on looking after dentalcare.ie
 Page 14 VOLUNTEERING / CHARITY www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020

Volunteers needed for 25 years, and available for three hours a

week, for a minimum of 18 months. Com-
prehensive training is provided to volun-

Aware support line teers in responding to different scenarios

that can arise, and so no prior qualifica-

A
ware, Ireland’s national char-
ity supporting people affected by
depression, bipolar disorder and
mood-related conditions, has launched
a volunteer recruitment campaign for its
Support Line.
The Aware Support Line is a national
freephone service which operates from
10am to 10pm 365 days a year, located
at Aware’s HQ at 9 Upper Leeson Street,
Dublin 4.
The Line provides telephone support to
people concerned about issues relating to
their own mood or that of a friend or fam-
ily member. It operates against a back-
drop of an estimated more than 450,000
people experiencing depression in Ireland
at any one time, while there are approxi-
mately 45,000 people here diagnosed
with bipolar disorder.
Depression and bipolar disorder are
mental health conditions that affect our
thinking, energy, feelings and behaviour.
While they can vary from mild to severe,
and impact on our relationships, family
and work lives, it is possible to find ways
to manage the conditions, and to lead
healthy and productive lives.
According to Bríd O’Meara, Aware’s
Director of Services, volunteers gain as
much as they give on the Support Line:
“Our more than 400 volunteers na-
tionwide are a crucial lifeline for people
impacted by depression and bipolar dis-
order. They play a key part in our work,
supporting people affected by stress, de-
pression, bipolar disorder and mood-re-
lated conditions, and are passionate about
nurturing people’s positive mental health.
“On our Support Line, volunteers listen
carefully to callers, their questions, con-
cerns and reasons for calling, so as to best
understand and respond. They are com-
passionate and non-judgemental, treat-
ing people with dignity and respect, and
provide information and signpost people
to pathways to recovery such as other ser-
vices and therapies.
“We know from people who have vol-
unteered for the Support Line that it is
hugely rewarding for them. There is a real
feelgood factor in giving something back,
while also developing their own life skills
and talents in the process.”
Volunteers for the Support Line should
have good communication skills, includ-
ing being fluent in written and spoken
English, and be comfortable speaking
on the phone. They will need to be over
tions or experience is required.
People interested in registering their
interest to become an Aware Support
Line volunteer can email Emma at re-
cruitment@aware.ie or telephone 01 237
4926. Training for the next volunteer in-
take commences on Saturday February
22.
Also coming up on St Patrick’s Day
Aware will once more be sponsoring the
annual Harbour2Harbour Walk which
goes from Dun Laoghaire to Howth (and
vice versa), taking in the beautiful scenic
Dublin Bay along the 26 km. The event
starts at 10.30 in each location, but it’s
advisable to come early to pick up your
T-shirt. Walk, run or cycle at your own
pace and have a wonderful day. To reg-
ister go to https://www.aware.ie/events/
harbour2harbour-2020/
If you are worried about depression or
bipolar disorder, please call the Aware
Support Line on Freephone 1800 80 48
48.
Images courtesy of Aware.

Funding and volunteering for IUSRU Mr Tilly – fundraiser extraordinaire

almost solely on a voluntary basis, with only
one paid employee engaged by the RNLI.
That is the mechanic.
Rose Michael from the RNLI Howth re-
called the last call out for them at the end of
the year. “There was a kite surfer who got his
legs tangled in the ropes. We were doing our
training exercises that suddenly became an
actual rescue on the spot.”
NewsFour also spoke with Richard Kaye
how the Recovery Unit operates.
“You cannot simply join, you will be in-
vited in. Plus, you will have to be an experi-
enced rescue diver first.” Next step: you put
the gear on and get a first try into the basin
at the Waterways. Since the visibility there is
usually too clear for the purposes of the IUS-
RU “We actually black out the visor.” After
that comes a dive into the Liffey or the river
Boyne.
Asked about murky conditions in waters like

A
n Kathrin Kobus
t Poolbeg yacht Club on the last Fri-
day in January, The RNLI and the
IUSRU received money raised at two
charity events last autumn. Each organisation
got a cheque over €7,500.
The Feilimh Drew Concert in St Patrick’s
church and the All in A row at St Patrick’s
rowing club, had raised the funds in support.
Every last cent and euro that went in had been
counted and was duly divided between the
two organisations.
Singer Lisa O’Neill the surprise guest at the
concert was back again to present the cheque
to the RNLI.
It is important to stress that both are run
the Liffey, Richard Kayes’s reply came with
a smile, not a grin. “Murky, well that would
be pleasant.” The tasks of the unit are about
recovery and not rescue. So the outcome of a
successful operation means to bring a a de-
ceased person who has been missing after an
accident back to the family and bring closure.
That’s why a bit of gut feeling comes in as
well, not every rescue diver may be up for the
demands of a recovery diver.
While the rowing clubs like St.Patrick’s Since December Mr Tilly’s collection for Harold’s Cross Hospice
and Stella Maris do their winter training and has been going strong.
participate in indoor championships, there is The Bath pub and Tesco Sandymount topped up the collection with
never a time off for RNLI or the IUSRU. two cheques over €1,000 and €428 respectively.
Overall, the amount raised has passed the €12,000 mark.
Photo: Kathrin Kobus. All money goes to support Our Lady’s Hospice.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Shelbourne Road:
From trams to Beetles
T
n Dermot Carmody
he iconic, and increas-
ingly rare, rear-engined
Volkswagen Beetle still
catches the eye today if you
come across one on the 21st cen-
tury roads. This, despite the fact
that it was based on a 1930s de-
sign by Ferdinand Porsche and
started mass production in post-
war German in the 1940s.
But not everyone will know
that this car for the people has a
strong historic connection with
Dublin 4, and specifically with
Shelbourne Road in Ballsbridge,
where the first VW Beetle as-
sembled in Ireland drove onto
the road seventy years ago this
year.
Since the 1890s, 162 Shel-
bourne Rd. in Ballsbridge has
had a number of functions
which reflect changes in trans-
port in the capital city. It’s the
site of MSL Ballsbridge Motors
today, but it started out as an im-
portant part of the south Dublin
tram system and became the site
where the first Volkswagen car
assembled anywhere outside of
Germany, took place.
The site of the MDL Volk-
swagen assembly plant in Shel-
bourne Road had previously
been an important component
of the Dublin tram system.
Dublin Southern District Tram-
ways Company (DSDTC) had
run the horse-drawn tram from
Haddington Road to Blackrock
since April 1879.
This later connected to
Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire)
and thence to Dalkey (though
the trams couldn’t run direct,
straight through from Hadding-
ton Road to Dalkey because the
Kingstown to Dalkey line had
been built using the British 4
feet gauge rather than the usual
Irish 5 feet 3 inches gauge).
In 1893, the DSDTC, and
the Blackrock and Kingstown
tram companies were acquired
by Imperial Tramway of Bris-
tol and J Clifton Robinson was
appointed managing director.
Robinson re-laid the line from
Kingstown to Dalkey in the 5
feet 3 inches gauge to allow a
through service from Hadding-
ton Road to Dalkey. To facilitate
the electric tram service, a new
power plant and car shed was
opened in Shelbourne Road on
the 16th of May 1896. This tram
line, run latterly by the Dublin
United Tram Company, ran until
the last tram to Dalkey in 1949.
The idea of an indigenous car
assembly industry in Ireland
may be strange to younger read-
ers, but there was indeed such a
thing. It was an indirect result of
the Economic War with Britain
in the 1930s.
In 1932, the Fianna Fáil gov-
ernment refused to continue
paying annuities to the British
government. These payments
stemmed from an 1890 scheme
to allow tenant farmers to buy
out their farm from (mostly
British) landlords.
Few could afford this, so the
British government paid land-
lords, and farmers paid the gov-
ernment back through annuities.
The Irish Free state government
reckoned that as British land-
lords had no right to the land in
the first place, then the British
government shouldn’t be paid.
This sparked off a tariff war,
with the smaller economy of
Ireland coming off worse than
the much larger British econo-
my. Imports and sales of British-
manufactured vehicles plum-
meted. Prior to this about 4,000
vehicles were being imported
LOCAL HISTORY Page 15
annually.
Enter Frederick Maurice
Summerford, a founder member
of the Irish Motor Agents As-
sociation. Summerford lobbied
the then Minister for Industry
and Commerce, Seán Lemass,
to allow Complete Knock-down
(CKD) kit versions of cars to be
imported – with much less pu-
nitive tariffs than were imposed
on pre-built foreign imports –
for the purposes of assembling
the cars in Ireland. Shelbourne Road was the first gen in Europe in 1977.
In 1933, Lemass agreed to Volkswagen to be assembled NewsFour would love to hear
amend the Finance Act accord- outside Germany and is on dis- from anyone who worked in the
ingly and the Irish motor as- play today in the Volkswagen MDL plant on Shelbourne Road,
sembly industry was born. The Museum in Wolfsburg. or whose relative(s) did. We
industry was also helped by In 1950, 46 cars were assem- would particularly like to see
fixing a lower flat rate of mo- bled on the Shelbourne Road any photographs of the plant,
tor taxation for Irish-assembled production line. Assembly of which are hard to come by!
cars. (£16 versus £30.) Eventu- VW Beetles in Ireland had risen
ally this led to a plethora of car to 2,155 by 1952 and produc- Above: VW Beetle headlamp.
assembly businesses in Ireland, tion of Beetles peaked at 5,288 Image by Mike Bohan from
Ford in Cork and Brittans in in 1972. 3,000 to 4,000 Beetles Pixabay.
Rathmines being well-known were produced here on average Below: Volkswagen Beetle
examples. And it was at Fords until production of the model (1950).
that the man behind the VW was discontinued by Volkswa- Source: Volkswagen Museum.
Beetle assembly in Shelbourne
Road, Stephen O’Flaherty first
worked in the motor trade.
O’Flaherty was born in Pas-
sage East in 1902 and worked in
the accounts department at Ford
in Cork in the late 1920s. He
then moved to McCairns Mo-
tors in Dublin, rising to the po-
sition of Secretary and General
Manager.
He left McCairn’s in 1939 to
run Howard McGarry and Sons,
an engineering business he’d
purchased in Townsend St. By
1946 he had developed this into
a motor business called Motor
Distributors Ltd. (MDL). They
assembled several marques in-
cluding Adlers, Nash and Wallys
CKD cars in Townsend Street.
O’Flaherty acquired the Volk-
swagen franchise for Ireland at
the Paris Motor Show in 1949,
signing the contract in Germany
the following year. He moved
from the Townsend Street
premises to the old tram de-
pot, now defunct following the
tram line’s closure, of course,
in Shelbourne Road and began
VW Beetle assembly in 1950.
Beetles were assembled at the
Shelbourne Rd site from 1950 to
1952, when the company moved
to a larger factory on the Naas
Road.
The first Beetle assembled at
 Page 16
T Dublin housing stories: A portrait of the people
n Geneva Pattison
he number of homeless people in
Ireland stands at around 10,448 as
calculated by Focus Ireland, dur-
ing the week of the 18th to the 24th of
November 2019.
Daft.ie released a report the same
month, stating that the highest aver-
age monthly rent for a one-bedroom
apartment, can be found in Dublin 4 at
€1,966. It is evident now, more than ever
that the shape of homelessness is always
changing in Ireland. However, with so
many varying experiences and increas-
ing numbers, how can all the voices of
the people affected be heard?
A new online art project called ‘Dublin
Housing Stories’, seeks to remedy this.
The project is intended to shine a light
on the individual accounts from people
experiencing homelessness in its many
forms, through art and storytelling.
Submissions remain anonymous, and
are comprised of stories about families
being housed in hotels, adults moving
back home with their parents, people be-
ing priced out by landlords and tales of
reluctant emigration due to financial ne-
cessity.
The online platform also hopes to bring
attention to the knock-on effects of ever-
increasing and competitive rents, and the
difficult living conditions some people
have to put up with while living in Dub-
lin.
NewsFour got in touch with the creator
of Dublin Housing Stories, to discuss the
project itself, their goals for the project
and their own personal experience with
the housing market.
Q:We are all aware that Ireland is
currently in a severe housing crisis,
but was there one specific occurrence
or experience that gave you the inspi-
ration to start this art project?
A: “I have always moved around and
I come from a family who has always
rented, so I have always been very aware
of how difficult it is to find somewhere to
live, particularly in Dublin.
I noticed that it became increasingly
harder, not only for me but for my fam-
ily too, to find accommodation. When I
returned from a year abroad in the UK, I
began to see how much worse things had
become. I live in the city centre, and the
SOCIAL AFFAIRS / ISSUES
numbers of homeless people out here on
the streets, every night, is just unbeliev-
able.
Currently, I’m paying over €1,000 for
a bedroom in a shared house with my
partner, and I realised that many of my
friends were in similar situations. Al-
though I could have it a lot worse, I don’t
think it’s ideal for anyone, as it’s very
hard to save.
I wanted to open up a dialogue about
this and hear from people. Normalising
the situation is something I wanted to be
careful not to do, but I did want to show
people how common these stories of ex-
tortionate rents and competitive viewings
for sub-par accommodation are, so that
people don’t feel alone in the struggle.
I wanted to draw quotes over images of
the city, and show that although Dublin is
beautiful, it is also very hard to live in, at
the moment.”
Q: Have you considered expanding
this project further and showcasing it
using other mediums or through other
channels?
A: “I would love to spread the message
out and publish the pictures in a book or
to put them around town for passersby to
see. Likewise, I would also love to turn
them into a large scale art piece and hang
it somewhere and maybe exhibit some of
these stories.
Really, I just want people to see what
is happening, so that people who may not
be aware of the severity can hear stories
from people, and that people struggling
can relate and feel acknowledged.”
www.newsfour.ie
Q: What are your main goals for
this project?
A: “I would love for this project to
bring awareness to the housing crisis.
There are a lot of people raising aware-
ness, and I want to be one of the voices
in the discussion. The situation here isn’t
ok and I would love people to bear this
in mind when they vote on February 8th.
I feel devastated when I see homeless
deaths, people on HAP having awful dif-
ficulty securing homes, landlords raising
prices and adding other costs to rent that
is already sky-high … we need to give
people safe places to live and to really
look at the results of the way things are
being done at the moment.
The young generation are frustrated
as the yardstick for adulthood is ‘get a
mortgage’, ‘move out’ and ‘save money’
but a lot of young people simply cannot
save, because they are paying rent and
are finding it incredibly difficult to se-
cure property.
Many don’t know if they will be able
to afford children, pets or a car. The li-
on’s share of their income will be to pay
their landlord. The yardstick is not the
same now and a lot of people feel that
they have been forced to live at home
until their thirties, in some cases, if they
want to save for a house. There are many
who don’t have the option of living at
home.”
Q: What are your future hopes for
the people living in emergency accom-
modation?
A: “Families are in hotels and hubs
February / March 2020
and the effects of this are devastating.
Stories have come in from people who
have been moving from hotels to hubs
because nowhere will take them. They
are angry, let down and feel that they
don’t have a voice.
I hope that we can begin to share these
stories and make a change here. Ireland
is beautiful, but it truly is the people that
make it beautiful, and we need to make
sure everyone has the dignity of having
their own space, without crippling them-
selves financially.
I really believe that change is coming.
In the meantime, we need to keep shar-
ing our stories and let it be known that
we need change, urgently.”
To view more public submissions to
Dublin Housing Stories or to make an
anonymous submission, visit their insta-
gram profile below.
https://www.instagram.com/dublin-
housingstories/
Homeless figures were collected from
the Focus Ireland website below.
https://www.focusireland.ie/resource-
hub/about-homelessness/
Rental figures are available from the
Daft.ie Q3 report for 2019.
https://www.daft.ie/report/ronan-ly-
ons-2019q3-daftrentalprice
The National Housing Coalition and
other vital organisations can be found
on Twitter and Facebook to support, get
information and get active in campaigns
with.
Images courtesy of Dublin Housing
Stories creator.
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020 Page 17
 Page 18 VALENTINES www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020

A Valentine’s Day guide to roses

T
n Geneva Pattison
he history of giving flowers as
gifts in Western culture dates back
to the 17th century, when King
Charles II of Sweden first discovered the
language of flowers during a trip to Per-
sia.
Different flowers convey different
meanings. For example, giving someone
yellow carnations indicated disappoint-
ment and giving a gift of purple hyacinths
meant you were begging for a person’s
forgiveness.
Red roses were largely associated with
the goddess of love and passion, Aph-
rodite. According to Greek myth, rose
bushes grew upon the ground from Aph-
rodite’s fallen tears, dropping on her lover
Adonis’s blood.
Eventually, roses became the flower
most synonymous with Valentine’s day
and it is estimated that over 250 million
roses are produced every year for the
special day of romance. Traditionally,
the most popular gift to give or receive
are red, long stemmed cut roses, but does
most popular really mean they’re the best
gift? Let’s weigh in and examine some of
the alternative options for rose lovers.
day? This could be a delightful addition deeply floral and resinous fragrance, akin ing about everything from the ties be-
The colour of love to your proposal plans. to retsina wine. The Charles de Mills rose tween love and metamorphosis in the age
A bunch of roses will always be the Orange roses represent energy, passion is more suited to a planting pot, rather of Greek legend to romance in the bird
definitive go-to choice for floral Valen- and creativity. Is it you’re first Valentine’s than a bouquet. However this hardy, sun world. As mentioned in the event infor-
tine’s gifts. Nevertheless, there are still day as a couple? Show your enthusiasm loving and fragrant shrub would make an mation, the roses in the gardens won’t be
a few things you could consider before for the new relationship with these flow- excellent Valentine’s Day gift that would at their peak, in terms of appearance, so
purchasing. As previously mentioned, the ers, maybe paired with an exciting date! last year after year in a garden. it will be more of a celebration of spring
colour of a rose tells a unique story, what Peach-coloured roses represent grati- The striking floribunda rose, “Do- blooms with a romantic twist. The tour
would you like your rose to say? tude. Show your appreciation with a ten- ris Day”, is an excellent flower to use will take place from 3pm to 4pm, on the
Red roses represent beauty and ro- der, loving thank you. in bouquets. Just like the bright hair of 14th and 15th of February and tickets are
mance. A classic way to say I love you. Lavender roses mean love at first sight. the much-loved actress who inspired its €5.
Pink roses convey gentle sweetness and Have you known this person for a while name, its bright yellow colour will bring For further information about the
admiration. These would offer a heartfelt and Valentine’s day is your first official a ray of sunshine into anyone’s life and its Botanic Gardens event, visit http://
reminder to your loved one that you truly date? Tell them that you knew from the fragrance has been likened to spiced fruit. botanicgardens.ie/event/themed-
cherish their kindness. get go that they were that special some- If you are buying a potted “Doris Day” tour-budding-romance-2/?instance_
Yellow roses mean cheer, warmth and one. rose, a wonderful aspect of this flower is id=4265
the joy a person brings to your life. Per- that it is disease resistant. Tickets cost €5 per person, book on-
fect for romantic partners, family mem- A rose by any other name would smell Paradise roses are a most unusual vari- line through the link below
bers or friends. Let them know how much as sweet ety of flowers. Although it is classed as a https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/valen-
happiness they bring to you. Scent is another key factor in selecting hybrid tea rose with a discreet scent, its tines-day-guided-tourblooming-ro-
White roses convey purity remem- both cut and potted roses. Traditionally, colour combination is rather striking and mance-tickets-72928688671
brance and new beginnings. White roses the beautiful fragrance associated with certainly deserving of attention. It con-
are also a traditional wedding symbol for this flower is most commonly attributed sists of dark green stems with predomi- Images: Charles de Mills rose/ Doris
true love, known as the “bridal rose”. Are to the classic English rose. However, nantly lavender-coloured petals, with Day rose/ Paradise rose. Images courtesy
you thinking of proposing on Valentine’s there are many other interesting varieties blushed edges of vibrant fuschia. Wiki Commons,
of roses that have complex and subtly in- The colour variegation is induced when
tricate notes of aroma. the flower is growing in a hotter climate,
The old French gallica rose, “Charles de but too much direct sun can cause the pet-
Mills,” has a deep magenta colour, with a als to burn. Much like the Doris Day rose,
petal structure resembling that of a peony. this plant also has disease resistant foli-
It is primarily famed for the richness of its age.
scent. The 17th century Philosopher, Sir
Francis Bacon, wrote on the topic of this Botanic Gardens: Budding romance
rose. He noted that “They are fast flow- The Botanic Gardens are offering an al-
ers of their smells.” In other words, the ternative ‘date’ idea for lovers of nature,
petals are retentive of scented oil, which that’s if you’ve completely had enough
of course makes them ideal for potpourri of roses, in the shape of their guided
and for flavouring wines, preserves and “Budding Romance” tour. It will involve
confectionery. Charles de Mills has a a stroll around the gardens, while learn-
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
St Patrick’s Day
Fest 2020
T
n Geneva Pattison
he line-up for the St
Patrick’s Day Festival
is finally here, and con-
sists of five days and nights of
culture, ceol agus craic for all.
Prepare your dancing shoes and
your walking boots (that’s right)
because here’s a handy guide
to the events to look forward to
this March.
Hidden Agenda and St Pat-
rick’s Festival present
Festival After Dark : Jessy
Lanza + support TBA.
Canadian vocalist, producer
and DJ Jessy Lanza will be tear-
ing up the dance floor of Lost
Lane on Grafton St. on the 13th
of March from 11pm.
SEODA: A Celtic Collabora-
tion
Gruff Rhys and Richard Egan
Welshman Gruff Rhys (Su-
per Furry Animals, Neon Neon)
will be performing alongside
Dublin’s Richie Egan (Jape) in
Christ Church Cathedral for a
night of cross-celtic, electro-
folk musical splendour on the
13th of March with doors at
7:45pm
SEODA: A Celtic Collabora-
tion
The Breath and Brìgh-
de Chaimbeul with Aidan
O’Rourke.
The Pepper Canister church
will play host to an evening of
contemporary celtic-folk and
alt-folk music celebrating the
link with our Scottish neigh-
bours on March 14th, with
doors at 7:30pm.
This is How we Fly and Iarla
Ó Lionáird
The contemporary folk band
‘This is How we Fly’ will be de-
buting their Solstice Art Centre
Commision of an entirely new
cycle of songs in Liberty Hall on
March 15th with doors at 7:30pm.
EVENTS ROUNDUP
Lisa Hannigan Sings Pomes
Penyeach + Guests
Critically acclaimed Irish
Singer/Songwriter Lisa Han-
nigan will be performing a
uniquely modern version of
the poetry of James Joyce
from his final book of poems,
‘Pomes Penyeach’. This world
premiere will take place on
March 16th at 8pm in the Na-
tional Concert Hall.
Page 19
Where We Live 2020
THISISPOPBABY in as-
sociation with St Patrick’s
Festival will present “stories
from the city, told in the heart
of town” from the 11th-21st
of March in the Project Arts
Centre.
Ballad Tours with Seán
Fitzgerald
Musician and storyteller
Seán Fitzgerald will be “pro-
moting social history though
song” by leading musical sto-
rytelling tours around Dub-
lin City in various locations.
People can look forward to a
fully interactive experience
surrounding the theme of Irish
Music and Dublin.
This event will be running
from the 14th-16th of March,
with a choice of tours at 12pm
or 3pm on those dates.
All of these events are all
ticketed, so be sure to check
out the official St Patrick’s
Day Festival website for book-
ing and further information.
http://www.stpatricksfesti-
val.ie/
Pictured: Lisa Hannigan.
 Page 20
NEWSfour’s guide to General Election
Sarah Durcan – Social Democrats
Sarah is the Associate Director of Science
Gallery International, bringing science, art,
technology and design together to deliver a
world-class educational and cultural experi-
ence for young people. Her background is
in theatre, having served on the board of the
Abbey Theatre, and she was a lead organ-
iser of #WakingTheFeminists campaign to
achieve gender equality in Irish theatre. She
was a candidate in last year’s local elections.
The Social Democrats are a relatively new
party, launched in 2015 by three independ-
ent TDs, Roisin Shortall, Catherine Mur-
phy, and Stephen Donnelly. Donnelly later
defected to Fianna Fail. The party adopted
the Nordic model of social democracy. Their
core tenets are for a more inclusive society,
transparency in government, and support for
SMEs
Sláintecare is the original brainchild of the
Social Democrats, now widely adopted by
all parties. It is a fully costed plan for a uni-
versal, single-tier public health service that
would join up health and social care. It aims
to promote homecare and reduce prescrip-
tion charges, improved funding for mental
health, including counselling, community
programmes, and adult mental health teams.
It was developed as the result of a cross-Par-
ty Oireachtas Committee chaired by Roisin
Shortall.
Cllr Chris Andrews – Sinn Féin
Chris served as a TD between 2007 and
2011 for the Fianna Fáil party. During
that term he was Convenor of the Finance
Committee, and also sat on the Trade, En-
terprise and Employment Committee, and
the European Scrutiny Committee. He
campaigned on behalf of the Palestinian
people, personally taking part in a flotilla
to try to bring aid to the people of Gaza.
After losing his Dáil seat in the Fianna
Fáil meltdown of 2011 he left the party a
year later citing disillusionment with the
lack of leadership as the reason and joined
Sinn Féin.
Chris is currently a councillor for the
South East Inner City ward. He is in-
volved in community development work
with residents’ associations, environmen-
tal groups, charities and local community
projects focused on homelessness and
mental health. Chris was central in setting
up the Ringsend/Irishtown Darkness into
Light Walk which in two years has raised
over €200,000 for Pieta House and sui-
cide awareness.
Sinn Féin, (an all island party) call for
a new universal public health system for
Ireland that provides care to all, free at
the point of delivery. They want to end
the two- tier system and replace it with
comprehensive community-based prima-
GENERAL ELECTION 2020
The Social Democrats have made univer-
sal access to affordable housing a priority.
In May 2017 the party published the Urban
Regeneration and Housing Bill to eliminate
loopholes to the vacant site levy and increase
penalties for developers engaged in land
hoarding. In January 2018 they called for a
nationwide rent freeze.
Sarah believes it’s time for a new era of
grown-up politics that deliver a better qual-
ity of life for all citizens. One where we can
re-imagine politics as true public service,
service for inclusive progress and prosperity,
that respects everyone’s dignity and right to
thrive throughout their life.
ry health and social care services for all,
and to recruit 6,600 additional frontline
healthcare workers. They call for an end
to public subsidies for private healthcare.
On housing they promise to build
100,000 public homes on public land; in-
cluding 60,000 social homes. They would
also take emergency action to address the
rental crisis by reducing rents by up to
€1,500 a year with a refundable tax credit,
alongside introducing a three-year freeze
on all existing and new rents. They are
also calling for a referendum to enshrine
the right of housing into the constitution,
and to target long-term homelessness.
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Jim O’Callaghan – Fianna Fáil
Jim has been a TD since 2016 and is cur-
rently Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Jus-
tice and Equality. As opposition spokes-
person he drafted and secured cross
party support for his Parole Bill, which
was passed by the Oireachtas. The Bill
gives victims of crime and their families
the right to be heard during the parole
process. The Oireachtas also passed his
proposals to expand the powers of the
Criminal Assets Bureau into law. A keen
cyclist, he advocates the extension of cy-
cling infrastructure in Dublin.
On health Fianna Fáil promises to cre-
ate 2,600 additional hospital beds (same
as FG) and to significantly increase
home care support hours to alleviate de- and 66.
layed discharges, as well as recruiting On climate Fianna Fáil also says it is
1,000 extra consultants and 4,000 extra committed to reaching a 70 percent tar-
nursing staff over five years. get for renewable electricity by 2030
The party also says it will create (same as FG). The party says it’s com-
200,000 new homes by 2025, as well mitted to raising carbon tax to €80 per
as an extra 50,000 social and affordable tonne by 2030 and undertake the retro-
homes. They declare they will increase fitting of homes with funding of €200
homeless funding to €250 million, and million. It would establish a €5 million
increase rent supplement levels by 10 trees in towns fund for local authorities,
percent. and allow local authorities to launch car-
They promise an extra €5 a year in free days in specified parts of their area.
the state pension over five years (same It would also ban diesel cars from Irish
as FG) and will introduce a transition cities from 2030, with the aim of a com-
pension in the interim for people aged 65 plete removal of fossil fuel cars by 2035.
Kevin Humphreys – Labour
Kevin was a TD in the Fine Gael-La-
bour coalition from 2011 until 2016. He
served as Minister of State for Employ-
ment, Community and Social Protection
from 2014 to 2016. He was Convenor of
the Oireachtas Finance Committee, Pub-
lic Expenditure and Reform, and secured
reforms to the Freedom of Information
Act. He was also active on establish-
ing an Independent Advisory Council
on Climate Change. He first became
a county councillor in 1999, and was
elected again 2004 and 2009, topping
the poll, both times. One of the things he
worked for was the Dublin bike scheme.
He also served as Deputy Lord Mayor
in 2009. Kevin campaigned against the charges. The party wants to see an annu-
original 8th amendment in 1983, and has al social welfare increase of a minimum
been a keen advocate of minority causes. €5 per week every year in all social wel-
Since 2016 he has been a member of the fare payments.
Seanad. On housing they want public land to
Labour want to end the two-tier health be made available for social and afford-
system that exists in this country. They able housing, including schemes of af-
promise to deliver Universal Health fordable home ownership. They want
Care by creating a new National Com- to replace the Housing Agency and the
munity Health Service – a public prima- Housing Finance Agency with a new
ry care system where access is free to all. single national State agency, called the
They also want to extend free GP care National Housing Development Bank,
to those under 18, followed by the rest which is to be given the powers, the
of the population by 2021 at the latest, land, the expertise and the money to de-
and reduce drug costs and prescription liver housing now.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Local candidates
Eoghan Murphy – Fine Gael
Eoghan is the current Minister for Hous-
ing, Planning and Local Government, a
position he’s held since 2017. In his Ur-
ban Development and Building Heights:
Guidelines for Planning Authorities
(2018) plan he called for councils to lift
‘overly restrictive maximum heights.’
The measure is not without its merits as
it is an attempt to check urban sprawl,
but it also means local councillors can
no longer impose building height rules
in city and county development plans,
and could mean Dublin will lose its sta-
tus as a low-density city.
Murphy has been heavily criticised
for inaction in relation to housing and
that homelessness has grown under his
watch. He defends his record, includ-
ing €400m spending on HAP payments
rather than implementing adequate fund-
ing for local authorities to build public
housing.
However, the one kind of housing
model he seems to favour is the ‘co-
living’ model; a small private en-suite
room with shared communal spaces.
Such units may suit short-term mobile
residents, but with rents ranging from
€1200 to €1500 a month they are hard-
ly a solution to the housing crisis. The
five-floor complex earmarked for Dún
Eamon Ryan – Green Party/Comhaontas Glas
Eamon has been leader of the Green party since
2011 and a TD for Dublin Bay South since 2016.
He was first elected to the Dáil in the 2002 elec-
tion and was the Green party’s spokesperson on
Transport, Enterprise, Trade and Employment;
and Communications, Marine and Natural Re-
sources. From 2007 until 2011 he was Minister
for Communications, Energy, and Natural Re-
sources in the Fianna Fáil-Greens government
which ended with the economic collapse and
the bailout. He did much to promote green ener-
gy and the use of wind power doubled in Ireland
during this period. He was criticised by some en-
vironmental activists for supporting, along with
the government, the Shell to Sea programme in
County Mayo, which he had actively opposed
before the Greens entered government.
The Greens (an all island party) believe in a
single-tier health system that gives universal ac-
cess based on need. They want to boost primary
care facilities, putting the patient at the heart of
the healthcare system, as well as giving people
access to their medical records. Innovate in edu-
cation, agriculture and economy.
In their manifesto they set out an ambitious
plan to provide affordable housing for all, new
public housing founded on the Vienna model,
a cost-rental housing model, where tenants pay
the construction and maintenance costs, not the
market rate and homeownership at a cost equal
to no more than 30 percent of net income. They
GENERAL ELECTION 2020
Also running in the Dublin Bay South constituency are Jacqui Gilbourne (Renua) and Independents
Mannix Flynn, John Dominic Keigher, Peter Dooley, Sean O’Leary, Ben Scallan and Norma Burke.
Visit party sites, read policies, research previous actions/legislation/Dáil voting records on issues before voting on Feb 8th. https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/votes/
Laoghaire, and recently given the green
light by An Bord Pleanála, has been
described by some as Dickensian, with
rooms compared to bedsits. Last De-
cember a motion of no confidence in the
Minister tabled by the Social Democrats
was only narrowly defeated by three
votes.
However, despite this, the Minister and
Fine Gael are confident they can deliver
35,000 - 40,000 new homes every year
for the next five years. And they promise
to expand the Help to Buy scheme, aided
with the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan,
in a bid to help more first-time buyers.
also want to empower renters by paying rent
supplement in advance, and legislate to end the
sale of property as a reason for ending a lease.
The Green Party have 40 years expertise
on the environment and have led many of the
current small changes implemented. They be-
lieve that Ireland must lead the way in the fight
against climate change with system change.
They demand Ireland implement fully the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals, retrofit build-
ings for energy efficiency, and transition to a
100 percent decarbonised power system, while
ending reliance on fossil fuels completely. They
are opposed to fracking and demand a total ban
on further exploration or drilling.
Page 21
Kate O’Connell – Fine Gael
Kate was elected for the first time
to the Dáil in 2016, taking Lucinda
Creighton’s former seat for Fine Gael.
Originally from Kilbeggan, County
Westmeath, she now lives in Rathgar
where she runs a successful pharmacy
practice.
Fine Gael has promised 2,600 addi-
tional hospital beds (same as FF) along
with 3,840 new primary care work-
ers with 1,000 in place by the end of
the year. It says it would extend free
GP care to all children under 16, and
reduce the drug payment scheme to a
maximum of €75 a month. The party
says it will recruit 5,000 nursing staff
over the next five years, as well as Féin’s recent bill to freeze rents.
1,000 new consultants over ten years They plan to raise the carbon tax
(same as FF). (currently €26 per tonne) over 10 years
They also promise to raise the state by €6 each year with this raise ring-
pension by €5 a year and introduce a fenced and invested in climate action,
State transition pension for those re- and to increase renewable electricity to
tiring at 66 (same as FF), and a State 70 percent by 2030 (same as FF). They
pathway pension for those retiring at want to increase the current level of
65, while eliminating the need to sign retrofitting of homes tenfold, and in-
on and be actively seeking work. crease the take up of electric vehicles.
They promise to introduce legislation There are identical similarities in
to provide for tenancies of a long-term the policies and promises that both Fi-
or indefinite duration, which would anna Fáil and Fine Gael are making,
give renters greater long-term security, although the parties differ in some re-
but it must be noted they opposed Sinn spects, particularly their tax proposals.
Annette Mooney – S-People Before Profit
Annette is a member of People Before
Profit, a political movement that grew
out of frustration at the perceived con-
centration of wealth in the hands of a
few, and widespread inequality. She
narrowly lost her council seat last year
to Mannix Flynn, and is running now
for a Dáil seat. It will be Annette’s sec-
ond time to run for the Dáil. She was
the coordinator of the Together for Yes
campaign, which delivered the larg-
est yes vote in the country for Repeal.
She campaigned successfully for the
Irish Glass Bottle social and afford-
able housing, and has been a consist-
ent campaigner for rent controls. She
worked as a community nurse before ties, and an end to big land develop-
becoming a secondary school teacher, ers buying up sites and then sitting on
and if elected she promises only to them. She also wants to see an expan-
take the average wage. sion of homeless shelters and an end
To protect the less well-off Annette to the degrading practice where home-
and PBP want to bring about strict rent less people have to ring every day at a
controls, and a situation where rental certain time to see if they can secure
increases can only be linked to a rise in a bed.
the Consumer Price Index. Also PBP She would like to reverse the 300
argue that tenants must be given secu- buses cut from Dublin Bus that the Fi-
rity of tenure, and where a building is anna Fail-Green government brought
sold off the tenants be allowed to keep in, move to a €1 fare and gradually to
their homes (same as GP). free buses. She’s calling for more cy-
She would like to see more compul- cle lanes with soft barriers, as well as
sory purchase orders on vacant proper- a move to renewable energy.
 Page 22
Recovering
by Richie Sadlier
R
n David Prendeville
ichie Sadlier’s new autobiography is a serious-
minded, unflinching and often harrowing ac-
count of his journey from childhood in Dublin,
to the realisation of his dreams of playing football pro-
fessionally with Millwall, to early retirement forced
upon him through injury.
He goes on to talk about the difficulties this posed,
his addiction problems, his crippling self-doubt and ul-
timately his recovery. He now works as a psychothera-
pist, alongside his role as an analyst for RTE.
Sadlier pulls no punches and speaks openly and hon-
estly about his own mental health, his familial rela-
tions and the low moments he’s been in. Throughout
the book he comes across as an intelligent, thoughtful
man, dogged by low self-esteem and self-doubt. It is
not the standard image one has of professional soccer
players.
While Sadlier details his various excesses in the dark
years, never does this become a story of salaciousness
and celebrity scandal and nor does it become a moral-
ity tale. While Sadlier talks about how hard he was on
himself when he was a younger man, by the end of the
book he’s keen to point how he now is more under-
standing of his younger self and less quick to judge
him.
The book comes across as written by a wise person,
who’s still learning, and who wants to impart as much
The NewsFour Crossword
Compiled by Gemma Byrne
Name:…………………………… Telephone:…………………
Address:…………………………………………………………
BOOK REVIEW
wisdom and help as many people as he can.
Sadlier started his career in Ireland before moving
to Millwall at a young age. He blossomed into a very
promising young striker, being the top scorer in the old
Division One for much of the 2001/2002 season. This
prompted a call-up to the Irish squad in the build-up to
the 2002 World Cup.
ACROSS:
1) Stormy (11)
6) Writing fluid (3)
8) Son of Deadalus (6)
9) One who makes a suggestion
(on bended knee?) (8)
10) Plain but practical (11)
11) Red as Gaeilge (3)
12) Ovum (3)
13) A young porker (6)
15) Fall behind (3)
17) Landlocked country in East Africa (6)
18) Coloured permanently (4)
19) Sign/Prompt (3)
20) Shrub with a purple flower (5)
23) Suppress (6)
25) Command a canine to stay close (4)
26) Plato thought that every man should be
given this (3)
27) Springs back in fright or disgust (7)
28) A type of wool (6)
29) Remittance in advance (10)
30) Bashful (3)
DOWN:
1) One of the valves in the heart (9)
2) Of no importance (11)
3) Knowledgeable (7)
4) Without equal (12)
5) Lying face upwards (6)
6) A mutineer or rebel (9)
7) 80’s hit for Culture Club (5, 9)
14) With diplomacy (9)
16) Seabird (9)
21) Sell lots of records to make your way up
these maps (6)
22) Maple or golden (5)
24) A group or military unit (5)
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Sadly, a hip injury forced him out of contention for
that World Cup and ultimately forced him to retire at
the age of 24. Sadlier points to a picture that was taken
with him and the rest of the Ireland squad before the
one friendly he played for his country, how this haunt-
ed him for years, thinking about what could have been
and how he didn’t deserve to be in the picture with all
the others.
He now looks back on it and remembers how much
he enjoyed the day and how he let go of all those nega-
tive thoughts that used to dog his mind.
Sadlier paints a stark picture of what it’s like to lose,
not only your career, but all that you’ve dreamt of from
such a young age. His accounts of his own mental state
and also the depiction of coming up through the ranks
at Millwall, paint a different picture of what it’s like
being a professional footballer.
This is, for the most part, very much a non-glamor-
ous story and it can be quite a tough read at times. The
dressing room here is painted as a place rife with toxic
masculinity and poor role models. Sadlier is, however,
keen to illustrate that, despite some of the negative as-
pects, he still loved being a footballer more than any-
thing else.
There’s a lot of sadness and trauma in here but it’s
a book that’s also infused with hope. Sadlier would
eventually realise that psychotherapy was a calling
every bit as fulfilling as football to him.
An important, insightful and engaging book. Highly
recommended.
Recovering by Richie Sadlier published by Gill
Books RRP: €22.99. Available at Books on The
Green and all other bookshops.
Photo courtesy of Gill Books.
Solutions for
dec 2019/ jan 2020
Crossword
Across:
1) Terrible Twos; 8) Inclement;
9) Rouge; 10) Directionless; 13)
Tier; 14) Nee; 15) Begrudger; 16)
TNT; 17) Bass; 19) Braise; 22)
Skyr; 24) Udder; 25) Ciphers; 26)
Equip; 28) Delusional; 29) Adage.
Down:
1) Tried and Tested; 2) Recur-
rent; 3) Ice Ice Baby; 4) Leering;
5) Titanium; 6) Shop Steward; 7)
Digs; 11) Sir; 12) Grime; 18) Sub-
plot; 20) Seeking; 21) Leeway;
23) Yield; 24) Use; 25) Cusp; 27)
QED.
Prize of €25 book token. Post
entries to NewsFour, 13A Fit-
zwilliam Street, Ringsend, Dub-
lin 4 by 20th March 2020.
The winner of our Dec/Jan
crossword competition is Ulick
Corkery, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020 CULTURE / LITERATURE Page 23

Conversations in Singapore
important questions as
much from the reader
as from Michael him-
self. The device fur-
ther serves to remove
the attention from the
author, thus avoiding
preachiness.
Conversations in
Singapore is a hy-
brid of road book and
philosophical inquiry.
Michael sets out on a
journey, a physical as
well as a spiritual and
metaphysical one, that
takes him from Lon-
don to Sydney along
the Silk Road, with
a bunch of travelnics
who call themselves ‘the Vil-
lage’. Mingled with the phil-
osophical excursions are a
healthy sprinkling of wisdom
and banter from the Village;
shades of Kerouac and Robert
Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Mo-
torcycle Maintenance) abound.
Thinking of going to Singa-
fallacy of self-image. She says:
“Your self-image makes you
act like you, Michael. It keeps
you within your comfort-zone.”
Which means it keeps you lim-
ited, often unconsciously so.
We all walk around with a set
image of ourselves, and upon
that, whether it is healthy or
lives; so awareness is
the first step to awaken-
ing. “Your self-image
and level of success
are always equal,” she
says, and in order to
be successful you must
first change your self-
image, and then raise
your comfort-zone.
A short book, but one
which you will return
to many times. I like it,
not because of the an-
swers it withholds, but
for the important ques-
tions it raises.
Conversations in
Singapore: Search-
ing for True Success
on the Silk Road One Ques-
tion at a Time, by Michael E.
Daly is published by Liberties
Press and is available in Book
on The Green and on Amazon
at €7.
Above: Michael Daly.
Book cover supplied courtesy of

I
n Eoin Meegan
n ‘Conversations in Singa-
pore: Searching for True
Success on the Silk Road
One Question at a Time’ Mi-
chael Daly sets out to answer
the question, what is the mean-
ing of true success?
This may seem innocuous
enough, but finding a satisfac-
tory answer can be more chal-
lenging than the question’s
beguiling simplicity would at
first suggest. We might prof-
fer: material blessings, earning
a lot of money, love, family, a
good job, and so on. And while
all these are very worthwhile,
do any of them, in themselves,
offer an absolute on success?
Just as an experiment, take a
minute and see if you can an-
swer what true success is for
you? Maybe it wasn’t as easy
as you thought.
This is Michael’s second
book. He is already the author
of the critically-acclaimed ‘The
Six Traits of Self-Leadership:
How to Create a Life of Suc-
cess and Happiness’, published
in 2014. He is a speaker who
has led workshops both here
and throughout Europe on per-
sonal development and goal-
setting. He has worked in a va-
riety of jobs, including health
care and as an entrepreneur; as
well as training as a monk.
To assist him in his quest to
find the meaning of true suc-
cess, Michael engages in a
kind of Socratic dialogue with
a young lady by the name of
Parandin, a waitress and the
daughter of the owner of the
Hotel Falah in Singapore. By
asking him a series of penetrat-
ing questions, usually over cof-
fee or dinner, a picture of what
true success is slowly begins to
emerge.
It’s all rather subtle. This sys-
tem of eliciting an answer that
is already there, but hidden, is
steeped in an ancient tradition.
Socrates called it midwifery,
whereby one gives birth to the
truth by means of uncovering
all the falsehoods that seek to
cover it up; all the time aware
that the person already has the
answers within them. Some to-
day might call it psychoanaly-
sis. Or life coaching.
Parandin’s motto is: “Know
the way and go the way.” She
encourages Michael to seek
true success, and then write
about this, and make it his leg-
acy. Which, I suppose, is what
he did. The book is in the tradi-
tion of Paulo Coelho or Carlos
Castaneda with Parandin play-
ing the role of the Yaqui Indian
Don Juan. And I think here the
conceit works very well as it
facilitates eliciting answers to
pore soon? Well, even if the weak, proceed to construct our Michael Daly.
mood takes you it’s probably
advisable not to be in too much
of a rush to find the enigmatic
Hotel Falah, which we’re told
was itself established to dis-
cover what true success is (the
word falah by the way means
‘success’ in Arabic). In all like-
lihood you won’t find it. Ap-
parently they’re not actively
seeking guests!
Is there a main theme you
can take away from Conversa-
tions in Singapore? On the one
hand, much like other books
in this category, yes: look in-
side for real wisdom, cultivate
gratitude, follow your own star
and don’t be dissuaded by the
opinions of others, or the world
at large. On the other hand no:
Conversations in Singapore re-
sists giving you the answers, as
so many self-help books feel it
is almost their duty to do.
In some ways this book
doesn’t pretend to have the an-
swers. It elucidates the ques-
tion, and gently encourages you
to find the answer in yourself,
which as all those other books
say, is where real wisdom re-
sides. After all, true success is
a subjective matter, and the an-
swer will be very different for
each reader. Often there may be
more than one answer.
Parandin reminds us of the
 Page 24
The DCC South East Area Commit-
tee (SEAC) met on January 13th
with Cllr Dermot Lacey (LAB) in
the chair.
Docklands Visitor Experience De-
velopment Plan
Ms Caroline O’Keefe from Fáilte
Ireland gave a presentation on the
Docklands Visitor Experience De-
velopment Plan. Ms O’Keefe told
the committee that Fáilte Ireland has
spent the last 18 months consulting
with stakeholders in the area and is
about to move into a period of pub-
lic consultation on environmental as-
pects of the development plan.
She said the Docklands Visitor Ex-
perience Development is a five-year
plan to drive visitors and increased
revenue to the area and is the first of
its kind in Dublin. Visitors canvassed
by Fáilte Ireland wanted a further
experience beyond the existing at-
traction of the EPIC museum and in
particular wanted to “engage with the
water”.
Ms O’Keefe highlighted the exam-
ple of the Norman Way in Wexford
and New Ross, where development
of new visitor experiences had led to
a 10% increase in visitors to the at-
tractions involved, and emphasised
the importance of all stakeholders in
the area working together to “get your
message across.”
She used the visit of two imaginary
US tourists to Dublin Docklands in
2022 to illustrate where the devel-
opment of the visitor experience in
Docklands could go, with visits to
the Customs House, the planned food
market in CHQ and over the river to
the enhanced tour experience run by
Windmill Lane in Ringsend.
Throughout the presentation Ms
O’Connell emphasised the importance
of developing a narrative for the area
combining the local and maritime his-
tory and the present-day identity of
the area as a place of business and
technology innovation.
Commenting after the presentation
Cllr Deirdre Conroy (FF) said that
Docklands “desperately needs more
tourism.” She highlighted the prob-
lem of increased traffic issues there
as a result of multi-storey develop-
ments with underground car parking
and of the need for DCC to be aware
of the sterility and dearth of activity
at ground floor level in any new de-
velopment in the area.
Cllr Pat Dunne (United Left) wel-
comed efforts to increase tourism
but made the point that, while DCC
contributes to infrastructural develop-
ment in Dublin, DCC does not itself
receive any increased revenue from an
increase in tourism visitors. He asked
that Fáilte Ireland work with DCC to
look for ways in which the Council
DCC NOTES
DCC Notes
Compiled by Dermot Carmody
might have a share of increased tour-
ism revenues.
Cllr Mary Freehil (Lab) regret-
ted that since the abolition of Dub-
lin Tourism, which had City Council
representatives taking part, there was
no democratic element to the develop-
ment of tourism or consultation with
the council when developing tourism
policy.
Cllr James Geoghegan (FG) asked
if the proposed whitewater rafting fa-
cility in Georges Dock was part of the
development plan. Ms O’Connell said
the whitewater rafting facility is in
the plans to “animate the area.”
Cllr Kevin Donoghue (Lab) wel-
comed the presentation, but said he’d
like to see more emphasis on the “rich
working class history” of Ringsend in
particular, which he said had suffered
from a process of gentrification.
Cllr Flynn (Ind) said development
in Docklands needs to be re-aligned
back into the city. He questioned the
use of the term “Docklands Experi-
ence” and said that the local com-
munity has not really been engaged
and that the area closes down at night
because of the prevalence of offices.
He said “If you cannot keep the work-
force, who are in their tens of thou-
sands there after after five o’cock,
you are finished.”
Cllr Lacey agreed with Cllrs Dunne
and Freehill on the need for a bed
night tax to help fund spending on in-
frastructure and maintenance by the
council. Picking up on Cllr Donghue’s
comments, he pointed out there is “a
huge body of material” already gath-
ered by Terry Fagan and the Dock-
lands Folklore Museum which should
be harnessed. He also mentioned
unused structures such as the power
station in Ringsend and the Martello
www.newsfour.ie
Tower in Sandymount, which could
be part of a tourist trail.
Matters Arising From Traffic Ad-
visory Group Meeting On Dec 12,
2019
Cllr Lacey asked Neil O’Donoghue,
Executive Area Engineer when the
council might expect to hear from a
focus group meeting promised in rela-
tion to traffic safety issues relating to
St. Conleth’s School in Clyde Road.
This relates to a written reply from Mr
O’Donoghue to a question put to him
on behalf of Donnybrook Tidy Towns
highlighting the need for a number of
enhancements to road safety around
St Conleth’s, particularly at drop off
and pick up times. Mr O’Donoghue
said it was likely to be March before
the outcome from the focus group and
engagement with the council on that
outcome.
Cambridge Road & Library Square,
Ringsend
Cllr Claire Byrne (GP) asked about
the time-frame for development of
Cambridge Road and Library Square
in Ringsend. Senior Executive Officer,
Brian Hanney said that there is work
to be done in relation to Part A Plan-
ning for Cambridge Road and Library
Square redevelopment and that it is
hoped to get to the Part A Planning
stage as early as possible and council-
lors will be kept advised. Mr Hanney
said that, at a meeting last year, local
businesses in Library Square raised the
issue of retaining parking outside their
premises. He believed there was now
a solution which will be acceptable to
people in Ringsend and hoped to enter
public consultation with them as soon
as possible. Very important for the heart
of Ringsend.
February / March 2020
What Happens To Abandoned
Bikes?
Cllr Anne Feeney (FG) raised an inter-
esting point when she asked what hap-
pens to abandoned bikes when removed
by the council. For the council, Domi-
nic Hession responded saying there
were 397 abandoned bikes removed
last year. Bikes identified as possibly
abandoned are tagged, giving the owner
two weeks to retrieve them. After that
they’re scheduled for removal. After a
month in storage the bikes are handed
to a bicycle shop which takes what parts
they can from them. In a batch of 30 or
40 such bikes there are a few that can
be refurbished. The council agrees a
price with the bike shop for these and
the money goes to charity. None of the
bikes go to landfill anymore. All are re-
used or scrapped, making this a green
solution.
Motions
A motion from Cllr Lacey (Lab)
sought a report from the Manager on
what options Dublin City Council is
considering in relation to the former
public toilets site at the junction of An-
glesea Road, Ballsbridge and discusses
what options councillors consider might
be suitable. Cllr Lacey saw no reason
why public toilets could not be reinstat-
ed on the site, given the large number
of people attending events nearby at the
RDS and The Aviva Stadium. Cllr Flynn
(Ind) suggested this was a good site for
a commemorative public statute, citing
the example of Dr Noel Browne as a
candidate for such a statue. This motion
and another to have bike parking facili-
ties installed to facilitate people using
The Hive in Herbert park were adopted.
The final motion, proposed by Cllr
Danny Byrne (FG) called on the coun-
cil to comply with the law in relation
to regulating properties being let on
websites such as Airbnb contrary to
legislation. Cllr Byrne pointed out that
there are currently three extra Airbnb
properties a week being advertised de-
spite this legislation, and that the target
of reducing these by a thousand a year
would mean it would be five years be-
fore all non-compliant properties were
eliminated, at a time when such proper-
ties were needed on the Dublin rental
market.
Cllr Costelloe (GP) said that Airbnb
landlords should be paying rates, and
that it was wrong to censure the Coun-
cil rather than Airbnb. Cllr Freehill and
others supported this point and criti-
cised the regulation of Airbnb by the
government.
Above: The iconic public toilets built
in 1943 which were demolished in
2014 after 70 years, with promises of
the site at that time remaining at the
heart of the community.
Photo: NewsFour archive.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
T
n Kathrin Kobus
he RDS was packed
again for three days
from the 9th-11th Janu-
ary. Over 1,000 students repre-
sented 244 schools of Ireland
at the 56th BT Young Scientist
Fair.
More than 50,000 visitors,
young and older students
from primary and secondary
schools, passed through the
doors between Thursday and
Saturday and into a packed
main hall.
Ecological topics dominated
for many projects, from coastal
erosion, weather warnings, and
new transport fuels, moving
away from diesel and petrol or
as hybrids, to energy-saving
and producing technologies,
medical gadgets and applica-
tions.
It was not made easy for the
four different panels of judges
who were tasked to find firstly,
the winners in their respective
categories Social and Behav-
ioural Sciences; Chemical,
Physical and Mathematical
Sciences; Technology; and
Biological and Ecological Sci-
ences and secondly to agree
upon the overall winner(s).
Dublin 4 secondary schools
rather took a step back this
year. One student from St Mi-
chael’s, Yichang Wang had en-
tered the intermediate category
with his biodegradable pack-
age studies titled ‘Not
plastic? The single use
revolution’.
The other two pro-
jects came not just
from one school but
the same class, with
the same science
teacher. All four are
pupils of Conor Max-
well from Sandymount
Educate Together.
Greta Whipple and
EVENTS ROUNDUP
Sarah Boissier are working
on the more eco-friendly cot-
ton fabric-based clothing bag
to prevent microplastic used
in synthetic fibres from es-
caping into the ground water
while doing the laundry. They
are still working on the bag
and haven’t tested it yet in the
washing machine.
Harper Walsh and Arlo Daly
focussed on ‘The environmen-
tal impact of solar energy’, or
rather the impact that the ma-
terials and substances used in
solar panels can have when
coming in contact with soil
and how it impedes or hinders
plant growth.
Both projects were entered
for the junior group category.
It was the first time for the
school participating at the Sci-
ence Fair. Surely they will have
Page 25
taken inspiration for coming perimental analysis to the Irish
years, seeing first-hand how Longitudinal Study on Age-
high the standards are set for ing’.
awards and honorary mentions. The winners are going to
This year the duo Cormac represent Ireland at the Euro-
Harris and Alan O’Sullivan, pean Union Contest for Young
from Coláiste Choilm were Scientists, which takes place in
the overall winners with their Santander, Spain in September
project ‘A statistical investi- 2020.
gation into the prevalence of The BTYS will return next
gender stereotyping in 5-7 year January for its 57th exhibition.
olds and the develop-
ment of an initiative to Pictured clockwise from top
combat gender bias’, left:
entered in to the Inter- Sarah Boissier and Gre-
mediate section in the ta Whipple; Arlo Daly and
Social and Behaviour- Harper Walsh; Yichang Wang,
al Sciences category. St Michael’s College; Os-
The best Individual car Despard, Sandford Park
award went to Dublin- School (Individual Award);
er Oscar Despard from Cormac Harris and Alan
Sandford Park School O’Sullivan, Coláiste Choilm
in Ranelagh. ‘Apply- (Overall Winners).
ing Data-Driven Ex- Below Individual stands and
overall view of the exhibition.
Photographs: Gary Burke/
Kathrin Kobus.
BTYS winner photos by Chris
Bellew/Fennell Photography
2020.
 Page 26
Derek Jarman
at IMMA
R
n David Prendeville
unning from now until February 23rd at the
Irish Museum of Modern Art is PROTEST!
– a major retrospective of the work of one of
the most influential figures in 20th century British
culture, Derek Jarman.
While addressing Jarman’s important contribution
to film, this exhibition focuses on his wider practice
as a painter, writer, set-designer, gardener and politi-
cal activist. This is the first time that these diverse
strands of his practice have been brought together in
over 20 years.
PROTEST! captures Jarman’s engagement with
both art and society, as well as his contemporary
concerns with political protest and personal free-
doms arising from the AIDS crisis. Major bodies
of work, from the 1960s to the 1990s, have been
brought together, many of which have never been
seen in public before.
Derek Jarman studied at the Slade School of Art,
London in the early 1960s, and was part of a group
of young painters, including Patrick Procter and Da-
vid Hockney, who embodied a changing mood in
British art.
More than 80 early works have been identified
from the period 1958 to 1970, and some 30 of these
are previously unknown and have been catalogued,
conserved and documented for this exhibition.
In 1967 Jarman was included in Tate Young Con-
temporaries; in the inaugural exhibition at the Lis-
son Gallery and the 5th Biennale des Jeunes, Paris;
a remarkable record of achievement for a painter
ART
in his mid-twenties. Alongside painting he began
to produce set designs for opera and ballet, which
fused his personal style of painting with the scale
and three-dimensionality needed for the theatre.
Sometimes called ‘The Andy Warhol of Lon-
don’, as early as 1967 Jarman was hired to cre-
ate production design sets such as Jazz Calendar
by Frederick Ashton at the Royal Ballet; and in
1971 the sumptuous set for Ken Russell’s bril-
liant and controversial The Devils.
The exhibition includes many original de-
signs by Jarman; photographs of the realised
sets and a group of seven costumes designed
by Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy
Powell.
While collaboration was at the heart of
Jarman’s practice, it also highlights his
status as an incubator of young talent.
Figures such as Tilda Swinton, Toyah
Wilcox, Joanna Hogg, Sean Bean and
John Maybury had their first oppor-
tunities under Jarman’s direction.
Throughout his career Jarman
retained a deep interest in history
and the art of the past. In 1976
he produced his first full-length
feature film Sebastiane, a queer
telling of the story of the mar-
tyrdom of St Sebastian, fea-
turing a haunting score by
Brian Eno.
Against the backdrop
of Thatcherism and a so-
cially conservative Britain, Jar-
man’s work made queer lives and history
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
visible; a provocation to the dominant hierarchies.
His films Sebastiane (1976) and Jubilee (1978)
were broadcast on Channel 4 in the ear-
ly 80s to a very broad audience.
This led to a conservative
backlash from figures such
as Mary Whitehouse and
Conservative MP Winston
Spencer-Churchill, grandson
of the wartime prime minister,
who appealed to the Arts Minis-
ter to have funding withdrawn.
Jarman responded by becoming
ever-more frank and un-apologetic
about his subject matter, and from
the late 80s, put queer lives at the
centre of his practice through figures
such as Caravaggio, Edward II and
Wittgenstein.
Caravaggio’s life and art were a source
of inspiration for their fusion of passion,
beauty and violence. Over a period of more
than ten years Jarman made paintings using
techniques borrowed from the Renaissance
master. Making a feature film on Caravag-
gio’s life became an obsession. This research
led to the creation of volumes of sketchbooks,
storyboards, and paintings, included in this ret-
rospective.
Following the release of the film Caravaggio in
1986, he received recognition by the Tate Gallery
when he was included as a nominee for the Turner
Prize that year.
At the end of 1986 Jarman was diagnosed as HIV-
positive. AIDS was then a fatal, non-treatable dis-
ease which the tabloid press described as a plague.
This diagnosis transformed Jarman’s practice and
led to a new kind of activism as he worked to raise
awareness of AIDS. He was one of the few public
figures to ‘come out’ with the disease, an extraor-
dinary act of courage in the social and political cli-
mate of the time.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
This is expressed in his paintings
such as Queer (1992) (Manchester
Art Gallery Collection), from his ex-
pansive series of ‘Slogan Paintings’.
These monumental works, from the
early 1990s, incorporating phrases
related to government policy, tabloid
hysteria and public fear of the AIDS
crisis, are included in the exhibition
and remain powerful comments on the
socio-political climate of the time.
ART
Jarman’s diagnosis coincided
with a move to Prospect Cottage in
Dungeness, Kent, which is overshad-
owed by the Dungeness nuclear power
station. Here he created a unique and
highly-regarded garden, the site of
his film The Garden (1990) and book
Derek Jarman’s Garden (1995).
For this exhibition the garden will be
the subject of new critical texts which
will explore its lasting legacy and its
place as a living work of art. The
diverse bodies of works that were
made there, tar paintings, landscape
paintings, assemblages and feature
film are represented in the exhibi-
tion.
Moving image works from across
Jarman’s career are also shown
throughout the exhibition,
charting the evolution of his
filmmaking. Jarman remains an
essential and influential figure
in contemporary art. Against
the AIDS crisis and the back-
drop of Section 28, enacted on
the 24 May 1988 that stated
that a local authority “shall not
intentionally promote homo-
sexuality or publish material
with the intention of promoting
homosexuality,” Jarman made
explicitly political art.
In his use of installations (in-
cluding beds), multiple media
and religious iconography he
prefigured the work of younger
artists, including Tracey Emin
and Damien Hirst.
This is a powerful, exhaus-
tive, diverse and often provocative
body of work. There’s plenty on show
to please a wide array of tastes. The
haunting contemplations on death seen
in his film Blue, to the mischief of
his ‘Black Paintings’, to the anger of
his Slogan paintings.
My favourite room in the exhibi-
Page 27
tion was the Prospect Cottage room.
Particulalry striking in here were ob-
jects which combine religious icons
purchased in gift shops with the para-
phenilia of war and sex, to haunting
effect.
This is an unforgettable and un-
missable exhibition. It runs until
February 23rd and entry is free of
charge.
Paintings, clockwise from top left on
page 26 to 27:
Prospect, 1991; 2nd Potters Bar Fete of
1910 ; Blue, 1993 ; Self-portrait 1959;
I.N.R.I., 1988; Fuck me blind, 1993; Aids
Blood, 1992 ; Queer, 1992; T.B. or not
T.B.; Flesh Tint, 1990; Infection, 1993;
Landscape with a Blue Pool; Avebury
Series II, 1973; Untitled (Slade Entrance
Exam).
This page, centre:
Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, Kent.
Jarman created his garden here and fea-
tured it in a film and book.
 Page 28
The Sacred Geometry of Life
Geomantic by Paula Meehan
T
n Geneva Pattison
here are patterns in ex-
istence, so random and
seemingly impercepti-
ble that we simply miss them
completely. Paula Meehan’s
poetry collection, ‘Geoman-
tic’, seems to attempt to fight
this idea by creating order out
of chaos.
The word Geomantic itself
comes from Greek meaning
“earth divination”, a type of div-
ination that interprets patterns
on the ground made by casting
soil or rocks upon it.
The poet uses the pattern of
nine to make sense of it all, and
the book comprises of 81 poems,
each with nine lines and consist-
ing of nine syllables per line.
The collection is the culmi-
nation of a decade’s worth of
poems, many of which were
written during her time as Ire-
land Professor of Poetry from
2013-2016. Environmental, so-
cietal and familial themes are
tackled in Geomantic as we ven-
ture through past realms both
unknown and familiar, always
looking to the future.
“The Commemoration Takes
Our Minds Off the Now” is a
poem that was inspired by the
1916 commemorations that took
place throughout 2016.
The poet addresses the gov-
ernment directly by making a
“boon” or request to them. She
muses that those in power gov-
ern knowing that “none” can
truly know “how much of the
country has been flogged like an
old nag.” Meehan talks about the
turning of the “karmic wheel”, a
mystical warning perhaps, cau-
tioning of the influence of cause
and effect.
The following line reflects
the repeating cycles of life by
acknowledging the bravery of
those in poverty “going round
and round the bend.” The final
lines of the poem read like a rhe-
torical question, “How mad do
POETRY REVIEW
you have to be to make sense of
the state of the State we’re in?”
In truth, a partial answer is re-
vealed in the title of the poem,
distraction staves off madness.
This powerful reflection calls us
to attention to examine where
we believe the government’s fo-
cus should lie and where further
pushes are needed.
There’s a strong social criti-
cism present in “Commemora-
tion” and we can see the poet
speaks from a deeply informed
position, evident in the poem
“The Child I Was.”
In the poem, Paula writes
on her childhood views while
growing up in Dublin during
the 1960s. The second line, “let
me die for Ireland I prayed,”
is an innate portrait of patriot-
ism from the mind of the poet’s
younger self.
She prays with her “sword of
light” in her hand, a reference
to the sword of light wielded
by King Nuada of celtic legend.
The sword could only be held by
Nuada as long as he remained
balanced in his presiding over
justice and truth in Ireland, a de-
sire of the young poet also. Here
we can see where the domain of
history and of the fabled inter-
lace.
Her respect and understanding
for Ireland’s troubled history is
clear. She makes reference to the
blowing up of Nelson’s Pillar in
O’Connell St, an event which
occurred in 1966, a year specifi-
cally referenced in the first line
of the poem, she was 11.
We further understand her
strong opinions on poverty when
she relays, “I understood we
were poor – we lived on streets
named for our patriot dead.”
This line also paints a similar
picture to the previous poem dis-
cussed. Of course it’s necessary
to remember the past but, how
can we shift the wheel of fate
to turn in our favour now, in the
present?
In the poem, “The January
Bee” we are drawn into a biodi-
verse microcosm. The beginning
of the piece has a delicate sen-
timentality to it, “who comes to
the winter flowering shrub, grief
in his empty pouches.” A feeling
of melancholic isolation perme-
ates the space being moulded by
www.newsfour.ie
the poet in this verse, reminis-
cent of the works of Emily Dick-
inson. We learn that she would
have missed this small moment,
had she not “stopped mid-argu-
ment to watch the moonrise.”
The poet’s attention was brought
out of a difficult circumstance by
the sheer power of nature to give
one’s self clarity.
The lush musicality to Mee-
han’s verse shines through in the
final section. She catches the bee
“shaking the bells of the scarce
blossoms”, marking the death of
their argument while simultane-
ously heralding in “peace.”
Paula Meehan’s much loved
poem, “The Quilt”, perhaps
most epitomises the essence of
her chosen form and theme of
‘memory’ within the collection.
It begins, “It was a simple affair
– nine squares by nine squares”,
a symmetrical equation evoking
feelings of safety, of grounding.
The description of her “grand-
mother’s quilt” is beautifully de-
tailed. It’s bright, varied colours,
patterns and adornments wrap
the poet during “the long and
winding nights of childhood.”
From the comfort of her bed
she recalls the round window
that sat above, her “own full
moon.” From there she would
watch the “weather’s wheeling
past, the stars, the summer suns”,
observing the cycles of a year –
seeing the passage of time. It’s
as if the patchwork of one’s own
future itself is comforting her,
telling her to embrace inevitable
February / March 2020
change and to move with the ebb
and flow of existence.
The image of the moon takes
a prominent role in this collec-
tion of poetry, marking itself
proudly as the subject of the first
poem in the book. “The Moons”
is a piece which appears to lift
the veil for both poet and reader.
Like a blessing or a spell before
a ritual, we’re invited to invoke
memories, and ask to view them
as if reflected on the moon’s very
surface. For it was always there,
the mirror to our existence since
time immemorial, witnessing all.
Or as the poet writes, “moon’s of
my life adrift on a stream.”
Mystical and mythical refer-
ences are entwined throughout
the entire collection, offering us
a unique vision of the poet’s life
and our shared histories. Paula’s
words are profoundly intricate,
laced with allusion while being
delightfully frank on observed
truths.
When considering the book in
its entirety, ‘Geomantic’ power-
fully illustrates the highs of eve-
ryday wins and staggering lows
of personal and collective loss as
we all try to learn the past, be in
the present and attempt to navi-
gate the future.
‘Geomantic’, published by
Dedalus press is available from
Books on the Green and all
good bookstores.
Left: The book cover.
Above: Paula Meehan.
Images courtesy Wikipedia.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Writing home:
The ‘new irish’ poets
W
n Geneva Pattison
hat is your percep-
tion of ‘home’? Is
it a house, a state of
mind, or maybe a feeling? For
everyone, the idea of ‘home’ is
different.
The collection, ‘Writing Home:
The ‘New Irish’ Poets’, published
by Dedalus Press, explores this
very topic. The book consists of
work from 50 poets, giving us
distinct representations of the vari-
ous meanings of home and writing
from Ireland.
Co editor Pat Boran’s introduc-
tion to the collection discusses
how the word ‘home’ can often
be a loaded word. In its simplest
form, it evokes feelings of safety,
security and a sense of calm.
In recent years ‘home’ been a
highly contentious subject in Ire-
land. As articulated by Pat, “this
most innocent-seeming word
seems to conjure a battleground
for the rights and freedoms of fu-
ture generations.”
Similarly, by extension, the con-
cept of what it means to belong
is brought into question. Must
one remain in their homeland to
truly feel they are home? Having
a homeland is just an essential
geographical fact, as mentioned by
Boran. Surely, home is wherever
and whatever we make it.
Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi shares
the position of co-editor with Bo-
ran, and her work is also featured
within the collection. Born in La-
gos Nigeria and raised in Galway
and Dublin, the poet explores the
idea of displacement and the ever-
changing shape of what it means to
belong in her poem “Where”. The
poem begins with, “I have stopped
dreaming of escape from a country
/ on whose ground I could settle
my feet / but not my spirit.”
There are dual connotations at
play here. The feeling of stable re-
lief presented on the surface in the
first lines is almost immediately
revoked in the following section.
“I thought my mind had betrayed
me/ the day I woke wanting to re-
member each moment where I feel
at home.”
The poet feels like her memories
are fading, like an “old woolen
blanket” frays and thins over time.
She is unable to “trap time”, to
keep those memories safe until she
needs to access them for comfort.
We learn that these memories re-
late to a specific person in the po-
et’s life, she marks a “Google Cal-
endar date every month” to meet
them, yet, each time she sits across
the table from this person, they are
“old strangers.”
Time often creates distance
between people and the implied
space between the pair is especial-
ly palpable here. Escaping from a
country is the poet’s past, escaping
from a feeling a person creates is
the poet’s present.
The innate way Chiamaka relays
the complexities of relationships is
beautiful. The loneliness of being
removed from a person, the dis-
connection we fight against and the
desire to relive pleasant memories
are topics explored in the poem.
The final thought in the piece pro-
vides a type of melancholic clo-
sure. “ I have stopped dreaming
of escape / And began wanting to
remember each moment / where I
feel at home with you.”
Ultimately, the poet knows the
truth of the situation, as does the
reader. The fact that life is never
static and that sometimes, upon
personal reflection, one’s future
can, in a way, rewrite one’s past –
giving us a fresh perspective.
Suzanna Matthews is another
featured poet. She currently re-
sides in Donegal, but has studied
and lived in Asia, South America
and Europe.
Her poem “Teaching English at
Spencer Dock” is written from the
poet’s perspective, while on a bus
journey home. “The teal and cold,
gold signs of the many Centra
shops blur / through the windows,
/ We pass the matador – bullseye
reds of the Toltecas and Tescos and
Ladbrokes.”
POETRY REVIEW Page 29
nomic and industrial progress. She
walks past “the reminding, plain-
tive bust of Luke Kelly”, a symbol
of Ireland’s cultural liberation in-
innocuous start is transformed by
Matthews into powerful poetic
discourse on the fear and feelings
of displacement that everyday
spired by a period of oppression.
A “church fence painted rainbow
colours – reading pride” is also
xenophobia causes in a commu-
nity. Feeling welcome is an impor-
tant element of ‘home’ for many,
Although it’s raining and mis- passed, a mark of inclusion cele- but what do we call it when that’s
erable outside, the poet paints a brating the due human right to love not the case?
picture of an exotic, worldly land- without fear. Yet, as mentioned by ‘Writing Home’ is a wonderful-
scape through her use of colour the poet, “angry young boys go ly diverse and illuminating poetry
association. The “matador” reds past” her, “Running, / Rushing, / collection. The work reflects deep-
permeating the grey dinginess and Stumbling.” It’s a reminder that a ly upon the psychological mine-
the “teal … gold” signs are like lack of self-awareness of one’s ac- fields people face when confronted
glimpses of eastern jewels tions can affect others deeply. with constant strings of unknowns,
“It’s rainy / It’s raining / It The subject of home in this or faced with undue abuse.
rains”, the poet relays that these poem, is somewhat explored using The many descriptions of home
are the words she taught her stu- the concept of ‘negative space.’ don’t just manifest heartwarming
dents today. The tone of the poem We move around the direct subject visions of ‘hearths and families’,
shifts in the following lines, as of the poet’s own home life, yet so they ask us to be cognisant to
the speaker describes the immedi- much is implied. “I am on the bus where we fit into (and how we add
ate atmosphere closing in around home – to you,’’ is a phrase repeat- meaning to) other peoples’ impres-
them. “I am jostled, and feel stran- ed throughout the poem, in various sion of home.
gers struggle to keep their breath iterations of the first. It acts like Maya Angelou once said, “the
away / from my ears / and the back a comforting mantra, ‘home’ and ache for home lives in all of us”,
of my neck.” this person are almost inseparable. and this superb, socially-aware
We’re reminded that we’re not Likewise, the phrase provides the collection makes that point very
on a leisurely country or holiday reader with an anchor, to further clear. The point that despite our
bus ride observing the world go highlight the contrasting experi- various differences, we’re more
by, but in the midst of an over- ences of ‘home life’ in the poem. alike than we’ll ever truly know.
crowded, busy city. The beginning of the piece is ‘Writing Home: The ‘New
The claustrophobic reality of gracefully written and encapsu- Irish’ Poets’ is available from
inner-city living is further mag- lates a feeling of universality and Books on the Green and all good
nified when the poet tells us the the shared human experience. This bookstores.
words her students “asked” her to
teach them. “Terrified / Terrifying
/ Humiliated – ashamed.” Words
that a student needed to know, to
articulate the feelings of a distress-
ing incident she experienced when
she was “threatened and shoved”
by teenagers, “her with her small
children on the Luas.”
This happened just days after
another encounter, wherein “older
boys tore off her daughter’s hi-
jab… flung it to the ground and
stomped.” This may be the wom-
an’s first time admitting it out loud,
or her first time having the ability
to, in English, like emancipation
from an inherited vow of silence.
Human connection, nurtures
the freedom to express one’s self
to the fullest, being devoid of the
ability to communicate in whatev-
er manner or language necessary,
creates isolation. This feeling can
be heightened when surrounded by
people, but lacking the verbal tools
to relate your story.
Matthews highlights the issue of
tolerance and the idea of “Modern
Ireland”, saying how “broadcast-
touted… headlines” of progress,
can become “mournful” shakes of
the head by “the auld ones” soon
after. Modern in many ways on the
surface, but ever fluctuating in the
perception of what makes a soci-
ety ‘modern’. The poet walks past
“flash new tech buildings” of eco-
 Page 30
T Oscars 2020 –
n David Prendeville
he 92nd Academy Awards cere-
mony will take place on Sunday
February 10th. In terms of Irish
interest, Saoirse Ronan has received
her fourth Oscar nomination, at the
age of only twenty-five.
Ronan got the nod in the Best Ac-
tress category for her lead role in
Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. She is
up against Cynthia Ervio for Harriet,
Scarlett Johannson for Marriage Story,
Charlize Theron for Bombshell and
Renee Zellwegger (the favourite with
many analysts) for her role as Judy
Garland in Judy.
Speaking about Ronan’s nomination,
Minister for Culture, Heritage and the
Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan TD said:
“I am delighted to see Saoirse Ronan
nominated for such a prestigious award
– the Academy Awards are among the
premier annual film industry awards
and to be nominated, particularly in
this category, is an honour. Saoirse
Ronan’s nomination is a tribute to the
strength of the Irish Film Industry and
it’s fantastic to see Irish talent captur-
ing the attention of the film industry at
an international level.”
The list of nominees generally held
few surprises, though eyebrows were
raised somewhat at the fact that Todd
Phillips’s bafflingly overrated Joker
landed the most nominations with
eleven.
Joaquin Phoenix certainly seems
like the clear favourite for the Best
Actor category. Adam Driver seems to
be his most likely competitor for Mar-
riage Story.
The other nominees in that catego-
ry are: Antonio Banderas for Pedro
Almódovar’s Pain and Glory, Leon-
ardo DiCaprio for Once Upon a Time
in Hollywood and Jonathan Pryce for
The Two Popes.
One of the big surprises this awards
season has been the complete shut-out
of Robert De Niro’s excellent perfor-
mance as gangster Frank Sheeran in
The Irishman by all the major award-
ing bodies.
This year is unusual in that there
is no clear front-runner for Best Pic-
FILM / ART
Saoirse Ronan
among the nominees
ture. The Irishman certainly stands a
chance in this category. One would
suspect Once Upon a Time in Holly-
wood, 1917 and Joker (due to the sheer
number of nominations it got), would
be it’s biggest competitors.
All three are also nominated in the
Best Director category for Quentin
Tarantino, Sam Mendes and Phillips,
respectively. Hollywood certainly
looks like a good shout as the acad-
www.newsfour.ie
emy have always been fans of Tar-
antino (now approaching the end of
his career), but have never awarded
any of his films Best Picture or him
Best Director. In an oddly open year,
this feels like the moment when they
might. 1917, meanwhile, has the feel
of the more traditional type of pres-
tige historical film that they would go
for. Mendes is a former winner, and
the one-shot gimmick the film is be-
February / March 2020
ing sold on seems like the sort of thing
that would attract the academy’s atten-
tion.
Beyond those frontrunners, Bong-
Joon Ho’s hugely admired Parasite, to
be released here on February 7th, is be-
ing hotly tipped by some to be the first
foreign language film ever to win Best
Picture. As it stands, it is the first-ever
South Korean film to be nominated in
the category. As overdue a develop-
ment as a film not in the English lan-
guage winning the big prize may be, I
would still have my doubts about the
conservative academy delivering on
that front.
Bong-Joon Ho is also in conten-
tion for Best Director. Recent years
have seen occasions where the film
that wins Best Picture has not landed
a Best Director nod, something which
will give hope to Little Women and
Marriage Story.
The academy have once again faced
criticism for their lack of diversity.
Gerwig’s omission from the Best Di-
rector nominations for the former be-
ing particularly surprising. The final
two, and rank outsider, Best Picture
nominees are Ford vs Ferrari and Jojo
Rabbit.
In the Best Supporting Actress race,
the great Laura Dern appears to be fa-
vourite for Marriage Story. She faces
Kathy Bates for Richard Jewell, Scar-
lett Johnasson for Jojo Rabbit, Flor-
ence Pugh for Little Women and Mar-
got Robbie for Bombshell.
Brad Pitt is the runaway favourite
for Best Supporting Actor for Once
Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s a fine
performance, however, it’s a shame
that Joe Pesci’s towering turn in The
Irishman is likely to lose out.
The other Best Supporting Actor
contenders are Tom Hanks for A Beau-
tiful Day in the Neighbourhood, An-
thony Hopkins for The Two Popes and
Al Pacino for The Irishman.
Top: Saoirse Ronan.
Below, from left: Sam Mendes, Char-
lize Theron, Laura Dern and Joaquin
Phoenix.
Images: Wikimedia Commons.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
2020 Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival
T
n David Prendeville
he 2020 Virgin Media Dublin
International Film Festival runs
from February 26th to March 8th
in various venues across the capital.
The festival will play host to numer-
ous Irish and international premieres. It
opens with a gala screening of Lorcan
Finnegan’s science-fiction horror Vivar-
ium, which screened at Cannes last year.
One of the film’s stars, British actress,
Imogen Poots, will be in attendance at
the screening..
Another Irish feature to watch out for
is Neasa Hardiman’s Sea Fever, a horror
set on a West of Ireland trawler, starring
Connie Nelson and Dougray Scott.
The festival will play host to the world
premiere of Paddy Slattery’s debut,
crime-drama, Broken Law. Also, coming
off strong reviews at Venice, will be the
first Irish screening of Rialto, starring
Tom Vaughn Lawlor.
Other notable Irish films set to pre-
miere are Joe Lawlor and Christine Mol-
loy’s Rose Plays Julie and Tom Mur-
phy’s famine-set, Irish language thriller
Arract.
Local company Element Pictures is
well represented with the Irish premieres
of two films. First up is Calm with Hors-
es, a gritty crime drama, whose stars
Barry Keoghan and Niamh Algar will be
in attendance.
The festival closes with a gala screen-
ing of Phyllida Lloyd’s drama Herself,
which recently had its world premiere
at Sundance, where it received strong
reviews.
The festival, as usual, also plays host
to a huge variety of Irish and internation-
al short film programmes. These include
a programme of the latest Screen Ireland
FILM
shorts. There will also be a screening
of the winner of the 2019 Virgin Media
Discovers award, Innocent Boy, plus
many, many more films from both new
and established talent.
This year’s event looks to be a par-
ticularly star-studded affair. One of the
undoubted highlights of the festival will
be a masterclass with esteemed screen-
writer and director Charlie Kaufman on
March 4th. The man behind such films
as Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sun-
shine of the Spotless Mind and Synec-
doche, New York will be discussing
his craft with Irish screenwriter Mark
O’Halloran (Adam and Paul, Garage).
Kaufman will also be the recipient of a
Volta award. Also receiving a Volta award
will be Danish actress Trine Dyrholm,
star of, amongst many other things,
Thomas Vinterberg’s classic Festen.
The festival also welcomes Ida and
Cold War director Paweł Pawlikowski,
who will give a Director’s Mastclass. In
terms of other Network events there will
also be Creative Europe Case Study – a
practical workshop on the possibilities
of co-productions and leading film mak-
ers through the entire process from start
to successful festival launch and release.
Some other esteemed guests set to be
in attendance at screenings throughout
the festival include Persepolis director
Marjane Satrapi and Brazilain director
Kleber Mendonca Filho (Aquarius).
As always, there is a strong line-up
of documentaries on show at this year’s
festival. Mark Cousins’s hugely-antici-
pated, expansive 14-hour Women Make
Film: A New Road Movie Through Cin-
ema, will be shown over five separate
screenings, to be viewed together or as
standalone films.
Featuring the voices of Tilda Swin-
ton, Jane Fonda and Thandie Newton,
amongst others, the documentary shows
the oft-untold history of women film
makers and trailblazers.
Other documentary highlights to look
out for include Toni Morrison: The Piec-
es I Am, the world premiere of Vyvienne
Dick’s New York Our Time, John Con-
nors’s Endless Sunshine on a Cloudy
Day and sporting documentary Street
Leagues, featuring Colin Farrell. A doc-
umentary which may also be of specific
local interest is Alan Moloney’s love
letter to the grimy warehouse Windmill
Lane that was to become one of Ireland’s
most important cultural cornerstones
and which is of course now based in
Ringsend.
There is an expansive world cinema
programme featuring an eclectic selec-
tion of internationally acclaimed films
and award winners. These include the
prestigious Audience Award winner at
Sundance, May el-Toukhy’s erotic thrill-
er Queen of Hearts which stars Trine
Dyrholm, Cannes’s Un Certain Regard
winner The Invisible Life of Eurídice
Gusmão; the new film by Swedish au-
teur Roy Andersson About Endlessness
and Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear
winner Synonymns.
Delving into Chinese cinema, the Fes-
tival programme shows a wonderfully
diverse selection of films that cast a
light onto the Chinese society past and
present. Highlights here include: Yang
Lina’s historical drama Spring Tide, Xi-
aoming Chen’s thriller If You Are Happy
and Zhang Yang’s The Sound of Dali.
French cinema is also well represented
at the festival with such films Ladj Ly’s
Oscar-nominated debut feature Les Mi-
Page 31
sérables and Quentin Dupieux’s black
comedy Deerskin. French icons Cath-
erine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche also
star in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth,
marking that revered director’s first film
outside of his native Japan.
There is also an extensive programme
of films for the whole family in the Fan-
tastic Flix strand, highlights of which in-
clude a presentation of Charlie Chaplin
shorts and a dog-friendly screening of
Marona’s Fantastic Tale.
Other notable highlights of the festival
include The Surprise Film on Sunday
March 1st, which continues to be one of
the most popular events in the festival
programme. A new addition to the fes-
tival this year is The Empire Film Pod-
cast Live, the official podcast of Empire
magazine, on Friday March 6th.
Speaking about the Virgin Media
Dublin International Film Festival 2019
programme, Gráinne Humphreys, Festi-
val Director said: “This year we have a
stellar line-up of World and Irish cinema
accompanied by some of the most daz-
zling international and homegrown film
talents. We invite our audiences, known
for their love of film, to dive right in for
the next 12 days and nights and discover
different cultures, stories, worlds, points
of views – be entertained, engaged, in-
cluded.“
The festival runs from February
26th to March 8th. Tickets can be
bought at https://www.diff.ie/
Top from left: Calm with Horses, Broken
Law, Herself and Street Leagues.
Bottom from left: Rialto, Queen of
Hearts, Onward and Marona’s Fantastic
Tale.
Pictures courtesy of VMDIFF.
 Page 32
Björk brings
her Cornucopia
to Dublin
T
n Peter McNamara
he Cornucopia Tour has
been billed by Björk as
her “most elaborate staged
concert to date”. Considering the
fact that her Biophilia jaunt in
2011 utilised actual lightning to
make beats, this is quite a claim.
Then again, if any artist has
shown a special gift at out-doing
herself time and time again, it’s
the irrespresible Icelander.
Sprung from her 2017 Utopia
album, the Cornucopia show is
another breathtaking display of
Bjork’s creative bravery and self
re-invention. From the raw punk
of her early days, to the gleeful
pop of her 1993 Debut, through
to darker evolutions of Volta and
Medúlla, Björk has always been
unconfined by any label or genre.
Now, along with the slew of col-
laborators that have brought this
latest tour to fruition, she has
once again reimagined her music
and her persona.
With Cornucopia, Björk pushes
the limits of what a live perfo-
mance can acheive, and commu-
nicates a profound message about
the beauty of nature, the need for
climate action, and the wonderful
possibilities for the future.
The Point Depot overflows
Directed by Argentine film-
maker Lucrecia Martel, the Co-
nucopia tour began in May 2019,
with an eight-night residency in
New Yorkʼs The Shed. Its execu-
tion feels like a manifesto for the
future of live music – and for mu-
sic itself.
Fans at The Point were treated
to a visually and atmospheri-
cally overwhelming production.
The show is a rich embodiment
of her Utopia album, involving a
50-piece choir, seven flautists and
months of work by the cream of
the sound, art, fashion and film
worlds.
There was a fantastical, fungi-
inspired set by theatre designer
Chiara Stephenson. There were
wild floral-aquatic-carnal visuals
by artist Tobias Gremmler. Danc-
ers and musicians chavorted in
shimmering, structural costumes
by Balmain and Iris Van Herpen.
Throughout the concert, vibrant
colours of wild fungi trip and fold
across the elabourate, mutli-tiered
stage. Forest sounds flit through
the arena. Gremmlerʼs visuals
evoke the deepest oceans and the
darkest cosmos, or mutate and in-
vert the human form.
Visuals continually play tricks
on the mind and eye. Anthropo-
morphic figures suddenly emerge
from the darkness then fizzle into
the ether just as quickly. A shoal
of fish becomes a multitude of
bristling petals.
And this wild and shifting pres-
entation perfectly suits the music.
Utopia as an album is all about
finding a new paradigm – not just
for Björk, as she reshaped her
life after the breakdown of her
relationship with Matthew Bar-
ney – but for all of us, in our eco-
logical crisis.
As the message flashed up on-
screen halfway through the gig
reminds us, “We have to imag-
ine something that doesnʼt exist,
carve intentionally into the future.
Make a musical mockup, then
move into it.”
For ‘Show Me Forgivenessʼ,
Björk conceals herself inside an
ovoid vocal chamber designed for
her by engineering firm Arup, to
recreate the privacy in which she
composes her songs.
A camera inside transmits her
image on to the ribboned gauzes
that frame the stage as she lets
loose vocally, creating a weird
paradox of intimacy and expo-
sure.
Itʼs a potent effect on ‘Features
Creaturesʼ, a painfully vulner-
able song about peering at a new
world through the afterimage of
old love.
‘Body Memoryʼ, ‘Utopiaʼʼs
darkest depth, is introduced by
an incredible, body-and-brain-
shaking sub-bass tone created by
an 800lb organ pipe. Here comes
an unsettlingly powerful practical
lesson in the physicality of sound,
and a reminder of one’s place
within a fragile human form.
This bass-tone frequency rip-
ples through your chest, through
your entire body, like a powerful
alien touch. And yet it causes not
CULTURE / LOCAL
pain: I kept expecting the over-
whelming sound to hurt my ear
drums, and it didn’t. Here is an-
other unique experience in a con-
cert of firsts.
The overflowing show is fluid
and seamless. And, even when
cloaked in blossoming flowers,
or surrounded by crashing CGI
bodies, Björk remains your main
focus. Undercutting the showʼs
streamlined spectacle is her anar-
chic spirit.
A baby-faced Icelandic punk
Like the late David Bowie,
Björk is an artist who riles against
definition. As soon as her work
seems comprehesible, she dives
to the essence of what inspires
her, and re-emerges as someone
new. And, like Bowie, her musi-
cal talent is matched only by her
instinct for chossing the right col-
laborators. She’s worked with the
some the world’s greatest fashion
designers, photographers, music
producers, and directors.
Björk Guðmundsdóttir was
born on November 21st 1965,
in Reykjavic, Iceland. She was
thrust into music school aged five,
and quickly became frustrated.
The “retro, constant Beethoven
and Bach” bored her so much
she’d regularly get called into the
principal’s office.
She was offered an album deal
after a teacher sent a recording
of her singing to a radio station.
Björk’s mother said yes on her be-
half. The resulting folk-disco col-
lection went platinum and made
her a star. It was 1977. She was
eleven years old.
Resenting being pushed into the
pop spotlight, she turned down the
chance to record a second album,
www.newsfour.ie
instead writing her own songs,
and working in a fish factory.
Her punk band Tappi Tíkarrass
(whose name I won’t translate)
went on to tour Europe. In 1986
they performed on Icelandic TV,
with a heavily pregnant Björk
baring her belly. This was too
much for some viewers.
In 1992 she moved to London
and went solo. Debut appeared
in 1992, and was a worldwide
smash. She followed this up with
Post in 1995. This more dramatic
album gave Björk her peak com-
mercial success, as well as an un-
comfortable level of fame.
Magazine covers and high-
profile relationships came with
airport meltdowns and letter
bombs from stalkers. The musi-
cian moved to Málaga, to flee the
glare and concentrate on the mu-
sic, ramping up the intensity.
A futurist queen
Her 1997 album Homogenic
featured lush cinematic sound-
scapes, gorgeously blended
strings and electronica. By em-
ploying Alexander McQueen to
design the cover, she killed off
her kooky pixie image in one fell
swoop. “I explained to him the
person who wrote these songs —
someone who was put into an im-
possible situation, so impossible
that she had to become a warrior,”
she told the Chicago Tribune at
the time. “A warrior who had to
fight not with weapons, but with
love.”
In 2000 Björk starred in Lars
Von Trier’s Dancer In The Dark.
Her relationship with the contra-
versial film-maker wasn’t rosy.
Legend has it she got so upset
working with him that she ate her
February / March 2020
cardigan.
After the film Björk retreated to
Iceland to make Vespertine. Ap-
pearing in 2001, it was an intro-
verted ode to domestic bliss and
her new-found love with artist
Matthew Barney. The swan dress
(by Marjan Pejoski) she wore on
the cover designed to reflect Ves-
pertine’s wintery theme, was the
same one she wore for the 2001
Oscars, where she also, casually,
laid an egg on the red carpet. “It’s
just a dress,” said Björk.
She got in trouble with both the
Serbian and Chinese authorities
after on stage support for, respec-
tively, Kosovo independence and
freedom of Tibet during Volta’s
shouty rave anthem “Declare
Independence.” After Volta’s
shenanigans, she stripped right
back for the generally minimalist
Biophilia (2011), which she com-
posed on a touchscreen tablet.
For all her perceived affec-
tations, Björk has never faked
anything: she means it all. She’ll
always sound—and look —like
the future. And, as the Cornucipia
show came to an end in Dublin,
her sights were once again set on
the way ahead.
We listened to the final song of
her main set fade, and from out of
her conjured natural utopia came
a stark message: a specially-re-
corded video from Swedish en-
vironmentalist, Greta Thundberg.
The generous outpouring of
the Cornucopia show reminds us
that, although our future is surely
threatened, there is still so much
to gain in the century to come.
Above: An example of the finery
Björk is known to sport on stage.
Photo courtesy Wiki Commons.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Premiere of
Git was Here
documentary
N
n David Prendeville
ovember 2019 saw the premiere
of Lorcan Fox’s documentary
Git was Here, a tribute to his
friend and Ringsend man, the late Chris-
topher “Git” Byrne, who tragically died
of cancer in 2016 at the age of only 31.
Lorcan, who hails from Tritonville Av-
enue, grew up with Christopher. They
both went to Marian College together
and were both part of the well-known
D4 band Satiyrix. A mural was painted
in tribute to ‘Git’ in Poolbeg in 2018 by
London-based street artist The Artful
Dodger, an event which was covered by
the paper at the time
As well as being a celebration of Chris-
topher’s life, the film is also an examina-
tion of death and our attitudes toward it.
Lorcan interviews various people from
undertakers to academics to hospice car-
ers to metaphysical healers, in a bid to
get a multitude of diverse perspectives
on death.
LOCAL
One of the most striking elements of
the film is how it manages to balance
giving a sense of who Christopher was,
while also remaining uncompromising in
the questions it asks about mortality and
grief. Lorcan tells me it was a challenge
sometimes not to “lose sight of some of
the more generic details’’ and that he had
to be wary to not let the film might slip
into being “hagiographic.”
He felt the key in keeping the film
grounded in the broader thematic scope
was very much focused on his own voice-
over. This illustrates Lorcan’s journey,
what he learned about the way we ap-
proach death while making the film, and
also works as a great bridge between the
personal and methodical aspects of the
project.
Certainly nobody could accuse the film
of losing sight of its goals or pulling its
punches. One particularly hard-hitting
segment focuses on Karen Docherty who
lost two sons to suicide. Lorcan tells me
how this was the most challenging seque
in the film and the “biggest moment out-
side of Git’s world.”
Lorcan admits that he was advised
against it by some people who he showed
it to, however he is glad he stuck to his
guns: “I stand by that. I just felt you
couldn’t do a film about a young man dy-
ing, without exploring the fact that young
men are dying to suicide on a regular ba-
sis in Ireland.” He also beams at the fact
that Karen herself was very happy with
how she and the subject were treated.
In the documentary, Karen talks about
the difficulty in getting the necessary
Page 33
counselling at the outset of her grief. She
has since set up a support group called
A New Normal. The adult peer-to-peer
group is for family, friends and those
who have lost a loved one to suicide.
There was a huge turn-out at the Cast
and Crew screening of the film in late
November. The film received big laughs
and a big outpouring of emotion at the
screening. As well as friends and family
of Christopher’s attending, there were
also many people who had never met
him, who were all very positive in their
responses.
In terms of what his plans are for the
film, Lorcan tells me that he would love
to sell the documentary to RTE, while he
also plans to submit to various festivals
throughout 2020.
The recent screening of Git Was Here
was followed by a live podcast with
Grief Encounters where its presenters,
Sasha and Venetia sat down for a dis-
cussion with Lorcan and Christopher’s
widow Caroline. Here they discussed the
impact of his tragic loss on both of them,
and how this wonderful tribute came to
life. The podcast can be listened to here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/
gb/podcast/grief-encounters/
id1446606717?i=1000457862169
Photo courtesy of Lorcan Fox.
 Page 34
The Podcast Studios
D
n Peter McNamara
o you have an interesting per-
sonal story to share? Is there a
certain topic you’re bursting to
tell the world about? Have you ever had
an insightful chat with someone, about
everything under the sun, and wished
you had recorded it?
If the answer is yes to any of the above,
you might want to get into podcasting.
A ‘podcast’ is a digital audio file made
available for downloading to a comput-
er or mobile device. It’s like a catch-up
player for a radio show – except that this
show isn’t broadcast on the airways, but
tailored for an internet audience.
There are podcasts about every topic
imaginable: current affairs, history, food,
sports, music, and perhaps the most pop-
ular of all, true crime. And they’re all
free.
If you’d like to know more about a
certain topic – maybe the Golden Age of
Hollywood – there is sure to be a podcast
for you. You download the episode (or
episodes) and listen at your convenience.
Since appearing in 2000, an estimated
73 million people regularly listen to pod-
casts in the USA alone, while 44% of the
total population have listened to a pod-
cast at least once.
With the rise of smartphones, this for-
mat has gone global. One in three Irish
people listen to a podcast every month,
according to a new study. It might be
down to our affinity with storytelling,
but as a population we love to create pod-
casts and to listen in.
And now HeadStuff, a Dublin compa-
ny based off Pearse Street, is looking to
further bolster the Irish scene.
HeadStuff.org – the internet’s greatest
hits
Headstuff.org is an Irish website that
gathers some of the best writing and pod-
casts on the internet into one place. Billed
as “a collaborative hub for the creative
DIGITAL / DEVELOPMENT
and the curious”, they take submissions
from contributors on a wide range of top-
ics, and even produce their own written
and podcast-based content in-house.
According to their founder, Alan Ben-
net, “we get up every morning to make
your daily journey through the internet
more interesting and productive. We’re
all about the quality, and support good
writing and reading.”
Headspace.org was initially set up as a
blog by Bennet in 2014, as a place to put
some of the extra writing left over from
a novel he’d been working on. He soon
invited friends to post material of their
own, and this personal blog quickly be-
came a site for internet curation, featur-
ing articles on a range of topics.
HeadStuff has since gone on to win
numerous blogging awards. Now Bennet
has his sights set on the burgeoning Irish
podcast market.
Last year he undertook a huge expan-
sion of their Dublin offices. The result is
The Podcast Studios. Located in Dub-
lin City centre, this new space is a one-
stop-shop for all things audio. With three
state-of-the-art studios, they provide
everything you need for podcasts, voice-
over work, video production and more.
“We want to be the home of podcasting
in Ireland,” Bennet tells me. “We work
with all sorts of individuals and organi-
sations, to help them tell their story in a
professional and engaging way. And no
client is too big or too small. Whether
they need studio time, editing work,
equipment rental, or marketing support,
we can tailor a package to suit.”
The Podcast Studios are part of the
HeadStuff Podcast Network, Ireland’s
largest collective of independent pod-
casters. Bennet wants the new location to
be somewhere that people can meet, find
support, and share ideas. And in terms
of business-orientated podcasters, Head-
Stuff boasts an impressive roster of for-
mer and current clients, with Met Éire-
www.newsfour.ie
ann, Trócaire, SEAI, ESB, and Brown
Thomas, to name a few.
The Podcast Studios – an impressive
new space
I was invited in to take a look at the
new studios, and the results are impres-
sive. Based just off Pearse Street, The
Podcast Studios is a refreshing space. In
the modern rooms and hallways, there
are clean, bright walls, splashes of zesty
colour, and thick sound-proofing carpets.
Overall, the effect is one of energy and
professionalism, and there is a sense of
welcome about the spacious on-site café.
“Some of the walls and floors are sev-
eral inches thick,” Bennet informs me.
“We had to work hard to keep the sounds
of Dublin City at bay.”
There are three studio spaces. Pod 1 is
the round-table studio, and can facilitate
up to six people in a comfortable setting.
Pod 2 is a two person studio, more suit-
able for voice-over work, audio book re-
cordings, or an intimate one-on-one arm-
chair chat.
Pod 3 is the largest recording space at
The Podcast Studios. Here, clients can
record audio, video, or both. You might
like to live-stream your recordings, or
use the area as a rehearsal space, or as
somewhere to host live events – with
seating for up to 50 guests. Pod 3 comes
fully equipped to handle any and all
video production needs, offering a green
screen, multi-camera set-up, and adapt-
able sets for panel shows.
“Pod 3 played host to a few live events
during the Dublin Podcast Festival, last
November. It’s was great – it’s really
turning into a vibrant space. We have
another event happening at the start of
February: the podcast Pints of Malt is
celebrating their 50th episode with a spe-
cial live show.”
Incidentally, Pints of Malt might be
another one to add to your must-listen
list. It features three Dubliners of Afri-
can extraction, discussing growing up in
Ireland, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
It’s called Pints of Malt because malt is a
sweet drink that many Africans might be
treated to as children growing up. That
said, children might only ever drink a
glass of it: the lads added in the pint to
Irish things up.
The renovation of The Podcast Studios
took place on the site of the old Westland
Studios. Thin Lizzy, U2, and even Miley
Cyrus recorded at this iconic location.
Who knows what future luminaries will
grace these halls…
Get involved: Podcast Studio mem-
bership
If you’re interested in podcasting, and
are looking for a supportive environment
February / March 2020
in which to develop your art, then look
no further. The Podcast Studios provide
all the services you need to launch your
podcast, from editing and sound design,
to script consultation, artwork, and mar-
keting. What’s more, they run regular
courses on recording, interviewing, and
promoting podcasts, and provide one-to-
one training.
“We take individual room bookings,”
Alan tells me, “but far and away, the
most cost-effective way to get podcast-
ing is to become a member.”
Podcast Studios membership caters to
two kinds of podcaster: the independ-
ent or hobbyist one, and those geared
towards business or marketing. The way
it works, when you sign up for member-
ship, is that you get a certain amount of
credits. An hour of studio time costs one
credit, as does an hour of editing servic-
es, or of consultation, and so on.
For an annual fee of €600, the Inde-
pendent membership gives you ten cred-
its, to redeem how you like. For a fee of
€2,500, the Professional membership
gives you 50 credits. According to the
podcast mastermind, Alan Bennett, there
are huge opportunities for businesses
when it comes to this platform.
“With podcasting, businesses can tell
their story exactly as they want to tell
it. Say, if you were to appear on a radio
show to promote your product or service,
you might only get a few minutes to con-
vey your message, and you might be in-
terrupted, or put under pressure to finish.
With podcasts, a company can take the
time to clearly reach their desired audi-
ence, in a thoroughly professional man-
ner.”
He also points out the fact that a busi-
ness could keep complete control of such
material, and use it wherever and when-
ever they like. He highlights further com-
mercial potential in podcasting that’s still
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Opens on Pearse Street
going untapped: that of advertising.
“Advertising on podcasts is huge in
America. It’s an incredibly efficient way
to reach a specific audience. Unlike radio,
where a general cross-section of people
will be listening in, a certain podcast will
tend to attract a certain kind of person. If
you want to target a key market, podcast
advertisements are the way. It’s an op-
portunity that companies haven’t caught
onto here. But that’s something I hope to
change, for the good of businesses and
podcasters alike.”
Both the Independent and Professional
plans include a free consultancy meeting
for anyone starting up a new show. It’s a
way to give people a chance to chat with
the Podcast Studios team, to clear up any
questions they might have, and get them
started in the right direction.
When the credits run out, members get
a 15% discount on studio, editing, and
any other services purchased within 12
months of their signing up. “And that’s
on top of our already competitive rates,”
Alan tells me.
Also included in each plan is priority
booking on recording or editing slots dur-
ing busy periods – something that could
be especially important for commercial
podcast clients looking to get their sales
message to market.
There’s even some free Headstuff and
Podcast Studio merchandise thrown in
for good measure. Being a member also
grants access to the on-site café, with
free tea and coffee.
“Independents and professionals can
come in and talk all things podcasting at
the café. We want to get different people
talking, to help spread ideas, and grow
the scene in Ireland.” Bennet cracks a
smile. “Actually,” he tells me, “one of
our members says the café is one of the
best perks of signing up: they’re glad to
have a nice toilet to use in the middle of
town.”
DIGITAL / DEVELOPMENT
A Brief History of Podcasts
The word “podcast” is a combination
of “iPod” and “broadcast”. The name was
first suggested by columnist and journal-
ist Ben Hammersley, who invented it
in early February 2004 while “padding
out” an article for The Guardian news-
paper – shameful behaviour indeed. At
the time iPods were the dominant force
in portable audio listening. However, de-
spite the Apple-related moniker, podcast
content can be accessed today using any
brand of computer or smart phone that
can play media files.
You can trace the birth of this format
back to two Americans, software de-
veloper Dave Winer and former MTV
jockey, Adam Curry. They met in 2001
to discuss the distribution of RSS auto-
mated media – a sort of email newsletter,
that would deliver different media con-
tent to you.
At the time, Winer and Curry were fo-
cused on distributing video rather than
audio recordings. Back then, however,
the world was still a long way from the
super-fast broadband connections of to-
day.
Winer was uneasy with the capabil-
ity of the internet to carry large video
downloads. Worse still, the time it took
to download a video far exceeded the
time you might actually spend watching
it, and the video file might reach you in
poor quality, or not at all. For these rea-
sons, they decided that audio files were a
better way to go.
Curry wrote a program called iPod-
der, that enabled him to automatically
download Internet radio broadcasts to
his iPod. Several developers improved
upon his idea, and podcasting was offi-
cially born.
George W. Bush became the first Pres-
ident of America to create a podcast. As
the concept gained popularity, new me-
dia creators started to jump into the boat,
and more podcast networks emerged.
Apple quickly jumped on board, with
Steve Jobs declaring podcasts to be “the
future of audio.” The entry of Apple into
the market increased the accessibility of
podcasts all over the world. Now, the
rise in popularity of podcasts has started
to compete directly with the convention-
al radio broadcasting model.
In America, some corporations and big
broadcast companies have ventured into
the medium, but for the most part, in Ire-
land and elsewhere, most podcasters are
amateurs, broadcasting from home stu-
dios. Because podcasters don’t rely on
ratings as radio broadcasters do, the sub-
ject matter of podcasts can range from
the refined to the silly to the excruciat-
ingly mundane.
Podcasters typically cater to a niche
group of listeners. By podcasting con-
sistently on one subject, podcasters not
only assert their expertise on the subject
matter but also draw a loyal and devoted
group of listeners.
Podcasts are also used for informa-
tional and educational purposes – self-
guided walking tours, talk shows and
training are all available.
Feast your ears: How to find the pod-
cast for you
It is very easy to listen to a podcast.
Once you master a few simple steps and
search techniques, there are virtually no
limits to what you can hear.
The simplest way to listen to podcasts
is on a web browser like Chrome, Safari
or Microsoft Edge. You can do this from
a computer or from the web browser on
your phone.
Find a website that has podcasts you
like, for example RTÉ Sport. Find the
player on the page, check your device’s
sound is switched on and click play to
listen to the podcast.
If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can
use the Apple podcasts app to listen to
podcasts.
The Podcasts app should already be
downloaded on your phone so search
your apps for ‘Podcasts’. If it’s not, go to
the app store and download it. Open the
Podcast app and go to the search page
(click on the magnifying glass button in
the navigation at the bottom). A search
box should appear at the top, next to an-
other magnifying glass icon. Tap on this
and type in the name of the podcast you
want to find eg: “Irish History”. Hit “en-
ter” on your keyboard.
Choose the podcast you want from the
search results and tap on it. This should
take you to the podcast’s homepage.
Once you’re on the podcast homepage
you’ll see a list of recent episodes. Tap
on one to play it.If you like what you
hear, a subscribe button at the top of the
page lets you subscribe for free. This
means the app will automatically down-
load the latest episodes to your library.
Finally, if you have an Android phone
you can use the Google podcasts app.
Search “Google podcasts” in the play
store app or click this link on your phone
to open it in the store. Install the app.
Once you open the app, use the search
box (look out for the magnifying glass
icon) and type in the name of the pod-
cast you want to find eg: Irish fashion.
Choose the podcast you want from the
search results and tap on it again. This
should take you to the podcast’s home-
page.
Once on the podcast homepage you
should see a list of most recent episodes.
Page 35
Tap on one to play it. If you like it, tap
the subscribe button at the top of the
page. When you subscribe to a podcast,
it’ll appear at the top of the Google pod-
casts app, and a new section in the app
will let you know about new episodes
from podcasts you’ve subscribed to. You
should also be able to listen to podcasts
from the Google search app, just search
for the name of the podcast.
In Ireland, we’re famous for our love
of storytelling, and this is proving to be
true for the 21st century’s newest form
of the medium. You might listen to a
podcast while walking the dog or driving
the car – or you could put one on while
cleaning the house or doing the garden-
ing. If you search for any topic, main-
stream or niche, you’ve likely to find
something that will interest you. In fact,
HeadStuff.org have launched their own
range of new shows for 2020.
A word of warning however: podcasts
are known to be addictive. Be careful
you don’t become hooked on a series.
And especially not one of the true crime
variety, you might not sleep for a week!
For more information about becoming
an Independent or Professional member
of The Podcast Studios, or for any other
bookings or inquiries, log on to thepod-
caststudios.ie, or email podcasts@head-
stuff.org.
From left across both pages:
The view into the pristine Pod 3, the
flagship recording space at The Podcast
Studios.
The Pod 1 recording space is perfect for
roundtable conversations.
Pod 3 also serves as a live event space
for up to 50 guests.
In Pod 2, clients record interviews,
voice-overs, audiobooks, and more.
All pictures courtesy of The Podcast
Studios.
 Page 36
L Railway Union Ladies Hockey Team
n HookHockey.com
ily Lloyd’s perfect-
ly placed double saw
Railway Union retain
the Leinster Women’s Indoor
League as they withstood Muck-
ross’s late rush in the final at St
Columba’s.
She opened the scoring when
Orla Fox picked her out on the
edge of the circle, spun and shot
early. The two players were in-
volved in the next goal, too,
with Lloyd finding the overlap-
ping Fox on the right boards.
Her shot was saved high but
dropped perfectly to Lloyd who
– while the Muckross defence
delayed – breached a tackle and
got off an early push that made
it into the bottom corner.
Trailing 2-0 at half-time,
Muckross had the upper hand
after half-time but Sophie Barn-
well saw her penalty stroke ef-
fort saved by Carolyn Cramp-
ton.
Railway skipper Holly Jen-
kinson had earlier saved off the
line while Lloyd was denied a
hat trick by the width of a post,
leaving the tie in the balance.
Charlie Flavin did get them
on the scoreboard when she
picked up Sarah McAuley’s
poke through, flicking beyond
Crampton, but they could not
Lansdowne back to winning ways with new head coach
T
n Kathrin Kobus
hings are picking up again
for Lansdowne FC. After
a string of losses last Oc-
tober and November in the AIL
since the Clontarf away game
on the 29th November, the trend
is upwards again. For that game
Mark McHugh was named the In-
terims Head coach.
“We are a team in transition,
some guys from the title in 2017
are still around, but we had new
players coming in and they have
to find their way. And I believe
that adversity reveals character.”
Lansdowne returned from ‘Tarf
win Leinster Indoor League 2019-20
find a further threat and Railway
prevailed once more.
“Delighted to retain the Lein-
ster cup,” Fox said following the
victory. “It was very tight and
with a 4 point win, and Mark
McHugh got the phone call to be-
come head coach on a permanent
basis in early December since
Mike Ruddock extended his stay
in Wales with Ospreys. McHugh’s
experience with the first XV goes
back a few years.
“I’ve been here about six years
now and what I’ll look out for
in every game, of course, is that
we come out on the right side.“
Translate that to winning the
game, even if the last few minutes
get a bit hairy, as happened in the
semi-final of the Bateman cup re-
cently.
SPORT
Muckross are a very structured
team because they are coached
by Rob Abbott. He has been do-
ing a lot of work with them and
they really progressed as the
“Armagh is an AIL B team,
so they had nothing to lose and
played like that. But we showed
composure and stood at the posts,
kept the ball.” The win secured
another final with Cork Con in
April. It will come a few weeks
after their encounter in the AIL at
Lansdowne home pitch.
Wins are coming again, even if
hard fought and with tight results
in the league like the one-point
winning margins in the two game
encounters with UCC and most
recently Terenure. He was cer-
tainly aware of the challenge.
“Coach is there as confidence
builder, what rugby is all about
www.newsfour.ie
tournament went on. It
got very close at 2-1.”
Above: Railway Ladies
Hockey Indoor Team
is making good decisions under
pressure. It’s a tough trip to Lake-
land, and of course they will have
analysed their game here but I am
confident we’ll come out on the
right side. Even if we need a bit
of luck.”
They surely did need and got
that little bit of luck with the last
play of the game, securing a try
and conversion which made it
another one-point winning mar-
gin 16:17. The pressure is on to
secure the playoff spot in the AIL.
Clontarf will be visiting the
back pitch Aviva for Friday night
on Valentine’s day, but they
February / March 2020
Leinster Champions 2019-20:
Back Row: Riona Norton (GK),
Carolyn Crampton(GK), Fox,
Hannah Sheridan, Ceal Joyce,
Emma Symth(injured for Final
game) with her daughter Alana
Symth.
Front Row: Lisa McCarthy, Jen-
ny Long, Holly Jenkinson, Kate
McKenna and Lily Lloyd (who
scored two goals).
Railway winners over Muckross
in Final 2-1
Goalkeepers to Railway Ladies
Hockey Indoor Team
Roina Norton and Carolyn
Crampton
Photos courtesy of Tristan Taz
Stedham.
Right: Holly Jenkinson (Cap-
tain and Coach) Railway Ladies
Hockey Indoor Teamaccepting
champions award from New
Chairman of Leinster Hockey.
needn’t expect any gifts.
The current run of wins makes
a playoff place reachable and is
the minimum season aim, with a
trophy game to look forward to on
April 11th against regular rivals
Cork Constitution. (Cork Con)
Of course a trip to Cork Con is
also in the AIL upcoming fixtures
in March.
From left: Oisin Dowling scoring
Lansdowne’s first try; Head Coach
Mark McHugh, during Terenure
game; Captain Jack Dwan receiv-
ing the ball in the lineout.
Photographs: Mick O’Brien.
 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020
Charlie O’Hagan
The Entertainer – part 2
C
n Gavan Bergin
harlie O’ Hagan played
his second international
game for Ireland against
Wales in Belfast on April 4th
1905. In that match Ireland
started poorly, with Wales
dominating the early stages.
Though Ireland won the ball
back quickly and made some
incursions on the away team’s
defence, the flow of the match
was soon reversed as Ireland
were forced back in their own
half and put under great pres-
sure.
They just managed to hold
out early on, even launching
some forward rushes before
Wales again took the initiative
and threatened the home goal.
The game settled into a to
and fro pattern, both teams al-
ternating between attack and
defence, but neither able to
break through. Charlie worked
hard from the start to make an
impact, and early on, he came
close to making the difference
for his team when he freed
himself of his marker, ran clear
and made a beautifully inci-
sive pass to his partner in at-
tack, Murphy, who hit a shot
from which Ireland very nearly
scored.
But soon afterwards, a mis-
take by the Irish defence let in
Wales who were more clinical
with their opportunity, putting
it away to open the scoring.
Ireland did not crumble,
though, and they rallied for-
ward again. Charlie kept going
hard, he tore forward again,
forcing a corner to give Ireland
an opportunity to put pressure
on the Welsh goalkeeper. But
it was a chance wasted and
Ireland were made to pay for
it when Wales, defending the
corner, won the ball back and
sprung a rapid counter move
from their own area, the length
of the pitch and into the Irish
box, where they were clinical
in finishing the attack off, scor-
ing their second goal . 2-0, and
at that point it looked like it
was all over for Ireland.
But that second goal, instead
of sinking the Irish players,
seemed to spark them into life,
and they went back on the at-
tack, with Charlie playing his
heart out and having his best
spell in the game. He seemed
to be bursting with energy, and
with his help the Irish forward
line put Wales under sustained
pressure for the first time.
Dashing up the right wing
again and again, over and over
Charlie attempted to break
through the Welsh back line.
And, although time after time
they blocked him out, he kept
going back for another run at
them.
He was relentless, and his
persistence eventually paid off,
as he managed to find a chink
in the Welsh armour then force
his way through and clear to
play a perfectly-placed pass
through to the striker, Murphy,
who scored for Ireland, making
it 1-2.
With that, Ireland looked
hard and fast on the comeback
trail, but with time in the first
half slipping away it seemed
as if the Welsh would manage
to hold their lead at the break,
giving them a chance to re-
group for the second half. But,
as the clock ticked on, with
mere seconds remaining, Char-
lie launched himself on one
more attack-and this time he
wasn’t looking to play anyone
in, he wasn’t looking to pass
the ball, he just went straight
up the field and, shrugging off
every attempt at stopping him,
he flew like tracer fire into
the Welsh penalty area, then
smashed a bullet of a shot into
the lower right corner.
It was his first international
goal, and it was the equaliser
for Ireland! Immediately af-
terwards, the referee blew the
whistle and at the end of the
first-half the score was 2-2.
From the start of the second
half, the Irish players were
calm and considered in their
play and they kept control of
the ball, preventing Wales from
getting back into the game.
Charlie was spirited and smart
in his contributions, helping to
prevent any slip-up that might
cost the team a rare good result.
Back then, that simply meant
managing to avoid defeat.
And the final score remained
SPORTING HISTORY Page 37
2-2. The Evening Herald re-
porting on the game and the sat-
isfactory result praised “good
play by O’Hagan, who had
nicely placed the ball to Mur-
phy for Ireland’s first goal, then
equalized in decisive style for
their second. Playing in only
his second international match,
the Tottenham Hotspur for-
ward was intelligent in move-
ment and active in possession
throughout the ninety minutes.
He must surely be a likely se-
lection in the Irish team, for
some time to come ”
That prediction was an accu-
rate one, and Charlie became a
regular in the Irish attack, miss-
ing only two games in the next
five years, and throughout that
time he kept playing the same
way, making plenty of goals for
his team and running the oppo-
sition ragged every chance he
got. He played his last interna-
tional match in 1909 after win-
ning eleven caps, scoring two Front, Charlie might have been daughter. He didn’t stay put for
goals and giving much joy to ready for some peace and qui- long though, his rambling fe-
Ireland’s supporters. et. And for two years after the ver took hold again, and off he
When Charlie retired from War there was no word of him went to Germany, where he be-
playing after the 1912/13 sea- at all in the newspapers. He re- came the manager of the Berlin
son, there were limited options appeared, back on the football side, BFC Preussen.
open to a retired footballer. scene as the manager of the The job didn’t last, though.
Apart from the newspapers, English Division Three club, Charlie had his contract can-
there was no sport media so Norwich City, for the 1920/21 celled after two weeks, and he
there were no lucrative pundit season. got nothing more from his time
jobs. But Charlie was fortunate. The job was by no means a in Berlin than than a one-way
He had the option to go back to resounding success for Charlie: ticket to London. According to
Ireland and work in the family Norwich did not do well and he an interview he did at the time,
business. However, at the age resigned after that one season. everything had been going well
of 31 he was still a young man, But the experience taught him at Preussen until the people
he wasn’t ready to settle down. much about the job of manage- who ran the club found out that
There were a few more adven- ment, as he showed in 1923, he had fought against Germany
tures on his horizon. when he took the job of manag- in the War. Whether or not that
For three years he vanished ing the oldest football club in was the reason, they got rid of
from the public eye, until Spain, Sevilla FC. Charlie right quick.
March 1915, when an article in He was the club’s first-ever He didn’t go back into man-
the Evening Telegraph news- foreign manager, and he did a agement after that, and while
paper reported that Charlie had fine job there. Charlie managed he didn’t have a glorious end
“just secured a commission as Sevilla to a spectacular sea- to his career in football, what
a second lieutenant of the Lein- son, in which they won every went before was remarkable
ster Regiment, having left his match they played during the enough to make up for it.
old regiment, the Irish Guards 1923/24 season of the Anda- Charlie returned from Ger-
and recovered from a some- lusian Championship. As well many to London and made his
what serious illness – and he is as winning the league, Sevilla way back home to Derry in late
now fit and ready for military also reached the quarter-final 1924. For four years he lived
duty” of the Copa Del Rey. the quiet life with his family,
And he did that duty with the As great a season as it was but there was one more big ad-
Highland Light Infantry, fight- for Charlie, it wasn’t enough venture ahead. In 1928, Charlie
ing in France and Belgium until to make him hang around for sailed to New York and stayed
the end of the War in 1918. another season in Spain, and there for the rest of his life.
It might be expected that, in June 1924 he moved back Charlie O’Hagan. The Enter-
after the horror of the Western to Ireland with his wife and tainer.
 Page 38
Clanna Gael Fontenoy
Bumper start to the year at Clanna Gael Fontenoy
n Felix O’Regan
Clanns go to Croker
The New Year got off to a bumper
start at the club – not on the playing
pitch as is usually the case, but in the
form of a mass exodus to Croke Park.
The occasion was the meeting of
arch rivals, Dublin and Kerry, in the
first round of the National Football
League. The fact that these teams
had contested a closely-fought All-
Ireland Football final just months
beforehand made this all the more a
mouth-watering prospect.
So little wonder that, on an unusu-
ally mild Saturday evening for late
January, some 400 young players and
adult members gathered at the club
for the trip to Croke Park: a record
undertaking for the club and one that
was efficiently organised by Michele
O’Briain.
Before departure, and to a fanfare
of music, the Chairman of the Ju-
SPORT
venile section, Tony Murphy, intro-
duced to the crowd a number of the
players from just some of teams that
had won silverware during the 2019
season: the U13 camogie team; the
U16 football champions; and the
senior ladies football team as County
Champions.
A large fleet of buses waited on
Sean Moore Road to transport this
enthusiastic body of Dubs supporters
northside. Quality football in an en-
thralling game which ended in a draw
made the journey well worth while.
Celtic Visitors
Neither the new year’s wind nor
rain deterred our shinty-playing visi-
tors from Edinburgh from joining
our own hurlers in putting on a great
exhibition of the mixed game. Those
spectators who braved the elements
to turn out in Sean Moore Park were
well entertained and duly rewarded.
Like hurling, shinty is an outdoors
www.newsfour.ie
game played with sticks which are
curved at the end (called camáns)
and a small, hard ball, with goals and
a crossbar at both ends of the play-
ing pitch. Considered by some to be
Scotland’s ‘national game’, it is be-
lieved to have originated in chaotic
mass games between Scottish High-
land clans at least as early as the 17th
century.
Club Awards 2019
As is customary on the occasion of
the club’s end-of-year Annual Christ-
mas Dinner, a number of awards were
presented for outstanding contribu-
tion to the club in the course of 2019.
The Team of the Year award went
to the senior ladies football team for
their tremendous success in winning
the Dublin Intermediate Ladies Foot-
ball Championship and then going on
as far as the Leinster Championship
semi final.
The award for Club Person of the
February / March 2020
Year was shared by Club Secretary,
Brian Delany and Club Treasurer,
Suzanne Murray. And the Colm
O’Briain Memorial Award went to
Noah McLaren for his attitude, dedi-
cation to training and commitment to
his team.
Photos clockwise from top:
The gathering before the exodus from
the club to Croke Park to watch Dublin
v Kerry.
Clanns hurlers and Edinburgh’s shinty
players
Brian Delany and Suzanne Murray are
jointly presented with the Club Person
of the Year Award by Bernard Barron
(Chairman)
Marie Twomey (captain) and Aisling
Leonard (team member) receive the
Team of the Year award
Noah McLaren celebrates receiving the
Colm O’Briain Memorial Award
Photos: Brian Moran, Kathrin Kobus.
www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020SMALL ADS / NOTICES
2020: no short cuts! Page 39

T
n Kathrin Kobus
he first month of the year 2020 is already over! A new decade
has begun and there is one strong piece of advice I have to give
you to follow throughout this year. When writng out the year
date, do not abbreviate it to just ‘20. Write the full year out in all four
digits as in 2020.
Why? Because writing it in the shortened form will make it easier for
fraudulent changes to be made to contracts, agreements, sales, schemes
and applications of various kinds.
If you write, for example, the day of the upcoming election as
08.02.20 it is possible to simply add another two numbers and make it
back or forth in time as in 08.02.2008 or 2030.
It may feel like we’re on a time loop regarding the upcoming elec-
tions here and in America with some of the candidates on offer, but
we still count and operate in linear time and the only way the calendar
dates move on is; forward without any giant leaps and gaps.
A reminder that this year, too, we have the extra day in February this
month (29th) because it is a leap year. So make sure you fully write
out the date whether in any handwritten official correspondence that
requires your signature or in forms you fill in online.

Above: Victorian forger Père d’Aigrigny.

Page 40 www.newsfour.ie February / March 2020