Oddly enough, it’s enclosed on two sides by the Rotunda maternity hospital and on another by a Protestant church. The Hugh Lane modern art museum is squeezed in between the church and a now closed Catholic secondary (high) school, Colaiste Mhuire. The school’s playground was on the roof! The Gate theatre just about manages to stick a corner of itself into the Garden. Across the road from the Garden and the Gate is the now defunct Ierne ballroom.

Heroin ravaged inner city Dublin in the ’80′s and early ’90′s. If you parked your car or bike in the square, there was a 50-50 chance it would still be there when you returned. Women routinely got their handbags robbed when they walked through the area. The Gardai (police) in Fitzgibbon St Station were pretty inefficient (fat b**tards!). The robbers would steal the handbags, run away and take what they wanted, and then dump the bags in Hardwicke Lane. When the women went to report the crime, all the Guards would do was drive the women to the lane to recover their handbags. It took almost 15 years before gates were put on the lane!

My brother was born in the Rotunda while my cousin taught in the secondary school. A friend’s father used to own the Ierne and my parents would have gone there when they were courting. My mother went to school one street over in Dominic Street and she may well have sneaked into the Garden for an illicit cigarette with her friends. A play in the Gate ‘starring’ Mick Lally many years ago was the primary reason why I gave up on theatre as an art form. My uncle stayed in digs (apartment) in Parnell Square when he came up from the country looking for work as a young man. He would have woken up to the Garden every morning. And his wife – a nurse from the Rotunda!

Depending on whether the tribunals are in session, my uncle is/was a huge supporter of Fianna Fail. And where did Dublin City politicans recieve their backhanders and brown envelopes? In Conways pub in the south-western corner of Parnell Square, of course. At the time, the council HQ was on the adjacent O’Connell St, so the politicans just had to walk out of their HQ’s back door, walk up Moore Lane and enter Conway’s through it’s back door. There’s lots of snugs and private corners in Conways. I’m too young to have been there back in the day but if the tribunals want to find out who paid who, they could do worse than look at the till records of the pub from that time. Many a developer’s cheque paid for many an evening’s drinking and carousing! Of course, no favours were asked and none were given!

Such a small parcel of land – it would probably only take 5 minutes to walk the perimeter of Parnell Square. But so much history. I bet many Dubliners could stand in any spot in their neighbourhood and tell tales as they did a 360-degree turn.

What’s your favourite bit of Dublin?

And lest I forget, there’s also the brilliant (but expensive) Chapter One restaurant and the Dublin Writer’s Museum, which I haven’t visited yet.

Liz Johnson is an English artist based in Co Westmeath. Her work is mainly on large canvases in acrylic, oil paint and mixed media. It fuses a combination of energy and colour using various mark making techniques and applications. She has a forthcoming solo exhibition at Mullingar Arts Centre in October 2006. This ‘Lakeshore, Bloomfield’ painting is acrylic on canvas and measures approx 120cm x 60cm. It looks really nice above my mantlepiece!!

Raymond Osborn is another English artist living in Ireland (Kilkenny?). His preferred medium is watercolour, which he likes for its unpredictability and the ‘happy accidents’ which occur in most paintings. This painting is smaller, maybe 70cm x 30cm. Because it’s mounted behind glass, I had to photograph it from an oblique angle. Otherwise you’d see my reflection in the picture and I don’t want to ruin your appreciation of the painting!!

A (brief) history of The Old Market House Arts Centre:
The building has a rich and varied history. The earliest reference to the courthouse is a deed of 1641. Originally used as a butter market, the building had an open arcade on the ground floor. As this area was the (then) town centre, the markets were held in front of the building and became known as ‘Market Place’ or ‘Market Street’. Shortly afterwards, it was used for public executions. Several prominents citizens and clery were executed and/or hung during the occupation of the town by Lord Inchiquin in 1642. Edmond Power was hanged in 1799 for his involvement with the United Irishmen. One of the internal rooms, Seomra de Paor, is named in his honour. In 1868 the building was purchased by Merry & Co Ltd (cf earlier blogs) as offices and stores for their grocery, wine and spirit businesses.

The building was reconstructed in 1984 and housed the Dungarvan Library and Museum. In 1996, it was re-used as an Arts Centre and was officially opened in 2000 as an Arts Centre by a Government Minister. 3 or 4 years for a Minister to make the looonng journey to open it – excellent public service!!

Thanks to The Old Market House Arts Centre for the information above.

Where u all going? Real life intruded when I got home. Dungarvan Bay generally is an important habitat for several species of migrating birds. One of my neighbours has racing pigeons, lots of them. He lets the pigeons out for a ‘stroll’ each evening and they usually go to the toilet on my car. Tonight, they had intruders and they take exception to intruders. The birds in this photo were chased off by one of his pigeons. What a bully! The pigeon, that is, not my neighbour.

I’m on bluetooth so the photos suck. I’ll put up the proper photos once I return to ‘civilisation’.

Update: Photos upgraded 13 August 2006

To use a football analogy, it’s been a game of two halves here in Dungarvan for the past few days. My back garden seems to be a world away from what’s happening outside my front door. The gardening cleanup is going very well and I seem to have some new neighbours as well. The gardens on my road have been plagued by rabbits for the past year or two. They’ve been displaced from nearby wasteground that is being redeveloped. They sneak in every night and munch on anything green. And they shit everywhere! So much so that it’s not safe to walk around in one’s bare feet. Does anyone have any tips on how to stop the nightly rabbit raids (without hurting them)?

The birds are a constant presence as well. They see me digging and know they’re in for a gourmet worm meal once I stop. An exceptionally stupid bird visited today. She landed on the pitched roof of my garden shed with a huge berry or something in her mouth (birds are genetically female). It was too big to eat in one go so she put it down on the roof so she could rip it apart. Needless to say, it rolled off the roof. The stupid bird ran after it and fell off the roof! She nearly brained herself by hitting the ground. She recovered and flew up to onto the wall. After a quick rueful look around to make sure there were no witnesses, she flew off with her damaged ego and no berry.

I finally got a picture of my most elusive neighbour. A frog lives in my garden but where he lives and, on what, I’ve no idea. A butterfly has also come to visit and he must like the accomodation because he’s been here two days now. He’s got really elaborate marking on his wings but the remarkable thing is when he closes his wings, he looks like a bit of wood from a side angle. If anyone knows the name of this butterfly (or moth?), please let me know.

I wrote a moment ago that Dungarvan has become a game of two halves in recent times. It’s all happening ‘outside’ and it’s a shame. A couple of weeks ago, my neighbour heard a noise outside her terraced bungalow. When she went to investigate, there were a couple of boys on her (pitched) roof and it was quite likely that they were trying to break into her house via the skylight. The most upsetting thing for my neighbour, I think, was that they interrupted her watching Coronation Street! My immediate neighbour had a small pile of rubbish at the bottom of his garden (mostly wooden pallets and a mattress). Some kids set fire to it last week, and in the process, they killed my Chestnut tree. When the fire brigade turned up, the kids threw stones at the fire crews! Because of their actions, those kids may never get to play conkers (or even eat them roasted). I hope they’re happy. Two days ago, I wrote about living in the moment. Can I change my mind?

Allegedly, the ‘bru are up to their old tricks and are out thieving, robbing, and all those bad things. Cathal Brugha is a local authority estate that supposedly contains all of the town’s miscreants. Urban legend says that there is no firewall in their attics. So when the police come to, say, number 10 to arrest someone, that person can make an easy escape through number 5. He simply jumps up into the attic, runs down a couple of attics and magically reappears in number 5 and away to freedom.

On my way home from the pub last night, I saw the owners of a local travel agents’ start to clear up their smashed shop window. Shops here don’t generally have security shutters etc but I bet they will by this time next week. They didn’t look too happy but I guess I wouldn’t be either if I’d been woken up in the middle of the night with that news. I wonder what travel agents dream about at night?

I don’t want to finish on a downbeat note so include this picture. You probably can’t read what it says (yet) but the sign reads, ‘Gentleman’s Corner’ with the arrow pointing to a discrete, unmarked door. Now, put yourself in my position… it’s after midnight, there’s alcohol involved, you’re a city boy in a small town, and you’re a dirty mind. What would you think? I didn’t do anything because I already knew the answer!

It’s actually a barber’s shop and is owned by Michael Kelly but I think he’s semi-retired now. He used to be a great hurler in his day. Speaking of which, Waterford are playing Cork in the hurling semi-finals on Sunday. The ‘pundits’ are predicting the forecasted heavy rain will be a major influence on the outcome. Waterford and Cork are neighbouring counties. When it rains in Cork, it rains in Waterford! So I can’t see how one county can have an advantage over their neighbour in the wet. I predict Waterford will win.

Deise abu!!

Update: Photos upgraded 13 August 2006