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80st Birthday!! Ignore it or celebrate it?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
80st Birthday!! Ignore it or celebrate it?

Imagine your granddad or grandma had their 80st Birthday today! What would you do? Would you ignore it or celebrate? Would you at least ring them? Buy them (or make them) a cake? Or get a Birthday Card for them?

Interestingly, this week as Ireland’s 80st birthday and it was duly IGNORED! :-O That’s odd isn’t it? Maybe we will have to wait another 20 years until it is worth celebrating? Or maybe what happened 80 years ago wasn’t …..hmmmm…. “juicy” enough to talk about it today?

On 29 December 1937, the Irish Free State became “Ireland” or “Eire” and the Irish constitution from 1922 was replaced by a brand new constitution. There was a referendum about that new constitution on 01 July 1937 and after a majority voted in favour of it, the new constitution came into effect on 29 December.

This means that formally, the Ireland we live in today was born on 29 December 1937 and consequently celebrates its 80st birthday this year. But who is celebrating?

If you want to find out what celebrations there are, you ring some family members, right? Well, I did that! On 29 December, I rang Dail Eireann, but they seemingly weren’t even aware of the birthday and the PR person had left already and won’t be back until next year. Then I rang the Fianna Fail Headquarter and they are all on holidays until 02 January. Then I tried to reach Fine Gael and they are also on holidays until 03 January. I also couldn’t find a newspaper that wrote about this birthday. :-O

So, I guess grandma/grandpa is just unlucky to have a birthday at the wrong time of the year!?

Or could this birthday “ignorance” have something to do with the fact that the current government is from Fine Gael and Fine Gael was the party that campaigned for a NO at the 1937 referendum? They were totally opposed to the new constitution, which was promoted by Fianna Fail??

Let’s ignore any possible reasons and wish: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ireland! ;-)

Events, Irish, Odd, Politics, Society, Taoiseach, , , , , , ,

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

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,

A Time House in Dublin? What is that?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
A Time House in Dublin? What is that?

I seem to be one of the last people to find out about this or are you maybe also new to that concept? A Time House is a venue where you pay for the time you spend there and already for just about a year :-O there is a Time House in Dublin. My excuse is that it is not free, therefore I didn’t find about it earlier, but it is a really interesting concept and therefore I want to tell you about it today.

The Clockwork Door is Dublin’s first and only (as far as I know!) Time House. It is located at 51 Wellington Quay, which is very near to Ha’Penny Bridge, next to EaTokyo and they run lots of different events.

But how does it work? Well, it is intriguingly simple. You pay for every minute you are in the Time House (8 cent per minute in the first 2 hours, 6 cent per minute in the next 2 hours and 5 cent for the rest of the day). So if you stay there for 3 hours, it would cost you 9.60+3.60=13.20. For that you will get unlimited tea, coffee, biscuits, wi-fi, board games, video games and the use of 5 different rooms + kitchen. The max cost per day is EUR 20 but you can also go for the membership option where you pay EUR 60 for the whole month and you have unlimited access for that price.

Events don’t cost extra and – because the people running the place would love you to stay there for a looong time ;-) – there are always interesting events happening. (You can bring your own food, but alcohol is not allowed.)

The rooms are kitted out for working/studying, or for lounging or for playing (board and video games) etc. The website has pictures of the rooms and lots more information. Oddly the website doesn’t specify the opening hours, but I found elsewhere that the Time House is open from 10:00-22:00. I really like the idea and for a price of between EUR 3 and EUR 4.80 per hour with tea and biscuits and wi-fi included, it could be an interesting drop-in place for some, even during the day. Beats Starbucks any day! ;-) Find out more details here www.clockworkdoor.ie/the-clockwork-door/ the Facebook Page is here www.facebook.com/theclockworkdoor/

[They also have a separate “Escape Room” where you play games to find the key to get out again. It is called The Clockwork Key but is not included in the “Time House” concept, it is a separate operation and priced differently.]

Dublin, Events, Tourism,

Free Wednesday is going, going, nearly gone!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Free Wednesday is going, going, nearly gone!

This week it is not a really “odd” topic, but some bad news. If you follow the daily Dublin Event Guide posts on Facebook, you already found out that the Free Wednesday, the one day a month when in the past all state owned and OPW (Office of Public Works)-managed heritage sites were free, did get hollowed out in a bad way for us in Dublin.

Last year the hugely popular Kilmainham Gaol was taken off the list: No more free visits to the Gaol. Because of the very much increased interest due to the 1916/2016 festivities and after a very expensive renovation I could see where they were coming from with that decision. But now Dublin Castle was ALSO taken off the list of free sites on the first Wednesday of the month and I can see that just being the start!!

My prediction is that other sites outside of Dublin will follow in the next few months.

The Free Wednesday (originally it was just called “First Wednesday”) was introduced by Brian Hayes, the junior minister in charge of the OPW, in 2011 to get more people to visit heritage sites. It had exactly that effect! So it worked! If you live in a place, most of us visit the sites less than if we go on holidays somewhere else, so it was mainly for Irish people to learn more about the country and cities around us. Sure, the visitors benefit from it as well, but I think that was an accepted consequence, not the main purpose of the introduction of the First/Free Wednesday.

Is it a coincidence that just a few days after a new junior minister takes over responsibility for the OPW the rules for the First Wednesday get changed? Kevin Moran (who oddly calls himself “Boxer” because he punched and knocked down another boy on a  football field when he was 12) took over at the end of June and immediately the rules changed. Do I think that he CAUSED that change? No, probably not! Maybe the OPW management disliked the (politically motivated) First Wednesday for a long time and took the opportunity to railroad the new an inexperienced guy as soon as he arrived.

I think it is a wrong decision!

Just a few days before that not-at-all publicised decision to take Dublin Castle off the list (I only found out because I smelled a rat and rang Dublin Castle.) another decision was publicised WIDELY and without holding back: Children until the age of 12 will get free admission to OPW sites from now on. Before the age limit was 6 years of age. This is a good decision, but I’d say it costs MUCH less than the Free Wednesday and it consequently saves people who are interested in going to heritage sites much less as well.

Dublin, Events, Tourism, , , , ,
 
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