More Facts and Places of Interest

Dublin Fact: Dublin's main street is O'Connell Street and it primarily houses retail and recreational buildings. It is one of the widest main streets in Europe and O'Connell Bridge or Carlisle Bridge linking the north and south side of Dublin has a greater width than length which is unique for bridges anywhere in Europe.

O'Connell Street was originally called Drogheda Street by the then owner of the area on which the street sits. The man in question was Henry Moore, Earl of Drogheda who built roads or streets through his land. Not a vain character he called some of these streets after himself and in Dublin there are still streets called Henry, Moore and Earl and a lane called Off lane (previously of).

The Spire Dublin.

In 1740 or there abouts some of the land was purchased by Luke Gardiner and he modified Drogheda Street to the width it is today. He renamed the street to Sackville Street after the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of Dorset.

Carlisle Bride was built on a design by James Gandon and opened in 1793 for pedestrians and then for all traffic in 1795.

Following the creation of the Irish Free State in December 1922 Sackville Street was renamed again, this time to O'Connell Street after Daniel O'Connell who was great Irish Catholic leader in the 1800's.

The Dublin Spire which is the Tallest Sculpture in the world was erected in Dublin's O'Connell Street in January 2003. The official name for the sculpture is the Monument of Light and was designed by Ian Ritchie Architects.

Places Of Interest:  In the heart of Dublin just off Dame Street you will find Dublin Castle. Dublin actually gets it's name from a Black Pool (Dubh Linn) which was on the site of the gardens now in Dublin Castle. The site of the Castle has had some form of structure in place since 930 from the Viking era. This is truely a remarkable piece of history and is well worth a visit.

Dublin Castle

On October 7th and 8th this year Dublin Castle will be the venue for the second Irish Global Economic Forum. This forum is being hosted by the Irish Government and according to the Department of Foreign Affairs the primary purpose of the forum will be to

Engage fully with the Irish Diaspora in developing Ireland’s global business and trade relations;

Discuss face-to-face the Government’s priorities for economic renewal with key members of the international business community;

Strengthen ties with the Irish Diaspora as a key part of the Government’s efforts to restore Ireland’s international reputation abroad.

The forum will be attended by people form the Global Irish Network of which there are over 300 members, a small number of Irish based individuals from business and cultural areas, Irish Government leaders and Ministers and also senior pepole form Government Departments and Agencies.
Keep up to date with events form the forum at Global Forum.

By the way Ireland beat Italy in the Rugby World Cup to set up a last 8 meeting with nearest neighbours Wales at 6am Irish time on Saturday next.

Introducing the Candidates

Presidential Election Update:
As mentioned previously in the blog the 7 members of the Irish State who have decided to try to become the president of the country appeared on the long running chat show The Late Late Show. The proceedings started off with an explanation about how the running order had been worked out and this was followed with a 5 minute interview between the host, Ryan Tubridy and each candidate with the exception of David Norris. Norris was not interviewed as he had been on the show 2 weeks earlier and the television station and the other candidates did not think that more air time for him would be fair.

All the Presidential Candidates and Ryan Tubridy.

The following is how Eamon Keane, a radio presenter and newspaper columnist gave his findings in the Evening Herald Paper of October 1st 2011.

Michael D Higgins was Mr President, complete with his new shortened locks. The key his steady body language. no finger waving, hands held together in presidential pose. Listen back to his voice pace, the use of pause to emphasise a point. Higgins scored high on competency. You figure that, of the bunch, he's the one you'd trust to make a tough call on a constitutional issue. The presidency is his to lose. Rating 9/10.

Sean Gallagher, The other candidates should watch his body language, mirrored in his confident walk. He frequently used the questions to set out his own stall. Cleverly, he also used the McAleese bounce, referencing the Presidents ability to inspire. Mary Davis take note. However he got dragges into a head game over being a mere TV celebrity on Dragonss' Den. He will know to avoid that next time. Rating 7/10.

Dana Rosemary Scallon knows how to work TV. She was warm and assertive without being strident. She took a clever line on sovereignty and was the first to directly address the audience. Phrases like 'people felt silenced' over the bank bailout resonated around the country. She handled all Tubridy threw at her and turned the tables on him when he tackled her on mandatory reporting. However she is way too low in the polls to worry Michael D Higgins. Ratings 7/10.

Gay Mitchell His handlers should look at his walk, it's simply not presidential. The turquoise tie promised an X Factor that never materialised. Too much hand movement distracted, and made Gay appear like a stern teacher. However Mitchell was powerful in his attack om McGuinness. Equally, his closing speech wa moving as he spoke of his family background. However it was not enough to put him into our heads as Mr. President. Rating 6/10.

Martin McGuinness was strong, but has a hard edge that won't pull in the floating vote. Tubridy asked a really good question on why he left the IRA and said at one stage 'your not going to answer it are you'. And that is the problem with Martin, as he also avoidedthe simple question about his personal belief on meeting Queen Elizabeth. He would do better to be honest. Rating 5/10.

Mary Davis began well. The bright red dress exuded warmth and she walked in with confidence, However her natural natural grace got lost under pressure. The political interview is unlike any other. She stumbled when asked about Denis O'Brien's involvment in her campaign. I would have advised a different response. The camera caught her at times looking frazzled on the reaction shots. She must remember that you are always on. Rating 5/10.

Alas poor David Norris I knew him well. The last few months have been savage and David appeared tetchy and Tired. He needs to slow down and adopt a more moderate voice tone. Giving out to interviewers - as Martin McGuinness does - is not a strategy. It is an emotional reaction which he needs to drop fast. Rating 5/10.

My take on the debate was that all the candidates have developed ways of not answering questions, some did not know the answer, some did not want to give the answer and most wanted to answer a question that was not asked.That's politics.

On a lighter note the Irish Rugby team are playing their final group game in the 2011 Rugby World Cup in Dunedin, New Zealand at 8.30am (GMT) against a team from Italy. If Ireland win they will reach the quartre finals knockout stages.

Ireland against Russia   Credits INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Come on Ireland.

Yes Dublin Can Be Heaven.

Dublin Can Be Heaven: I was on the Internet today trying to find a topic for my next blog and I came across this lovely You Tube video of a Song by Noel Purcell called  The Dublin Saunter. The video is a collection of photos of Dublin City through the years. Enjoy 4 minutes of peace.

The video shows a statue of Philip Parris Lynnott or Phil Lynnott as he was commonly known. Phil was the son of a white Irish mother and a black Guyanian father and was born in West Bromwich in England on August 20th 1949. Phil and his mother lived together in the north of England for 4 years together before Phil went to live with his grandmother in the Crumlin area of Dublin.

During his childhood Phil admired artists like Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix and decided to follow in their footsteps and become a musician. Phil went on to form the band Thin Lizzy and had both commercial and critical success with hits like Whiskey in the Jar and The Boys are Back in In Town among others. Phil passed away on 4th Janurary 1986 after a short illness.

Phil Lynnott Oslo 1980

The source of the song Whiskey in the Jar is really unknown but may date back to the 1650's as it appears to resemble the plot and some lines of a ballad called Patrick Flemming which is about a highwayman who was executed in 1650. Jumping forward 3 centuries the song was recorded by Irish folk group The Dubliners. The song became their signature tune and appeared on many of their albums in the 60's. In 1973 the song became a hit for Thin Lizzy and surprisenly in 1998 was relaesed by the band Metallica who received a Grammy in 2000 for Best Hard Rock Preformance for the song.

Presidential Election: All 7 canidates for the election will be on the The Late Late Show on RTE television tonight. The show is the longest running chat show in the world and is currently fronted by Ryan Tubridy having being hosted by Pat Kenny and Gay Byrne in the past.

As the The Late Late Show is a chat show I would imagine that the debate will be light hearted and entertaining and nothing like the future debates which will be fronted by more experienced political commentators.

Places to Visit: Croke Park in Dublin city is a sports stadium owned by the the amature sporting body of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The GAA run the games of Hurling and Gaelic Football among others. These are Irish games played by teams around the world. The stadium is the 3rd largest stadium in Europe and only the Nou Camp in Barcelona, Spain and Wembley Stadium in London England are larger.

Croke Park

Croke park has a capacity of 82,300 people and was full to capacity on September 18th this year when Dublin beat Kerry in the All Ireland Football Final to win a trophy called The Sam Maguire for the first time since 1995

Presidential Race update, Place of Interest, Facts

Dublin Facts: Dublin city is twinned with 3 different cities across the globe.

• Barcelona in Spain
• Liverpool in the UK
• San Jose, California, USA

San Jose is in California in the United States of America and has a population of 952,612 in 2010 of which 716,086 are eligible to vote in county, state and national elections. San Jose is also known as the Capital of Silicon Valley.

San Jose Tower and Rotunda

St. Josephs Cathedral

Barcelona is the second city of Spain and the capital of the Catalonia area of the country. Barcelona  has a population of 1.6 million for the city area and 4.2 million for the full administrative area.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral

Port Vell and the Columbus Monument

Liverpool is a city in Lancashire on the western coast of England. Liverpool is 135 miles or 218km from Dublin. The city of Liverpool is the home of The Beatles and had a vibrant music scene through the years.

The Beatles Tour

Liverpool Cathedral

                                                          



                                                                                                                    
Dublin fact 2: Dublin has been named as the safest Capital city in Europe with only 7 road deaths so far this year down from 13 for the same period in 2010. Thankfully there have been no fatalities on our roads since June of this year.

Places of Interest:
Dublin Zoo in the Phoenix Park in the city is worth a visit and especially since the current president officially opened a new gorilla rainforest area there yesterday Sept 28th which is open to the public from today. Our president did not have far to travel as her home is also in the Phoenix Park which is one of the largest enclosed recreational areas in any european captial city

One of the troop to move to their new surroundings is a female baby gorrila who was born on Sept 16th in the Zoo. Dublin Zoo have yet to name the baby gorilla and have invited people to suggest a name based on her West Africian origin. Your suggestion should be posted to the Dublin Zoo facebook page www.facebook.com/dublinzoo

Presidential Update:
Seán Gallagher has suggested that rather than all 7 canidates sending information leafleats to every voter in the country that only one leaflet with information about all 7 should be sent which would save around 10 million euro for the Irish tax payer in postal charges.

Dublin Facts and Places of Interest

Dublin Fact. Dublin Bus who run the majority of the public bus service in the Irish Capital have 950 double decker buses operating out of 7 different garages. Donnybrook garage on the south side of the city is the largest and is responsible for 198 buses.

Place of Interest.
The Jeanie Johnston Famine Ship replica is docked in the heart of Dublin at Custom House Quay. The original ship was built in Quebec, Canada and between 1847 and 1855 sailed between Kerry in the south of Ireland and North America and Canada. The people who travelled on the ship were trying to escape the famine that gripped Ireland following the failure of the potato crop.
A tour of the ship gives you a unique insight into the 3000 mile journey undertaken by millions of Irish people trying to make it to the new world.

                                                  Jeanie Johnston alongside at City Moorings Marina on Custom House Quay in Dublin


Facebook Being Audited: According to Silicone Republic the Dublin office of Facebook is to be audited by the Irish Data Commissioner following complaints from a lobby group called Europe Versus Facebook. The complaints that are being followed up are varied and include issues with 'Pokes', face recognition and how user deleted pictures are managed by Facebook.
The reason the Dublin office is being audited is due to the fact that this office in responsible for all Facebook users outside of US and Canada.

Fact. Dublin is home to a large number of Internet companies like Facebook, Google, Zynga, Microsoft, LinkedIn, eBay and PayPal and will soon be home to Twitter who recently announced the set up of their international operations here.

Dublin Facts and the Presidential Election 2011

In Ireland, according to the Constitution of Ireland (pdf file from Government office) if you are over 35 years and an Irish citizen you can try to get nominated to become President, provided you have not been President for 14 years or 2 terms of office. There are 3 possible ways to be nominated listed in the constitution

1. Get 20 members of the Oireachtas (Houses of the Government) to nominate you.
2. Get 4 of the local councils to nominate you.
3. If you are president of the Ireland and have served 7 years or 1 term of office you can nominate yourself.

As the current president Mary McAleese is not allowed to go forward having spent the past 14 years in office so an election needs to take place.

With a deadline of 12:00 noon on September 28th as the cut off for nominations we have 7 people in the race

• Michael D Higgins a member of the Labour Party with party nomination.
• Gay Mitchell a member of Fine Gale Party with party nomination.
• Martin McGuinness a member of the Sinn Fein Party with party, plus 4 independent Parliament members nomination.
• Mary Davis independent candidate with local council nomination.
• Seán Gallagher independent candidate with local council nomination.
• Dana Rosemary Scallon independent candidate with council nomination.
• David Norris  independent candidate with local council nomination.

Dublin Facts: Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that the population of Dublin in April of this year was 1,270,603 people of which 618,541 are male which is 33,521 less than females. This is a 7% increase on the population count of 2006. The population of Dublin has risen from 505,654 in 1926 to the current level of 1.27million having broken the 1million barrier in 1981.

What is this Blog

I am new to blogging and this is my first attempt. I have started this blog as part of an assessment I need to do for the course I am doing in Web Technologies at the National College of Ireland.

In this blog I hope to be able to give you a taste of Dublin life and the people who live here. I will try to give an insight into Dublin through the years and also what life is like now in these new times of austerity and recession.

I will have links to sites which I feel are worth visiting to get information and also a list of things to do if you ever happen to visit this lovely city.

There is also the important issue of the election of the 9th President for Ireland on October 27th this year and I will have a section of the blog that gives information about the race to Áras an Uachtaráin (House of the President). The current President is Mary McAleese who is in office since November 1997 and is just finished her 2nd 7 year term as President and therefore can no longer hold office as per the Irish Constitution

The information and the facts that appear will be hopefully interesting and useful, if there is anything that you would like me to include that you think may be of interest please pass it on to me.