With everyone seemingly going ga-ga over the rise in house prices, it’s like Ireland has made a miraculous recovery. Hold off on buying that champers-fuelled jetpack just for a moment though, as Stephen Bourke looks into the housing crisis that is still very much in existence. The great big Bank of Ireland ad on Manor Street says something like, “I thought I’d be renting for the rest of my … Read More
[Piseogs] The Widow’s Curse
Piseogs are the disappearing, peculiarly Irish, superstitions that attend every aspect of human behaviour. Ian Ó Loingsigh takes us back to the days when the act of cursing implied something slightly more sinister than calling your friend a fuckhead for robbing your flip-flops. One often wonders what has become of that famous Irish spunk that we’re all supposed to be full of. Siphoned off by weekly rituals of … Read More
Benefit Street? Give us a break. Aim yisser anger upwards!
There’s been a lot of talk about Benefits Street. How about Parasite Street instead? A new website is seeking to turn the conversation about scrounging in Britain on its head. Parasite Street shows that state welfare for landlords, bankers, corporations and companies that under pay their staff amount to fifty-four times more than benefit fraud. So, it asks, “shouldn’t our priority be on eliminating subsidies to the rich?” Meanwhile in Ireland, … Read More
Saving In The Name Of Scrub.
“Turn Off The Red Light “, says the hand-wringing brigade, the same groups that brought us the Magdalene Laundries. While the campaign claims to mean well, Katie Garrett argues it excludes the most important voices from the discussion, the sex workers themselves. The need to “clean” Ireland of sex workers and the sex industry isn’t new. In the early 1920s the Legion of Mary, led by Frank Duff, decided to … Read More
Grangegorman Squat Eviction Imminent
Back in April, rabble reported from a squat eviction protest on Manor St. This morning we received details of another eviction attempt, this time a stones throw and a skip away in the Grangegorman area of D7. The squatters reported that Gardaí arrived down to the row of occupied empties in Lower Grangegorman last Thursday and Friday. The dilapidated houses are in an area that is expecting serious changes as … Read More
Bedshit.
Dublin City Council conducted an inspection of 1500 properties in bedsit land – Cabra Park, Grove Park in Rathmines and the North Circular Road from the Phoenix Park to Aughrim Street. 1,384 are deemed unfit for habitation. Sake. Bleak. Anyway, we know all about these places – the landlords are as bad as each other. The DCC are extending the examinations to 7,000 properties, they have issued landlords with over 1,500 demands … Read More
A Gombeen-Nation once again
Above: Gombeen (gƊm ‘bi:n). Anglo-Irish. Usury. Chiefly attrib., as Gombeen-Man, a money-lender, usurer; so also gombeen-woman. Hence gom’beenism, the practice of borrowing or lending at usury. Mice provided the deadly ilo. The 19th-century term Gom’beenism, the practice of borrowing or lending at usury, is increasingly referenced in relation to Ireland’s domestic economic practices. Conor McCabe takes a look at the history of the Irish middleman and … Read More
It wasn’t all todgers and pints…
The ‘1913: Unfinished Business’ podcast series demonstrates that women were at the heart of the Dublin Lockout. With a lot of the commemoration of the 1913 Lockout dominated by the Unions and working-men it is too easy for the role of women to get written out of history. The latest edition of the 1913 podcast series sets about addressing this issue. Contributors look at the role women played in the labour … Read More
An Interview With The Joinery: “Staggering On Is Not An Option.”
This pioneer of Dublin’s independent arts spaces, that now dot the city, is facing a tragic closure. Unless of course, people reach deep and get behind them. We caught up with two of the founders over email. Firstly, what is The Joinery? How did it start up and looking at the project now, is it in a place you’d have seen it evolve to when setting out? The Joinery … Read More
Campaign of many names
As we write there is an occupation of sorts in Kilkenny’s Revenue Office. Those pictured represent the Carlow & Kilkenny Campaign Against Water & Household Tax (CAWHT). We have a Press Statement below. The ongoing campaign against the Household Charge has seen itself morph from one name to the next and from what we gather there is a degree of discontent amongst the ranks as power struggles threaten to estrange … Read More