Built on the idea of rejecting the kind of fast-buck logic that caused the economic crash and replacing, the Dublin Pub Co-Op wants to redefine the ownership model of your local boozer . So is this a well-intentioned but idealistic project or an inspiring example of the traditional co-operative movement? Sharon Love chats to some of the heads behind the project and finds out.
The Rise of the BYOB Venue
Promoters are always on the look out for a new venues and spaces to put on gigs. Casting a quick eye over the PA system, checking out what kind of desk they have and trying to gauge roughly how many dancing bodies could be squeezed into a room have often become a distraction when they’re out and about. These ‘distractions’ sometimes lead to on the spot conversations with the bar staff or management about opening hours, budgets and availability. Needless to say, oftentimes stiff opening hours and uptight policies can be a huge put off.
#rabbleEye: Uncommon Land
The explanation they give is that the streets are “private”. They were owned by property developers, but now that most of Tallaght Cross has passed into NAMA, the streets essentially belong to the proverbial people. Yet those people cannot take photographs in the street, even though an array of CCTV cameras record their every move.
{Housing} Hand-Me-Down Housing.
The census records of 1911 show that some of the Georgian buildings, initially built to house one well-off family, now accommodated up to 20 families and over 100 people. The results of this were felt most dramatically in September 1913 when two adjacent buildings on Church Street collapsed, killing four children and three adults.
[Housing] Rack Rent.
Here in the Rabble Bunker we almost feel sorry for the government as it flops around like a hooked fish on the end of an IMF rod. With a kind of reverse Midas touch effect everything they touch seems to turn to shit. A fine example being their attempt at reducing the state’s burden in supporting around half of all rented accommodation through the Rent Allowance Scheme.
Gombeen #3: Sean Sherlock TD
Sheriff Sherlock has come to our lawless internet outpost, six shooter at the ready. Boy thinks he’s gonna fuck with our downloads.
{Expose} Who Benefits From The Homeless Crisis?
Following on from the focus on landlords in the last issue Stone E. Broke considers how owners of private emergency accommodation benefit from Dublin City Council’s “Pathway to Home” model.
[Radio Waves] Skull and Crossfaders
Quality pirates have always broken their asses to bring shows to eager listeners. From the 1960’s on, pirate radio stations operated in calm seas, filling in the gaps left by the dismal national broadcaster, with regular shows, presenters, even public contact info.
Original Pirate Material.
While much has been written of Ireland’s ‘Super Pirate’ radio stations like Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio, and some stations like Phantom have made the great leap to respectability, there is a whole hidden history to Irish pirate radio that has gone largely unexplored. The earliest pirate radio stations in Ireland were schoolboy efforts which the state wished to suppress quickly, and which in some ways were ahead of official broadcasting.
[Look Up] The Hidden Holocaust
In Look Up we like to encourage you rabble to briefly break from your daily scavenge for fag butts and lost change along the pathways of our durty oul town. Paul Reynolds asks you to make like a culchie and have a mouth at the second storeys of some of these buildings you pass every day.