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How do foreigners find out about Irish culture?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
How do foreigners find out about Irish culture?

“Culture” is a complex thing! Dublin has a very multi-national population and at some point many of the people from other countries will go to their home country and will bring a piece if Irish culture with them or might even be seen as experts on Irish culture. But have they really lived in Ireland?

This is not an Ireland-specific problem, but the Brazilian community in Dublin spends most of the time with other Brazilians, the Polish community sticks together, the Chinese community does the same and I could go on. By not living with Irish people, however, this means that the international community will never really get in contact with Irish culture.

They don’t know what the Late Late Toy Show means in Ireland. Or the Rose of Tralee. They don’t have experienced Christmas Day in an Irish family. They have never heard of Horlicks and when they hear “Irish stew”, they think it should contain Guinness or other new fandangled things.

Now you sure could say that nobody needs to know about about the Rose of Tralee or Horlicks or the Child of Prague because even among the Irish younger population these things lose relevance. But it still means that there are parallel universes in the same country where all people involved THINK they know what Irish culture is, but they don’t!

At Christmas, Brussels sprouts are obligatory here! Gammon/Ham and Turkey BOTH are needed to have a proper Irish Christmas Dinner. But does a Brazilian or Polish or Chinese or German who lives here but has never lived in and with an Irish family know these things?

Maybe there should be “culture classes”? ;-) To make sure that at least the stories are told, even if they other nationals won’t get a chance to live it?!

Or maybe it should be obligatory for every foreigner in Ireland to have an Irish boyfriend/girlfriend for a minimum period of 12 month. :-P

Dublin, Irish, Society, ,

The Big Smoke? That’s London, not Dublin!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
The Big Smoke? That’s London, not Dublin!

Some people in Ireland refer to Dublin as the Big Smoke, but it is really a name that London got 65 years ago. Most of us, however, don’t know why! So let me explain because it has a lot to do with today:

On 05 Dec 1952 the “Great Smog” happened in London and that event was also called the “Big Smoke”. It was a five day period of severe air pollution (from coal), that coincided with a cold weather period, which created a thick layer of smog. It reduced visibility in London and even crept into indoor areas. Sounds uncomfortable, but it gets worse: Up to 12,000 people died as a direct result of the smog and it is expected that more than 100,000 people got ill because of it. 

London changed a number of laws to reduce the air pollution as a consequence of this event, but Dublin had to have its own episodes of severe smog (in the 1980s) before smoky coal was banned in 1987 and 1990. 

Shockingly in Ireland it will take until 2019 until the law that forces people to use smokeless coal will be enforced nationwide. That’s more than 30 years since smoky coal was banned in Dublin!! Unbelievable!

Dublin, Odd, Politics, , , , ,

Dublin’s only comprehensive Christmas Market Website

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Dublin’s only comprehensive Christmas Market Website

Every year I compile a list of all Christmas Markets and publish it on www.DublinChristmasMarkets.com . You will find nearly all the Christmas Markets in Dublin on that list. And if a Christmas Market is not on it, then it is either not a proper Christmas Market ;-) OR the organisers should rapidly work on their marketing (and also send me an e-mail with the details so that I can add their market).

The list is long, but most of the markets are “Markets with a Christmas Theme” as again this year, there is no proper Christmas Market happening in Dublin. Parameters for “proper Christmas Market” in my book are: It has to be outdoors, at least 20 stalls with a mixture of a variety (!) of food stalls and Christmas related craft stalls and other goods. There has to be a Market atmosphere AND a Christmas atmosphere (a long row of stalls usually fails the “atmosphere” criteria).

But even if there is no proper Christmas Market, I still recomment the markets that we have. They are not awful, they are perfect in their own individual way, it is just that I really miss a PROPER Christmas Market and I still can’t believe that Dublin can’t hack it to have one and to keep it! Look at Waterford or Belfast or Galway and Cork and even Dun Laoghaire tried harder than Dublin does.

So, the list is at www.DublinChristmasMarkets.com and please feel free to tell your friends, colleagues and family about it.

Dublin, Events, Tourism

If you are the wrong person in your job….Homeless Scandal!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
If you are the wrong person in your job….Homeless Scandal!

It’s tough out there for the homeless people in Dublin. I can’t imagine many people enjoying living on the streets, sleeping in shop entrances, being kicked out all the time and not having much of a chance to get back into “normal” life. Yes, many of the homeless are not making things easier for themselves by being addicted to alcohol or other substances, but when you think about the savings most people have nowadays, there are MANY people just one month away from homelessness.

It happens like this:
Unexpectedly your company fires you. That might be because they are restructuring or moving or closing down and possibly has nothing to do with your work. You don’t own your place, but rent it. You have to work until the last day of your employment and your employer doesn’t give you time to look for the next job/go to interviews. You have no savings because that was never your strongest point and the rent is so high anyway that you find it very hard to save anything. The job finishes but you have difficulties to find the next job. Maybe it is your skills, maybe your age, maybe the location, maybe your confidence, but things are not going your way and now the next rent is due and you can’t pay it. You will HAVE to move out. Some friends let you sleep on their couch. But soon you have used up all your friends and next you end up on the street.

We might think “This can’t happen to me.” but add some health problems or other issues and if there are no savings, many are just one months rent away from homelessness.

Would it be helpful in that situation if the people that look after the homeless have some understanding of the challenges? Maybe even have some empathy? We all agree that that would be a big help!

Unfortunately the head of the “Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE)” which also calls itself sometimes “Dublin Region Housing Executive” isn’t so full of empathy or understanding it seems. On Tuesday, Eileen Gleeson, the head of the DRHE famously said at a meeting of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee on Tuesday

“Let’s be under no illusion here, when somebody becomes homeless it doesn’t happen overnight, it takes years of bad behaviour probably, or behaviour that isn’t the behaviour of you and me.” www.thejournal.ie/eileen-gleeson-homeless-3699069-Nov2017/

Years of bad behaviour?! She really has no clue! She really seems to think that all homeless people are addicts or incapable to live in a home.

But that was not all! She also was talking about organisations that help homeless people and said “If they’re only getting a cup of soup and they’re homeless it isn’t helpful.”

Well, on a cold evening in the streets of Dublin, I would happily take a cup of soup and a sandwich if I was homeless and it could be a tremendous help to SURVIVE, so that I see the next morning when the snobs of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive tell me that it is all my own fault for being homeless. Unbelievable!

Eileen Gleeson was on the spot when she answered questions and made these statements, so sometimes we say things we don’t mean and use words we would/should not have used. In a very very supportive way and to help out Ciara Kelly on Newstalk offered Eileen Gleeson NUMEROUS opportunities to apologise, but there was no apology. She did say “To be honest, I could have probably used better language in trying to explain the point I was trying to make.” but that certainly doesn’t sound like an apology.

Can somebody who has so little understanding for her “clients” be the best person to provide good services????

Dublin, Dublin City Council, Politics, Society, ,

The end of the Circus …as we know/knew it!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
The end of the Circus …as we know/knew it!

I don’t know when I was at a circus the last time. It must have been when I was 10 years of age or younger and I don’t know either if it was once or twice that I was at a circus, but it was definitely not more often.

So, I am clearly not a mad Circus fan and no Circus could build their business on people like me. But it did make a big impression on me. I remember clowns, and jugglers and a round sandy arena, but I also remember tigers and lions and elephants and possibly monkeys.

Thinking back, it was the animals and the clowns that impressed me most. I didn’t know if the animals were treated appropriately, but I was 10 and it wasn’t the first time that I had seen animals in cages or on leashes, so it didn’t concern me hugely.  Since my circus visit back then, I have heard about mistreated animals, but I also have heard about circuses making huge efforts to look after the animals well.

Now it has been announced that from January 2018 the use of wild animals in circuses in Ireland will be banned and I am in two minds about it.

Obviously I am not supporting or condoning the abuse or bad treatment of animals (“wild” or non-wild!), but at the same time I remember the visit to a circus as a hugely positive and educational experience. I also wonder why only “wild” animals will be banned and if these “wild” animals are still that wild? What about a tiger whose parents and grand-parents and great-grand parents all were part of a circus. Is that still a “wild” animal? Or is it a “domesticated” animal. And why are ponies and dogs seen as different type of animals. They once were wild as well, I guess. And mistreating them is also not acceptable. We are training dogs with no hesitation to do tricks for us, but there is objection to train formerly wild animals.

Would it no have been an option to work on ensuring that no circus mistreats animals? I am clearly no expert in this area, but I am wondering.

Dublin, Dublin City Council, Events, Society,
 
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