(This was originally featured on our Facebook page which may have been missed by some of our readers. It was hugely successful with 372 likes, 60 comments and 114 shares)

There are close to 1,000 pubs open today in Dublin city and county. Of these, around 15 are part of an exclusive club. Known as Early Houses, these are public houses that were granted and still avail of a special licence (dating back to 1927) which allows them to open from Monday to Saturday at 7am. Regular pubs can start serving from 10.30am.

We’ve previously looked at the all-hours drinking culture of Bona-Fides, Kips and Early Houses in this article.

Originally these places catered for dock workers, market traders, fishermen, night workers and those attending early-morning fairs. Today the clientele is a little more varied and depending on where you go, you are likely to rub shoulders with wired shift-workers (postmen, nurses etc.), thirsty early risers, tourists who have landed into Dublin early and all-night revellers who have no intention of going to bed yet.

Brand New Retro recently scanned up a hilarious 2003 article on Early Houses from the legendary and must missed Slate magazine.

The Chancery featured in The Slate (2003). Scanned by Brand New Retro.

Since 1962, no new pubs have been added to the list and they are considered a dying breed. In 2008, the government put forward legislation to revoke Early House licences but they eventually decided to leave them as they are. For the time being anyway.

The 12 Early Houses left in the city centre are clustered on the Northside around Capel Street close to the old Markets and on the Southside around the Quays and Pearse Street area which would have the ports of call for dockers and sailors. See map below.

The Fisherman’s Bar, attached to The Waterside pub, in the Northside coastal village of Howth is the only early house in the Dublin suburbs as far as we know. There were early houses in Dun Laoghaire and in Bray Dart Station but they’ve since closed their doors.

Slattery’s on Capel Street is the only one that offers food and is unquestionably the place to go if you want a Full Irish breakfast and a pint at 7am.

The Dark Horse (which hosts a monthly ‘Breakfast Club’  for early morning ravers), The Chancery and The Capel are the most popular spots for the mad-out-of-it crew.

M. Hughes, due to its location, probably attracts more members of the legal profession than the other pubs.

Similarly the Galway Hooker in Heuston Station would be the natural spot for a thirsty traveller before he jumps on an early-morning train.

The rest of the pubs would normally be full of locals and regulars so a better place if you are looking for a quiet early morning pint but they probably won’t be too hospitable to Ebenezer Goode and a large group of his mates.

We’ve put together this handy map for locals and tourists who might find themselves looking for an early morning tipple :

Map of Dublin Early Houses. Credit – Sam (CHTM!)

Great find from the Irish Student Movement Research Project who originally uploaded the scanned document onto their Flickr page.

It’s a poster for three benefit gigs in September/October 1983 in aid of the Anti-Amendment Campaign. This wide reaching group unsuccessfully fought against the Eighth Amendment which introduced a constitutional ban on abortion in Ireland. Thirty-two years later and we are unfortunately still fighting to repeal it.

Anti-Amendment Music – Rock against the Referendum (1983). Uploaded by Student History Ireland Project.

The leaflet indicated that the ‘Anti Amendment Music’ sub-group had the support of many of the country’s leading musical acts including Bob Geldof, Paul Brady, Christy Moore and the Tokyo Olympics.

Ringsend’s finest The Blades also backed the fight and played a benefit gig for the campaign in September 1982. They, along with the Rhythm Kings and Some Kind of Wonderful, headlined the annual The Lark in the Park concert in Saint Anne’s Park in Raheny in July 1983. Illustrating the point well that these ‘on side’ bands were really at the top of their game when they helped the campaign out.

The poster offers an interesting snapshot into the Dublin music scene of a time featuring some of the leading gigging bands in three iconic venues. The first of which is now demolished, the second one completely unrecognisable and the last renamed.

On 30th September, Dublin funky reggae band Some Kind of Wonderful headlined the first gig in McGonagles (now demolished) on South Anne Street off Grafton Street. Support came from Max (featuring former members of the Soulmates and the New Versions) and pop music luminary BP Fallon. Other enticements to get punters through the door included food, wine and “video” (!)

Some Kind of Wonderful (nd). From ‘U2: Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every Song’ by Niall Stokes (2005)

On 9th October, pub-rock group the Rhythm Kings featuring Ferdia MacAnna (aka Rocky de Valera) played The Baggot Inn. The venue, which along with McGonagles was a crucial cornerstone in the Dublin live music scene for decades, has been completely refurbished and was reopened recently as a Mexican-themed bar called Xico.

On 14th October, stand-up comedian Billy Magra hosted a night in The Sportman’s Inn (now known as Kiely’s) in Mount Merrion. The Club Comedy nights, along with others that Billy ran in the Project Arts Centre and the Mansion House, helped develop the live stand up comedy scene in Dublin and played host to amongst others the late Dermot Morgan, Kevin McAleer, Michael Redmond, Ian MacPherson and Mannix Flynn (today an independent Dublin City Councillor).

If anyone has any more posters from ‘Anti Amendment Music’ gigs or related memories, please get in touch or leave a comment.

Thanks to Darragh Doyle and others, we now know more about the rumoured closing earlier this week of two landmark Dublin 8 pubs – The Lord Edward and Fallon’s.

Both floors of The Lord Edward pub will remain open but the upstairs seafood restaurant is closing its doors after 47 years in business. Fallon’s has recently been sold and may shut temporarily for refurbishment but they’re definitely not closing.

It’s as good a time as any to briefly look at the history of these two pubs.

Perched on the corner of Christchurch Place and Werburgh Place, the Lord Edward is a five-storey over-basement building, once part of a substantial terrace. Built in 1875, the former dwelling house was refurbished and reopened as a public house in 1901 by the Cunniam family. However, it is said that there has been a licenced premises on the site since the late 1600s.

The Lord Edward, August 1979. Credit – sergios56.

The ground floor lounge bar features gas lighting, a “confession box” snug, a mahogany and granite bar and a selection of antique bar fittings. The first floor cocktail lounge has a traditional beam ceiling and extensive stained glass. It was formerly the Cunniam’s dining room while the rooms above were bedrooms.

We can see from the 1901 census that 1 Werburgh Street was occupied by Thomas Cunniam (40), a “Licensed Grocer”, from Co. Wicklow, his wife Margaret (31) from Dublin and her mother Elizabeth Kenny (60), a “Green Grocer” from Wicklow. They had two children – Hugh (4) and Elizabeth (3) – and employed two Grocer Assistants, a cook and a nurse.

In the 1911 census, it would appear that the same Cunniam family are living in the house but there are some discrepancies in ages and names. Thomas Cunniam (47), a “Licensed Grocer”, from Co. Wicklow is listed along with his wife (now named) Anastasia (38) from Co. Wicklow. They have four sons and two daughters including Hugh (15) and Elizabeth (14) which match. The family employed two Vintners Assistants, a cook and a general servant.

The Lord Edward, nd. Credit – Fintan Tandy (Old Dublin Pubs FB group)

When the famous Red Bank restaurant on D’Olier Street closed in April 1969, the smart-thinking Tom Cunniam poached a lot of the now-jobless staff for his new Lord Edward seafood restaurant which opened in September of that year. Some of the staff that made the switch include chef Eamonn Ingram who trained in the old Russell Hotel and waiter Tom Smith who were both still working in The Lord Edward until 10 years ago at least.

The Lord Edward, c. 2014. Credit – Flickr user ‘fhwrdh’ via dailyedge.ie

In 1989, the Cunniam family sold the pub to Dublin-born businessman David Lyster and his wife Maureen who still own it today.

So while it’s sad to see the restaurant closing, we’re more pleased that the pub is unaffected.

Fallon’s, otherwise known as The Capstan Bar, has recently changed hands. As a result, the vast majority of the wonderful memorabilia (relating to football, local history etc.) has been removed from the now-bare walls. Staff expect the pub may shut temporarily for refurbishment (hopefully they’ll redo the toilets and little else) but they’re definitely not closing.

On a side note, we believe the Capstan in question refers to the British brand of cigarettes and not the nautical rotating machine.

Fallon’s, nd. Credit – Willie King (FB)

The premises occupies a prominent corner trading location fronting Dean Street and New Row South opposite St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is a three storey red brick traditional style licensed premises which dates back to 1911 and is presented in its original form with many original features intact.

The history of a public house at 129 The Coombe certainly pre dates the 20th century as the legendary Irish boxer Dan Donnelly (1788 – 1820) was proprietor at one stage. Above the door today as you’re facing the entrance from Dean Street, the year ‘1620’ is written beside the Fallon’s name. Does this refer to when they believe the first pub was opened on the site?

Fallon’s and Paddy’s Ice Cream and Sweets, 1980. Credit – Dublin City Photographic Collection.

A recent property brochure describes the current premises as having a:

a ground floor bar with porch entrance, mahogany bar and back bar, snug and feature wood burning stove. The upper two floors contain the former residential accommodation which are in need of capital expenditure.

Fallon’s, 1991. Credit – Dublin City Council Photographic Collection.

Looking at the house (129 The Commbe) in the 1901 census, we can see that it was occupied by Agnes O’Gara (32), a “Grocer” from Dublin, John Groome (28), a “Grocer’s Manager” from Edenderry, Kingscounty (Offaly) and John O’Kelly (19), a “Grocer’s Assistant” from Monasterevin, Kildare.

Ten years later, the house was no longer a Grocer’s shop but the private home of the Brennan family.  Widow Bridget (46) with no occupation from Co. Mayo lived with her sons (both Office Clerks in  Dublin Corporation) and two school-age daughters. Two German workers employed as “skin cleaners” (aka skinners) , with very un-German names Paul Powell and William Hank, boarded in the house. They presumably worked in one of the nearby tannery or leather factories.

Fallons, 2012. Credit – FlickR user William Murphy.

It’s a wonderful little pub and we sincerely hope the renovation isn’t too drastic.

Any historical information or anecdotes about either pub? As always, please leave a comment.

Sources:
Lord Edward feature by Rose Doyle (The Irish Times, 02 Apr 2003)

After nearly 130 years of production, the anarchist newspaper Freedom moved its operations online last year. Sadly unable to sustain a regular printed publication in this era, the East London-based Freedom Press now publishes its news and opinions on the web accompanied by a quarterly freesheet and a monthly email digest. From 1886 to 2014, it was the stalwart organ of the English-speaking Anarchist movement and could boast of links with some of the world’s foremost Anarchist thinkers including Peter Kropokin, Marie-Louise Berneri and Colin Ward.

Front cover of Freedom Newspaper (March 1916) – Libcom.com

While reading a copy of Freedom (sub-titled the “Journal of Anarchist Communism”) from March 1916 on the Libcom website, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that along with major cities like London, Manchester, Glasgow and smaller ones such as Plymouth, Yeovil and Falkirk – names and addresses of Freedom newspaper sellers are listed for Dublin and Belfast.

Sellers of Freedom Newspaper (March 1916) – Libcom.com

They were:

“Belfast – W. Robinson, 167 York Street
Dublin – J.C. Kearney, 59 Upper Stephen Street”

Jospeh C. Kearney (c. 1887 to 1946) was a bookseller and stationer who lived above his shop at 59 Upper Stephen Street his whole life. There are a small number of fleeting references to him and his family online. I think it could be assumed that he had some sympathy to socialist or anarchist politics he was happy to both stock Freedom and let the newspaper publicly advertise the fact.

In 1901, Joseph C. Kearney (14) was living at home with his widow mother Lilly Kearney (38) nee Walsh and two younger brothers Thomas (11) and Alfred (10). Lily was a tobacconist and employed an assistant, Mary Callaghan (19) from Cork, in the shop downstairs. Obviously reasonably financially well off, the family also enjoyed the services of a servant Ellen Byrne (16) from Carlow.

On the first anniversary of her death, a notice was put into The Freeman’s Journal (4 December 1891) in memory of a Mrs Anne Walsh of 59 Upper Stephen Street . I suspect this was Lilly’s mother.

Map showing the looping Stephen Street, 1912. Credit – swilson.info

The Kearney family put an advertisement in the Freeman’s Journal (8 March 1902) looking for a “respectable, strong, young country girl” to work as a general servant. They inserted similar notices in 1904 and 1911. The family were decidedly middle-class.

By 1911, Lily (50) had re-married a Royal Dublin Fusiliers Army Pensioner by the name of Vincent Walter (60). Her three sons Joseph (24), Thomas (22) and Alfred (20) all still lived at home with her and listed their profession as “News agent shop men”. Lily’s brother Alfred Walsh (52), an “Engine Fitter”, and a cousin Louie Wilson (16), a “Drapers Shop Assistant” from Liverpool also lived in the house at that time.

In August 1918, Joseph C. Kearney was fined after his wife Louisa Kearney illegally sold matches to a customer. It was the first prosecution, according to the Irish Examiner (28 August 1918), under a new act which “provided that matches must be sold in boxes and not in bundles under any circumstances”.

On 23 February 1922, a notice was put into the Irish Independent by Lily Kearney-Walter who then living in California, San Francisco to mark the 5th anniversary of the death of her brother Alfred. Lily obviously moved back home as she died in Harold’s Cross Hospice on 6 June 1924. The notice in the Irish Independent (9 June 1924) mentioned her late husband V.B. Walter was late of the SMRASC which I think stood for Service Member (?) Royal Army Service Corps.

Kearney had another brush with the law but this time for more interesting reasons than selling matches. In April 1928, Joseph C. Kearney was found guilty and fined a total of £60 for selling two “obscene” publications entitled “Family Limitation” and “The Married Women’s Guide”. It could be concluded from this that Kearney was still politically inclined.

Joseph Kearney arrested. Irish Times, March 06, 1928.

In court, the state prosecutor Carrigan was quoted in the Irish Times (20 April 1928) as saying:

The theories contained in the publications might find support in England or in large communities, but in a comparatively small community, like that in Ireland, he did not think that they would find favour, not that the Irish were superior people, but they, happily, were more old-fashioned than were people elsewhere. The public good in Ireland would not be served by the circulation of these books.

Joseph C. Kearney tragically lost his wife and two children in the 1920s and 1930s.

His wife Louisa Kearney died on 8th October 1923. Emily Lousia, his second daughter, passed away on 10 March 1939 aged 22 and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery. His youngest son Vincent Joseph Kearney died on 24th February 1936 aged 15 after a short illness.

Joseph C Kearney himself died on 29 January 1946 and was buried in Glasnevin with his family.

After his death, the newsagent at 59 Upper Stephen Street was taken over  by a P. Smyth. This house and that whole row at the corner of Upper Stephen Street and South Great George’s Street was demolished and replaced by a modern office block (Dunnes Stores head office) in 2007.

Dunnes Stores Head Office – sligotoday.ie

One million minutes of historical video dating back to 1895 have been uploaded onto YouTube by Associated Press and British Movietone. The digitised archival footage, made up of 550,000 video stories over two YouTube channels, includes coverage of political milestones and historical moments in sport, fashion, science and entertainment.

Searching for ‘Dublin’ yields some fascinating results.

Drive down Mespil Road and Baggot Street:

Mr and Mrs Walt Disney 1946 visit Ireland where they meet President O’Kelly and Eamon de Valera:

SF/PIRA march through Dublin, 1976:

IRA men arrested during radio station siege at the GPO, 1973:

Hundreds more videos via British Movietone here and AP Archive here.

[Note : We have previously looked at the history of bona fide pubs, kips and early houses in the city]

There a number of private bars and social clubs in Dublin that cater for different people depending on their profession, nationality or politics.  Here is an incomplete list. Please leave a comment if you have any other suggestions or memories.

The Members Bar in Leinster House is open only to TDs and Senators. It keeps on serving as long as the Dail is sitting, which occasionally could be as late as 4 or 5 in the morning.  The two Dáil bars (members and visitors) save more than €1,000 annually in duty payments because they are exempt from holding a pub licence under ‘parliamentary privilege’.

The RTÉ Sports & Social Club in Donnybrook has a bar and restaurant plus a function room, gym, squash courts and a sauna. As of 2013, the club had around 800 and 900 members, made up of current staff and former employees.

[For journalists of another generation, the Irish Times Club above a bookmakers on Fleet Street opened around midnight and stayed serving until 6.30am. Entry was granted by ringing a bell and hoping for the best.]

The Garda Siochana Boat Club (established 1954) in Islandbridge has a function room with bar. From 1964 to 2014, the Garda Club on Harrington Street in Portobello boasted two ballrooms and a members bar.

Garda Club, Harrington Street. Credit – Irish Times (2014).

According to an Irish Times article from 2014, the club was:

regularly packed on Mondays and Thursdays during the peak years of the 1970s and 1980s.

At that time most of the unmarried members of the force lived in garda stations such as Harcourt Terrace and Pearse Street. The balance of the support for the club came from what was known as “flatland” – inner city flats rented by teachers, civil servants and firemen “up from the country”.

The club has been in decline since the 1990s, partly because a great many of the young gardaí could not afford to buy houses in the city, opting instead to live and socialise in outlying towns such as Mullingar, Drogheda, Dundalk and Naas.

Housed in two beautifully restored Georgian buildings (36 & 37) on Parnell Square, Club na Múinteoirí (The Teachers’ Club) has a lovely old-fashioned bar upstairs and a large function room in the basement.  It was opened by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation in 1923. The renowned Góilín Traditional Singer’s Club meets there every Friday evening.

Teachers Club bar, 2012. Credit – M Stephen M. (Yelp)

The Millmount House in Drumcondra was once home to the Prison Officers Association of Dublin. Prison Officers from Mountjoy are known to drink in the snug in The Hut in Phibsboro.

On the first floor, block A of the Newman building (Arts Block) in UCD, there is a small private bar called the UCD Common Room Club which is open to UCD staff and their guests.

For those working in Dublin Airport and their families, the Airport Leisure Social Athletic Association (ALSAA) in Toberbunny has a bar, gym and a large sports complex.

There is a bar and lounge on the first floor of the Dublin Postal Sports & Social Club in Tallaght. A balcony offers panoramic views of the Dublin Mountains. Full Membership of the social club is open to An Post and subsidiary company employees.

MacTurcaills on Townsend Street (now closed) , a stone’s throw away from Tara Street Fire Station, was once very popular with firefighters and their families. The Dublin Fire Brigade Sports & Social Club took over the famed Ierne Ballroom on Parnell Street in 1994 and ran a members bar, a snooker room, the main ballroom and a smaller lounge. It closed down some years ago.

The City of Dublin Working Men’s Club on Little Strand Street off Capel Street has been based there since 2003. The club’s previous home for 115 years was on Wellington Quay. In 1891, it boasted of having “300 members generally on its books (and) a large lecture and concert hall, library, and reading-room, as well as a comfortable bar and billiard-room.”.

City of Dublin Working Men’s Club, Wellington Quay (1989). Credit – Pat Liddy (Irish Times).

A brief history of the club:

Article by Pat Liddy, Irish Times, 05 Apr 1989.

This building was sold to Brushfield Ltd (a trading name for the Clarence Hotel, which lists Bono, the Edge and businessman Harry Crosbie as directors) who opened a popular live music venue called The Workman’s Club in 2010.

City of Dublin Working Men’s Club, Little Strand Street from Google Maps.

There is also the Inchicore United Workingmen’s Club (estd. 1884) on Emmet Road. It be can viewed on the 1911 Census here. It was fined back in 2000 for after-hours drinking:

Irish Times, 13 Jan 2000.

While around the corner, the Inchicore Sports and Social Club overlooks Library Square. Both clubs were set up to serve the large workforce of the the nearby Inchicore Railway Works, the headquarters for mechanical engineering and rolling stock maintenance for Iarnród Éireann which remains the largest single industrial complex in Ireland.

Inchicore Sports and Social Club. Credit – elementsyoga.ie

Ned McLoughlin, chairman of the Inchicore/CIE Sports and Social Club, provided background information on the organisation for a 2013 Dublin City Council report:

The first Club House …was built as a social amenity by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company in the tradition of philanthropic employers of the Victorian age, and the building increased in size to provide their workers with a reading room, dining hall, dispensary and sewing rooms, where sewing classes were provided for the women and girls of the community. The Club, also known as the Railwaymen‟s Institute also included a pond and garden to the rear, bandstand and fountain to the north and a ball alley …

The Railwaymen‟s Institute continued to serve the railway workers and their families throughout the years of the GS&WR, and laterally Córus Iompair Éireann (CIE) established in 1945, with membership open to all employees. The CIE Social Club closed in 1987 and was reopened in 1991 by a group of ex. members under a 20 year lease from CIE expiring in 2014.

There used to be similar workingmen’s clubs on James Street and York Street but they are long gone.

Club Italiano is a voluntary, non-profit organisation which has been organising social, cultural and recreational activities for Italians living in Ireland for forty-five years.  Their Social Club in Tibradden Lane, Rathfarnham has been open since 1983 and has a bar/function room.

As far as I know the Turkish Social Club on North Lotts does not have a bar but is where members of the Turkish community come to socialise, play pool and watch TV.

The basement Club Conradh na Gaeilge on a Georgian building Harcourt Street is an Irish language speaking pub and home to regular concerts, singalongs and sean nós nights. It is open from 8pm every night.

Club Conradh na Gaeilge, 2011. Credit – http://publin.ie/

A 2009 review of the premises on Yelp.ie reported:

There’s a great sense of camaraderie, as everyone is there with a common purpose (to speak Irish and get ossified), and the drink is way cheaper than every where else in town, and they sell bottled stout!

If you’re a tourist, you shouldn’t leave Ireland without drinking bottled stout. Guinness as we know it (creamy and cold) has only been around for about fifty years, whereas bottled stout (more viscous, sharper and served at room temperature) is nearly exactly what Guinness would have been like in its original incarnation (porter). You’ll get served a lot quicker at the bar if you can order in Irish, as one barman in particular tends to ignore those pleading for a drink in English, regardless of how long they’ve been there, until all of the Gaeilgeorí have been served, so repeat after me: Buidéal Guinness, más é do thoil é. Good.

The decorative Freemasons Hall on Molesworth Street has a small private bar in their library. It is known as the Masonic Club and has a couple of drinks on tap and about four tables with chairs.

Masonic Club, Freemasons Hall.

The Cois Life Bar upstairs in Liberty Hall boasts of gorgeous panoramic views of the city. I think there is also a small bar as part of the function room in the UNITE offices on Middle Abbey Street and possibly in O’Lehane House (Mandate) on Cavendish Row.

The Dublin Conservative Club at 20 Camden Row, Dublin 8 does not have a website or any social media accounts. You’d certainly pass it without ever knowing what it was or its significance.

Dublin Conservative Club, Camden Row from Google Maps.

The clubs origins, as far as I can tell, lay in the City and County of Dublin Conservative Workingmen’s Club (CWC) who were founded in 1883 to cater for the social needs of working-class Protestants in the city.

From the 1880s to the 1960s, they owned substantial Georgian house at 38 York Street, off St. Stephen’s Green where the modern extension to the Royal College of Surgeons now stands. In circa 1962, they moved to their current premises at 20 Camden Row.

Constructed by architect Charles Astley Owen in 1901, it was originally the ‘Home of Rest for Protestant Dying’.

I’ve been to the large function room on the top floor for a Northern Soul gig and a New Years Party before. It was a unique experience, climbing up the stairs to reach this fabulous space with wooden floors and nearly pitchback room with shadows of people dancing the night way. While the music was blaring, the thick walls meant that no one could hear the party from the street downstairs.

The downstairs members bar is apparently a beautiful room. It has played host to events by the Dublin Loyal Rangers Supporters Club and the local Dublin & Wicklow L.O.L. 1313.

Postscript ;

Meanwhile, there are also established Gentleman’s Clubs like the Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club and the Kildare Street Club on Stephen’s Green; the Arts Club on Fitzwilliam Street; the Royal Automobile Club on Dawson Street and newer, less aristocratic private members clubs like Residence and Odessa but I think they deserve their own article.

There are also numerous bars in various GAA, Rugby, Cricket and Football grounds but I’ve left them out too.

[Note: Special thanks to Manus and Luke O’Riordan for their photographs, knowledge and continuing friendship]

Max Levitas celebrated his 100th birthday this year surrounded by family and friends in Whitechapel, East London. At the end of the festivities, he called for the crowd to offer up a collection for the Morning Star newspaper. This minor incident symbolises Max’s absolute generosity and unbroken commitment to progressive, left-wing politics going back over 80 years.

Max, 2011. Photo -Spitalfieldslife.com.

Born in Portobello, Dublin 8 over a century ago, Max visited his native city last weekend. This article looks at his family background, his long political life and brings together pictures and stories from his recent trip to Dublin.

Family background:

Max’s parents, Harry Levitas from the Lithuanian shtetl of Akmeyan and Leah Rick from the Latvian capital of Riga, fled the anti-Semitism of Tsarist Russia in 1913 to join relatives already residing in Dublin.

The couple met in Dublin and married in the Synagogue at 52 Lower Camden Street. Three of their Dublin-born children would later participate in the 1936 East End Battle of Cable Street: Max(1915-), Maurice (1917-2001) and Sol (1919-2015). Also born in Dublin were the late Celia and Isaac, the infant boy dying as a result of a tragic domestic accident in their Warren Street home. A sixth child, Toby, was born following the emigration of the family to Glasgow.

Max and his brothers attended St Peter’s Church of Ireland National School on New Bride Street beside the Meath Hospital. His father struggled to earn a living, sometimes dealing in scrap metal, but more often as a tailor’s presser.  He became an active member of the International Tailors’, Pressers’ and Machinists’ Trade Union, known to Dubliners as ‘the Jewish Union’.

The Levitas family lived in a series of houses in Portobello (known then as Little Jerusalem) from 1915 to 1927. They were as follows : 15 Longwood Avenue (1915), 8 Warren Street (1916-25) and 13 St. Kevins Parade (1925-27).

In an 2011 interview with Spitalfieldslife.com, Max told the author:

My father was a tailor and a trade unionist. He formed an Irish/Jewish trade union and then employers blacklisted him, making sure he could never get a job. The only option was to leave Dublin and we lived in Glasgow from 1927 until 1930, but my father had two sisters in London, so we came here to Durward Street in Whitechapel in 1931 and stayed ever since.

Arriving in London in the early 1930s, the teenage Max and brother Maurice soon became active in left-wing politics. In 1934, at the age of 19, Max was appointed secretary of the Mile End Young Communist League. That same year he “became an East End hero” when he was arrested for writing anti-Fascist slogans on Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square.

Talking to Spitalfieldslife.com, he recalled :

There were two of us, we did it at midnight and we wrote ‘All out on September 9th to fight Fascism,’ ‘Down with Fascism’ and ‘Fight Fascism,’ on Nelson’s Column in whitewash. And afterwards we went to Lyons Corner House to have something to eat and wash our hands, but when we had finished our tea we decided to go back to see how good it looked, and we got arrested – the police saw the paint on our shoes.

1934 report after his arrest. Newspaper unknown. Credit – Spitalfieldslife.com

He was name checked by Oswald Mosley around this time who sarcastically told a fascist audience:

Ragotski, Schaffer, Max Levitas, Fenebloom, Hyam Aarons, Sapasnick. Old English names : Thirty-two of them out of sixty-four convicted since last June for attacks on Fascists. Thirty- two names of that character. Spontaneous rising of the British people against fascism! [Ref.]

Two years later, he took part in the famous Battle of Cable Street when hundreds of thousands of anti-Fascists (including many Jews and Irish) prevented Mosely and his Blackshirts from marching through the East End.

Max remembers:

I was working as a tailor’s presser in a small workshop in Commercial St at the time. Mosley wanted to march through Whitechapel … and I knew the only way to stop him was to have unity of the people. I approached a number of unions, Jewish organisations and the Communist League to band together against the Fascists but although they agreed what I was doing was right, they wouldn’t support me.

But I give credit to the huge number of members of the Jewish and Irish communities and others who turned out that day … There were thousands that came together in Aldgate, and when we heard that Mosley’s intention was to march along Cable St from Tower Hill into Whitechapel, large numbers of people went to Cable St and barricades were set up. The police attempted to clear Cable St with horses, so that the march could go ahead, but the people of Cable St fought back and the police had to give in.

Barricades on Cable Street, 1936. “They Shall Not Pass! Remember Olympia!. Credit – libcom.org.

[In 1937, Max’s brother Maurice ‘Morry’ Levitas  joined the British battalion of the XV (International) Brigade to fight against Franco in Spain. He saw action at Teruel, Belchite and Aragon, was captured and spent 11 months in jail where he was subject to violent interrogations, arbitrary beatings, and mock executions. He was among sixty-seven republicans released in a prisoner exchange sought by Mussolini in 1939. He later served in India and Burma with the Royal Army Medical Corps and then worked as a plumber, teacher and lecturer. He died in 2001.]

In 1939, Max was the convenor of a successful twenty-one week rent strike while living in Brady Mansions in Whitechapel. He explained in a 1999 interview how such strikes “could also demonstrate another aspect of class unity”:

We were fighting the Jewish landlords the same way as we’d fight any landlord that increases rents, doesn’t care if he repairs flats, so forth and so on: these are the enemies of the people and must be fought – if they are a Jew, black or white. And this helped to develop a much more broader understanding and [to unite] the struggle against Mosley and the fascists.

Preventing the growth of fascism in Britain was a political as well as personal undertaking for Max and so many others.

Members of the extended Levitas family, who remained behind in eastern Europe, suffered the fate of many Jews during the Second World War. Max’s paternal aunt, Sara, and all her family were burned to death, along with fellow-villagers, in the synagogue of Akmeyan. Their maternal aunt, Rachel, and most of her family were massacred by the Nazis in Riga. A paternal uncle who thought he had emigrated far enough westwards to Paris was murdered on his own doorstep by a Gestapo officer.

First elected as a Communist Party Councillor for the Borough of Stepney in the East End in 1945, he retained his seat for a further 17 years.

Max on the campaign trail in 1940s/1950s. Credit – http://spitalfieldslife.com

Max continued to be politically active throughout the succeeding decades. He has outlived both his wife Sadie and his son Stephen (who passed away in 2014)

In 2011, he helped deliver leaflets promoting a march to oppose the English Defence League in his local Tower Hamlets area and spoke eloquently to the anti-Fascist crowd on the day.

Earlier this year, the council demanded he pay £25,000 for repairs to the ex-council flat in which he has lived for over five decades. Max, being Max, decided to fight back and Channel 4 news featured the campaign.

Weekend in Dublin:

On Friday 25th October 2015, Max was the guest of the Lord Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh (Sinn Féin) & Deputy Mayor Cieran Perry (Independent republican socialist councillor) in the Mansion House.

Max with Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh & Deputy Mayor Cieran Perry. Picture – Luke O’Riordan.

On Saturday, he attended the wonderful main concert of the Frank Harte Festival in the Teacher’s Club on Parnell Square where CHTM! friends and favourites Lynched headlined the show.

On Sunday 27 September, Max visited Portobello in Dublin 8 where he was born and spent his early years. The following pictures are a wonderful reminder from that trip.

Max pictured outside 15 Longwood Avenue, Portobello, the house he was born in on June 1, 1915.

Max, 15 Longwood Avenue. Photo – Luke O’Riordan

Max pictured outside 8 Warren Street, Portobello. This was the Levitas family home from 1916 to 1925 and where his brother Maurice was born on February 1, 1917.

Max, 8 Warren St. Photo – Luke O’Riordan.

Max, with his niece Ruth, outside 32 Lennox Street – location of the synagogue attended by the Levitas family. As Manus O’Riordan remarked on Facebook this building was almost accidentally burnt down in 1925 :

” a children’s Gang of Four who set a cloth alight on Sabbath, when they knocked over a candle while trying to access the synagogue wine. The accidental “arsonist” culprits were Max, his two brothers Maurice  and Sol , and a son of Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog – Chaim Herzog who became a future President of Israel (1983-1993).”

Max, 32 Lennox St. Photo – Luke O’Riordan

Max Levitas, outside the St Kevin’s Parade, Clanbrassil Street, home of the Levitas family from 1925 to 1927.

Max, St Kevin’s Parade. Photo – Luke O’Riordan.

The final picture shows Max, with niece Ruth, and Manus O’Riordan, with his son Luke, outside 37 Victoria Street, the  home of International Brigade veteran Micheal O’Riordan and his wife Kay from 1946 to 1999.

Max, 37 Victoria Street. Photo – Rob Hunter.

Myself and Ciaran were delighted to meet Max and talk politics and football over dinner on Monday evening in the O’Riordan family home. Unfortunately Donal could not make it but we passed on his well wishes as we gave Max a signed copy of our book Come Here To Me! as a small gesture.

Salud Max! L’Chayim!

Sam and Ciaran of the blog with Max holding copy of Come Here To Me! Photo – Luke O’Riordan.

More reading and references:

Jewish links to Irish Republican and Socialist politics (1901-1960s) by Sam McGrath.

Citizens of the Republic, Jewish History in Ireland by Manus O’Riordan.

Irish and Jewish Volunteers in the Spanish Anti-Fascist War by Manus O’Riordan.

Max Levitas, Anti-Fascist Campaigner by Spitalfieldslife.com

Thanks to Martin on The Atrix Facebook page for taking a high-quality photograph of his original poster for the Carnsore Point anti-Nuclear festival in August 1978.

Caransore Point poster, 1978.

The free festival was attended by thousands of people who wanted to express their opposition to the proposed first nuclear power plant in Ireland. Entrance to the three day festival in the South West corner of County Wexford was free and entertainment on offer also included exhibitions, workshops and theatre productions.

The cream of the crop of the Irish musical scene provided their services. They included traditional legends like Christy Moore, Clannad, Andy Irvine, Liam Weldon, Donal Lunny, Paddy Glackin who were backed up by soulful rock group Stagalee and Dublin New Wave bands Sacre Bleu, The Atrix and The Sinners.

Christy covered the event in his 2000 autobiography ‘One Voice’:

It was my first time to become directly involved in a political campaign, and I was to meet many  people who became lifelong friends and a few who became somewhat less than that. The festival was  a huge success and opened my eyes to the potential of people power. It was a wonderful collective and  to this day I still try to carry the message of Carnsore Point in my everyday life.

Political speakers at the 1978 festival included Petra Kelly (1947-1992; German Green Party), John Carroll (vice-president of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union) and Dr. Robert Blackith (1923-2000; Trinity College lecturer).

Not everyone on the radical Left was onside though. The pro-Unionist Marxist-Leninist group British and Irish Communist Organisation (BICO) picketed the festival as they believed nuclear power was was necessary to achieve socialism in Ireland!

There were further festivals in 1979, 1980 (with U2 on the bill) and 1981. The campaign was ultimately successful and a number of wind generating stations were opened on the headland in 2003.

The first episode of the new RTÉ television series ‘Pat Shortt’s Music From D’Telly’ featured Christy Moore performing in The Abbey Tavern in Howth in 1980.  Playing beside him in the short clip was Declan McNelis.

Christy Moore and Declan McNeilis – The Abbey Tavern, Howth, 1980. Credit – rte.ie

It was highlighted to me later by my Dad that the show missed a perfect opportunity to call attention to the fact that Declan was a well-respected musician who was tragically killed after performing a gig in Limerick in April 1987. As there are no major tributes online, I felt it would be of value to collate information and pictures about this well-loved and accomplished instrumentalist.

From Marino on Dublin’s northside, Declan McNelis took up the bass at the age of 12 and in the 1970s and 1980s played with many of Ireland’s leading musicians including Christy Moore, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, Maura O’Connell, Freddie White, Robbie Brennan, Mary Coughlan, Donal Lunny, Honor Heffernan, Philip Donnelly, Frankie Lane, Pete Cummins and Jimmy Faulkner.

After secondary school, he began studying in UCD with intentions to become a school teacher. But he gave it up to join the Red Peters and The Dublin Floating Blues Band in the mid 1970s. Around this time, he also played with an acoustic blues outfit called Dirty Dozen with Johnny Norris.

From around 1974 onwards, Christy Moore played with Declan, Jimmy Faulkner and Kevin Burke. They had a residency on Monday and Saturday nights in The Meeting Room on Dorset Street. Declan played bass on Christy’s album ‘Whatever tickles your fancy’ (1975) and guitar on his self-titled ‘Christy Moore’ (1976).

Declan pictured in 1975 recording Christy Moore’s album ‘Whatever Tickles Your Fancy’. Credit – theballadeers.com

In October 1979, Declan set out on the Anti-Nuclear Roadshow to help the campaign against the Carnsore Point nuclear power plans with Freddie White, Matt Kelleghan and Jimmy Faulkner. Together with other groups they mobilised support concerts across the country.

Nicknamed ‘Seagull’, Declan was known for his humour and organising outrageous fund-raising raffles for the campaign –  a £1 ticket could led to people winning a  bottle of lemonade, a wrapped sandwich or a set of boot studs!

Freddie White on stage at Ballisodare Festival, 1980. Declan McNeilis on bass and Arty Lorrigan on drums.

A year later he played a memorable gig in National Stadium with Planxty and The Chieftains.

Freddie White Band in the early 1980s. From left, Declan McNeilis (bass), Freddie White, Arty Lorrigan (drums) and Chris Meehan (piano). Credit – freddiewhite.com

In 1982, Declan joined the swing and jazz influenced band Hotfoot and played with them until his untimely death. The group featured guitarist Jimmy Faulkner (RIP, 2008) and pianist Dave McHale (RIP, 2009).

The early 1980s also saw him play with the country rock band Honky Tonk Heroes with featured Errol Walsh of Stagalee.

Hotfoot on stage at the National Stadium in September 1983. From left to right; Jimmy Faulkner on acoustic guitar, Declan McNelis on bass guitar, Jimmy Gibson on acoustic guitar and violinist Pat Collins. This concert was recorded and televised as part of RTÉ Television’s ‘Festival Folk’ series on 14 March 1984. Credit – stillslibrary.rte.ie

During the late 1980s, Hotfoot had a Thursday night residency at The Savoy  in Limerick.

After their gig on the night of Thursday 9th 1987, Declan was loading gear into the band’s van at the Henry Street side of the Savoy when he was approached by a man who he had earlier had a disagreement. Declan was assaulted, fell to the ground and struck his head.

Initially he did not appear to be badly injured but he later collapsed and was brought to Barrington’s Hospital in the city. He was transferred to Cork Regional Hospital with serious head injuries where he remained in a critical condition. He was put on a life support machine but unfortunately never recovered from his injuries and died late on Sunday evening.

He was survived by his father Denis and sisters Carmel, Pauline, Dympna and Mary. His mother, Mabel, died in 1985.

A 22-year-old unemployed chef from Limerick was charged with assaulting Declan causing actual bodily harm.

His funeral took place in the Church of of St. Vincent De Paul in Marino and was packed with friends, family and associates in the music world. Among the performers were violinist John Sheehan of The Dubliners, Red Peters and Freddie White who sang Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young”. He was was burred in St. Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton.

The funeral of Declan McNelis (Irish Times, 16 April 1987)

In July 1987, friends and family organised a memorial gig in the Olympic Ballroom with Christy Moore, Mary Black, Freddie White, Chris Meehan, Hotfoot, The Fleadh Cowboys and more.

Joe Breen reviewed the special night in The Irish Times (17 July 1987):

The Olympic Ballroom was packed to capacity for the session which featured many of the country’s leading musicians. The atmosphere was refreshingly warm and friendly and the music likewise. There were some stunning displays set by Declan’s band, Hotfoot, with guests Jimmy Faulkner and Keith Donald providing outstanding solos on guitar and sax respectively. Violinist Pat Collins spoke of Declan’s death only to say that he was still among us in spirit and more than one person during the night echoed that remark … It was a great big-hearted happy benefit, albeit one with sincere regret. The Seagull, as Declan was fondly called, would have approved.

In an appreciative article in the Irish Times (15 April 1987), the author ‘C.C’ wrote about Declan’s personality and the impact of his death:

In private a quiet, often solitary person, he will be remembered by his friends and fans alike for his sense of humour, his ability to organise those around him and for a musical ability which blended to perfection with other players. He was interested in all aspects for music and had a wide knowledge of traditional, country and western and jazz, as well as blues and rock. His sudden, tragic has left the music world stunned and grieving. He will not be easily be replaced.

The Fleadh Cowboys released their debut single Johnny Da Vinci in 1987. The b-side ‘Donegal’ was dedicated to Declan. Christy Moore’s 1987 album ‘Unfinished Revolution’ was “dedicated to the memory of Raymond Roland and Declan McNeilis.” Finally, in the same year Donal Lunny dedicated his composition “Declan” to Declan McNeilis which was recorded live on his self-titled debut album.

It is a brisk twenty minute walk from Portobello Bridge to the bottom of South Great George’s Street but on your way into town you pass about 30 pubs. They are in order:

The Portobello (33 Sth. Richmond St.)
O’Connell’s (29 Sth. Richmond St.)
The Bernard Shaw (11-12 Sth. Richmond St.)

The Bleeding Horse (24-25 Camden St. Upr.)
Cassidy’s, 42 Camden St. Lwr.)
The Camden Exchange (72 Camden St. Lwr.)
Anseo (18 Camden St. Lwr.)
Devitt’s (78 Camden St. Lwr.)
The Palace (84-87 Camden St. Lwr.)
Flannery’s (6 Camden St. Lwr.)
Ryan’s (92 Camden St. Lwr.)

Whelan’s (25 Wexford St.)
Opium Rooms (26 Wexford St.)
The Jar (31 Wexford St.)
Against The Grain (11 Wexford St.)
The Karma Stone (40 Wexford St.)
The Swan (58 York St.)

J.J. Smyth’s (12 Aungier St.)
Capitol Lounge (1 Aungier St.)

The Long Hall (51 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)
Hogan’s (35-37 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)
Chelsea Drug Store (25 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)
Soder and Ko (64 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)
Izakaya (12-13 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)
The Globe (11 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)
The George (89 Sth. Gt. George’s St.)

There are also a couple of pubs which are no longer open but whose fronts are still very much visible. Murphy’s (30 Sth. Richmond St.) next door to O’Connell’s has been closed for some time. The Aungier House (43 Aungier St) on the corner with Digges Street has been derelict for nearly twenty years. The former Shebeen Chic (4 Sth. Gt. George’s St.) premises is currently empty but no doubt will be taken over by new owners soon.

There’s something for nearly everyone on this stretch. Locals and tourists alike. For the LGBT Community (The George), for one of the best pints of Guinness in the city (The Long Hall), for cheap cocktails (Capitol Lounge), for Blues fans (J.J. Smyth’s), for DIT students (The Karma Stone), fans of craft beer (Against The Grain), techno and house lovers (Opium Rooms), for country folk (Flannery’s), true music heads (Anseo), for the pizza and hipster crowd (The Bernard Shaw) and so on and so on.

However in late 2015, a small pub called Delaney’s and its next door off licence at number 17-18 Aungier Street shut its doors without much fanfare or fuss.

Delaney’s, Aungier Street from c. 2015. Credit – Jar.ie.

I think it is reasonable to argue that this was one of the last remaining genuine working-class ‘local’ pubs left in this part of the South Inner City.

Only a stone throws away from the the glitz of Fade Street and the shopping district surrounding Grafton Street, Delaney’s was an anachronistic institution for this part of town. It was a pub that did not attempt to compete for the business of tourists or anyone else. By no means was it an unwelcoming bar but it was certainly a local bar for local people with a sizeable number of patrons coming from the nearby York Street flats.

Footballers from Aungier Celtic outside Delaney’s (July 2014)

It was a pub that offered cheap pints, a Lotto Draw for the local football club on Mondays, Karaoke on Tuesdays and Bingo on Wednesdays. DJs with names like DJ Gaz and DJ Bubbles played on the weekend. There was a darts table and a poker table. The pub had no website but an active Facebook personal account.

If you’re standing with your back to Central Bank, where would be the nearest pub that would match such a description south of the Liffey? I think you’d have all the way to Townsend Street or Pearse Street in one direction and all the way to Thomas Street in the other.

In just a few months, the pub was closed, renovated and re-opened as an up-market cocktail bar called Bow Lane.  Now you can get a Pompelmo (grapefruit vodka cocktail) for €11 or bottles of red wine like a Gagliardo Serre Barolo (2007) for  €105.

Bow Lane cocktail bar, Dublin. Credit – hotspots.ie.

Online newspaper articles about the opening of the new business are quite interesting. Particularly the kind of language being used.

A piece in the DailyEdge described Delaney’s as a “closed-down pub” and “an unassuming place you’ve probably been walking past for years”. The fact remains that Delaney’s wasn’t a long-term derelict pub, it was only shut for a very short time.

FFT.ie called it the “extensive refurbishment” of an “old rundown unit adding to the ongoing transformation of one of Dublin’s oldest streetscapes”.

Lovin’ Dublin revealed that patrons to the new venue could expect a “authentic inner-city pub experience”. Whatever the hell that means. Before declaring that “oxtail ragú lasagnette, roasted squash fettuccine and slow-cooked rabbit pie” will be on offer. Hmmm.

Their own blurb was a nauseous bit of PR nonsense:

Bow Lane is an authentic, late night cocktail bar that appeals to a cross-section of Dublin society from the gritty underclass of sophisticates to creatives and the party set. Bow Lane has areas that satisfy a want for exclusivity and other areas that create a space for typical Dublin social intercourse.

Brief history:

No. 18 Aungier Street is a terraced, three bay, four-storey building which has been a licensed premises since at least the mid 19th century.

From 1852 to 1890 the lease holder of the business was John Hoyne, a Wine Merchant and Grocer.

On 13 June 1890, Irish Times described the premises as:

old-established, well and favourably known. A retail seven-day, licensed grocery, tea, wine, spirit, and malt drink concerns, unexceptionally situated on one of the greatest and still rising main line streets in Dublin. The establishment has very fine frontage. The exterior and interior are in splendid condition. A depth of 150 feet gives ample room for present genuine trade and further extension as may in future requite for increased business.

In 1892 it was owned by a Joseph C. Reynolds but by 1901, the census shows that it was the hands of Patrick Coughlan from Kilkenny:

18 Aungier Street, 1901 census. Credit – census.nationalarchives.ie.

The business was put up for sale in 1924 and then again in 1930 when it was was described in The Irish Times (7 June 1930) as a “spacious” premises with “bar fitting, cash desk and show cases … in richly-carved Domingo wood; there is good yard space with beer and bottling stores and excellent lavatory arrangements.”

It went through a slew of names in the 20th century – Patrick Brady’s The Central Bar (1930s), the Central Bar (early 1970s) and The Millhouse Inn (late 1970s).

According to Rareirishstuff.com, this is an image of The Central Bar, on Aungier Street in the 1950’s.

The Central Bar was home to the Dublin Welsh Choir in the 1970s. Members included Irish republicans Roy Johnston,  Deasún Breathnach and long-term CHTM! contributer PhotoPol.

Members of the Dublin Welsh Choir in the Central Bar, 18 Aungier St. in 1971. Thanks to Photopol for passing on the information.

From about 1980 to 1997, it was known as Gleeson’s. In late 1980s, the bar had been sold for £200,000 to a German businessman Hans Heiss who moved to Ireland with his Irish wife.

Gleeson’s, 18 Aungier Street. (The Irish Times, 13 January 1992).

In the early 2000s, the pub was known again as The Central Bar before finally setting on Delaney’s.

This was not a extraordinary pub that could boast the best pint of Guinness in the city or a remarkable Victorian interior but it was a genuine neighborhood bar in a part of town that has very few left.

Its closing down and redevelopment (almost) overnight into an expensive, cocktail bar should not go unnoticed.

Scottish historian and left-wing political activist Bob Purdie (1940-2014) published a number of autobiographical passages on his Facebook profile not long before he passed away. Two were focused on Dublin and I thought they would be worth sharing here for a larger audience.

Irish Left Archive: “Ireland Unfree” Bob Purdie, Rep Pamphlets 2, International Marxist Group, 1972. Credit – Cedar Lounge Revolution

The first piece comes from 1970 and Purdie recalls his early opinions of the Dublin and the various left-wing and republican activists that he met.

“I remember … My first visit to Dublin.”

I had become deeply involved in Ireland, reading Irish history and learning about its culture, but I had never been there. In July 1970 the International Marxist Group (IMG) sent me to visit Dublin and Belfast and I left Euston Station with keen anticipation. It was a long journey – train to Holyhead, ferry to Dun Laoghaire and train to Dublin, so I took a book to read on the way. It was Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s great novel about rural life in North East Scotland, Sunset Song. I opened it as the train left London and immediately fell in. I emerged only as the Irish coast came into view and I was abruptly tipped from one world into another. What I was seeing was familiar and that puzzled me. Then I remembered Brendan Behan’s description, at the end of Borstal Boy, of sailing into Dublin Bay. It had lodged in my mind so vividly that it now it was replaying itself in my memory.

Dublin in 1970 was very reminiscent of 1950s Edinburgh. I ate in a restaurant which had waitresses wearing frilly caps and aprons, with cakes on tiered plates, just like the tea rooms of my boyhood. The Georgian squares and crescents were familiar from Edinburgh’s New Town. But it was very evidently a Catholic city. There seemed to hundreds of priests and nuns in clerical garb on the streets and, outside the cinemas, posters showing girls in bikinis were blacked out from neck to mid thigh.

It was four years after the centenary [Golden Jubilee] of the 1916 Rising and my train tickets still said “Westland Row” and “Amiens Street”, but the signs in the stations read “Pearse” and “Connolly”. I gazed at the bullet marks on the GPO and wandered round inside, trying to imagine it occupied by the Volunteers and the Citizen Army. I wandered round the National Museum looking at the relics of the Rising and, in a shop on O’Connell Street, I bought a reproduction of the Proclamation of the Republic. I also bought the political writings of Padraig Pearse and some history books. In a second hand book shop on the quays, run by Joe Clarke a veteran of the Rising, I bought a slim volume of the writings of James Fintan Lalor. That was the beginning of my collection on Ireland, which now runs to well over a thousand books, plus a couple of hundred pamphlets.

I stayed the first night in a cheap B&B in Pearse Street, it cost me a pound and I paid with an Irish note which displayed Lavery’s portrait of his wife, as Kathleen ní Houlihan. I shared the room and next morning the water in the cracked washbasin gave off a strange smell. But the Irish fried breakfast was very acceptable.

I spent three days in Dublin and on the remaining two nights stayed with Paddy Healy of the League for a Workers Republic, a small Trotskyist group which was not affiliated to the Fourth International. In his flat at the back of an Busaras (the bus station) I found the ms. of a short story by Géry Lawless which was seemed to be autobiographical. It told the story of an internee in the Curragh Camp who was allowed, as a special concession, to see Sputnik cross the sky. Surrounded by walls and barbed wire, he watched it with his armed guard who said, “them Russians have got the Free World guessing.” I thought it was well written and Géry later confirmed that it was by him, but he didn’t have a copy and was not interested in getting it published. It is, almost certainly, now lost.

I called in at the HQ of the Official Republican Movement in Lower Gardiner Street. I had a very friendly conversation with Seán Ó Cionnaith, while helping him to stuff envelopes with their newsletter. He was dressed in a tweed jacket and looked more like a 1950s schoolteacher than the long haired revolutionaries I had left behind in London. I also met Mairín de Burca, to whom I had a letter of introduction from Géry. She was friendly and reassuringly militant; very like the feminists I knew in London. At Trinity College I met Dalton Kelly (known nowadays as Daltún Ó Ceallaigh), a rising star amongst the younger Officials. He told me he expected that the movement would become completely political and the IRA would be disbanded.

I also met some Trotskyists who were more in tune with the IMG, Rayner Lysaght (still a good friend), Brendan Kelly and a couple of others. On my last day in Dublin I was sitting in a pub with them, when I was told that two CS Gas canisters had been thrown onto the floor of the House of Commons. I travelled to Belfast the next day and that fixes the date of my visit as 24th July 1970. On the Enterprise Express, going northwards, I gazed out of the window, trying to see as much of Ireland as I could. Then I arrived in the city that was going to engage my mind and heart, as no other place has ever done.

Bob Purdie speaking, n.d.

Purdie picks up the story ten years later and recollects his experience of traveling down to Dublin monthly in 1980 for meetings of the Irish Labour History Society.

“I remember …  Dublin and the Irish Labour History Society.”

In the Autumn of 1980 I helped to set up the Belfast Branch of the ILHS. I had been interested in the history of the Irish working class for many years, the walls of the cellar in which the Govan and Gorbals Young Socialists met in 1961-2 were decorated with pictures of the Irish Citizen Army, their Starry Plough banner and Liberty Hall, the Irish Transport and General Workers’ HQ.

As an Edinburgh socialist I was drawn to James Connolly, who seemed to be the antithesis of that grim, grey, dreich, Presbyterian city. I had joined the ILHS soon after it was set up in 1973 and I had been receiving its journal “Saothar” since 1975. Now I was living in Ireland so I joined with a few other enthusiasts to found a branch and was elected Secretary. We then sought official recognition from the Committee of the Society in Dublin, expecting a warm welcome. We didn’t get it.

The Secretary of the Society informed us that we could not set up a branch without the prior permission of the Committee and this could only be done after it was formally placed on their agenda, which would take a couple of months. And before they could decide to recognise a Belfast Branch they would have to decide whether or not to have branches in the first place. It was all very complicated and we should wait patiently until it could be sorted out. In the meantime we could not call ourselves a branch of the ILHS. To which we responded in the spirit of Larkin and Connolly, we refused to accept this ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense. I was delegated to go down to Dublin to tell the Committee that we were a branch and we were demanding recognition. I was received with great warmth and we were enthusiastically welcomed into the fold. The Secretary had been speaking only for herself.

I became the official representative of the Belfast Branch, travelling down to Dublin for the monthly Committee meetings. It was advantageous for the ILHS to have an address in the North and the Workers Educational Association let us use their premises in Fitzroy Avenue. These regular trips to Dublin became part of the pattern of my life and I worked out a route from Connolly Station to the meeting which incorporated the maximum number of bookshops. In this way I began to build my Irish library.

Dublin had changed little since my first visit in 1970, walking along Talbot Street I passed an electrical supply shop called “McHugh Himself” and a theatre which permanently advertised a show by the Irish tenor Josef Locke. I thought it was derelict but in fact it was still packing in audiences to hear his operetta songs. This was not long after the link with Sterling had been broken and the Irish pound was worth about 0.75p of the British one. Purchase tax on clothes and food was much lower than in the UK and I could buy things for about half the cost in Belfast, except that I was too poor to take very much advantage, (I always had money for books, but that’s different). My lunch was a soda farl with cheese and another with jam, washed down by a small flask of black coffee. I picnicked in St Stephen’s Green whatever the weather, I couldn’t afford a cafe.

Dublin was starkly divided. South of the Liffey there were plush shops and prosperous crowds, from Connolly Station to the end of O’Connell Bridge it was rough. Pasty faced Traveller children sat on the steps of the O’Connell Monument inhaling glue from paper bags and once I was robbed. I carried cash and my keys in a small leather bag and someone said, “did you know these two boys have just picked your pocket?” I chased after them and a couple of well dressed young guys grabbed them. I got the bag back and they asked if I wanted to take them to the Garda Station to charge them. I looked at their scrawny bodies and the abject misery on their faces and my heart melted and I said “no”. One of the young men, with disgust, said “well, ye’re an eejit!” I would do the same again, what’s the use of being on the side of the poor and the oppressed if you join with the arrogant middle class against them?

Crossing the Bridge and walking down Grafton Street on Saturday mornings I was passing shops and restaurants I couldn’t afford to enter. But there was free entertainment from the buskers. One of them was the “Dice Man”, who became a well loved Dublin character. Actually he was a fellow Scot, Thom McGinty from Glasgow. He dressed in a long black gown and hood and his face was white, so that he looked like the angel of death. His act was to move incredibly slowly, this was before living statues appeared in every city but he was much more than that. He seemed to be moving through another dimension of time and space and he projected a charisma that drew fascinated crowds. Except that every so often he would catch a child’s eye and drop a large, conspiratorial wink.

Going back to Connolly Station at night I would pass “Holy Island” a traffic island in the middle of O’Connell Street on which a middle aged woman had set up religious images and a loudspeaker, she would appeal to the cinema and restaurant crowds to return to their Catholic duties and loudly gave out the Rosary, with which they didn’t join in. She was another Scot, and the world believes that it is the Irish who are eccentric.

Note : Thanks to Brian Hanley making us aware of these recollections.

The late 1950s saw a number of world-renown singers record covers of Irish republican folk songs.

These include Paul Robeson’s version of ‘Kevin Barry’ which was first released as single on Topic Records in 1957. Robeson was an acclaimed African-American left-wing activist, actor and singer who visited Dublin a number of times in the 1930s.

Two years later, Odetta recorded a haunting version of ‘Foggy Dew’ for her third album My Eyes Have Seen (Vanguard records, 1959). Often referred to as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”, the African-American Civil Rights activist, actress and singer’s debut album ‘Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues‘ was released on Tradition Records whose president and director was Paddy Clancy of the Clancy Brothers.

Adding to this small but impressive number, I’ve just uploaded onto YouTube a late 1950s cover of ‘The Dying Rebel’ by “The King of Skiffle” Lonnie Donegan.

Donegan (1931-2002) was a Glasgow-born singer and songwriter who was a major influence on 1960s British pop music. He was the only son of an Irish mother from Omagh, Co. Tyrone and a Scottish father. The family moved to East Ham, London when Donegan was two years old.

Lonnie Donegan – Lonnie (November 1957). Credit – windmill-records.co.uk

Patrick Humphries in his biography ‘Lonnie Donegan and the Birth of British Rock & Roll’ (2012) briefly mentions The Dying Rebel and a cover of Kevin Barry which was released to great acclaim :

Late in 1958 an EP, Relax with Lonnie’, was shipped containing ‘Kevin Barry’ and ‘My Lagan Love’ – familiar songs from the bedrock of Irish republicanism and among Donegan’s most extraordinary performances of the period.

Another song in the same vein – ‘My Only Son Was Killed in Dublin (The Dying Rebel)’ – was recorded around the same time, but remained unreleased until 1993.

‘My Only Son Was Killed in Dublin’, most commonly known as ‘The Dying Rebel,’ was likely to have been written by Seamus Kavanagh. It tells the story of a man standing alone on Dublin’s O’Connell Street who meets a “grey-haired father searching for his only son” then a “fair hair maiden” kneeling by her lovers side and finally a “dying rebel” whose last words are “God bless the cause for which I die.” While the song does not specifically mention the Easter Rising, it is generally assumed that the song is set during its immediate aftermath.

Donegan’s adaption begins “The night was still” while most versions open with “The night was dark”. The other noticeable difference is that the rebel cries “God bless my sweet home in Tipperary” as opposed to the much more common reference to Cork.

As mentioned in the extract above, the song was not commercially released at the time and only became available to the public on an eight CD boxset of Donegan’s work called ‘More Than “Pye in the Sky”‘ in 1993.

Here is the recording of Donegan’s cover of Kevin Barry:

In an undated interview republished in the same book, Donegan told English broadcaster Mike Harding:

I listened to a lot of Irish folk songs because my mother was Irish. I actually did learn Danny Boy on my mother’s knee. Kevin Barry, which I also learned from mum pre-dates the [current] IRA … (it) goes back to the natural aversion people have to being subjugated by somebody else.

Further Irish links include Rory Gallagher appearing on Donegan’s 1978 comeback album Puttin’ on the Style and a live album recorded in Belfast in 2000 with Van Morrison.

After his death in 2002, The Guardian newspaper wrote:

Lonnie Donegan … was the first British pop superstar and the founding father of British pop music, and the musician who provided the original inspiration for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and a host of others. By the time the Beatles shook up the music world in the mid-1960s Donegan’s glory days were over, and he had retreated to comedy and cabaret, but between 1956 and 1962 he notched up an incredible 26 hits.

Donegan was a musical phenomenon. As the leader of the skiffle craze, he inspired the formation of literally thousands of do-it-yourself bands across the country, and was directly responsible for the 1960s pop explosion that – ironically – was to severely damage his own career.

From African-American cultural icons with no Irish links to British pop music luminaries of Irish descent, listening back to these three remarkable covers from the late 1950s is a must for any music fans.

Last Saturday, myself and Ciaran spoke at a talk entitled ‘The Past, Present and Future of the Irish Breakfast’ at the The Royal Society of Antiquaries on Merrion Square as part of the St. Patrick’s Festival.

I focused on stories from the Revolutionary Period (1916-23). To do this, I searched through the Witness Statements of the Bureau of Military History. The word ‘breakfast’ comes up 286 times in the statements and I picked out eight of the best anecdotes.

Easter 1916

Mairead Ni Cheallaigh (Mairead O’Kelly), a Dublin-based member of Cumann na mBan during 1916 and sister to future Irish president Sean T. O’Ceallaigh, recorded an entertaining story from Easter Monday morning. It provided us with details of the Pearse brothers’ breakfast – their last ever home-cooked meal.

I have kept the table and tablecloth that were used by the Pearses at the last meal they ate in our house. On Easter Morning … my mother called me to give instructions about the breakfast for the Pearses. She said she had prepared a tureen of bacon and eggs which she had left on a trivet in front of the dining room fire. She had also a tureen of mutton chops.

She said they must be very hungry and God knows when they will get a meal again. She must have known more than I did. She went out and I went into the dining room where the table was set. Shortly afterwards I heard the Pearses come downstairs. They stood shyly outside the door until I called them in … I placed the two tureens on the table and they ate every bit of the food … including a whole loaf of bread.

Rose McNamara, vice-Commandant of Cumann na mBan in 1916 who was based in Jameson’s Distillery in Marrowbone Lane wrote a short and simple diary-style entry in her Statement. Their garrison seemed to have a decent supply and range of food during Easter Week:

Tuesday April 25th – Quinn’s bakery cart was held up and some bread captured, also two cans of milk from a passing cart.

Wednesday – 19 chickens captured from messenger boy … we cooked the chickens for dinner, having to take them up out of the pots with bayonets, not having any forks or utensils.

Friday – Up early for breakfast ; we fried veal cutlets and gave the men a good feed. We had a meat dinner with potatoes. 9 live chickens commandeered.

Rose MacNamara in uniform.

Frank Hynes, captain of the Athenry branch of the Irish Volunteers, took to the Galway countryside with his unit during the Rising and recalled their successful mission to source a decent breakfast:

“We were ravenously hungry. I searched the haversack for a few crumbs. The only thing I got was a boiled potato and when i went to divide it I found it was bad in the centre. I stood up and called on my pals “Come on, lads, I’m going to get breakfast if I were to shoot my way to it”.

[They found a house up along the road]

“I walked to the house, the door was open and a young woman was standing at the fire. The table was laid for breakfast and I feasted my eyes on a most beautiful home-made cake … I had to exercise all my will-power to restrain the savage desire to go and grab the cake”.

[The men were given cups of tea]

“That cake I mentioned was a feed for six men but by the time that we had devoured two blue duck eggs each and our share of the cake I doubt if there was enough left to to give to the man of the house his breakfast, who by the way, came in as we were eating, and the only thing that troubled him was that we would kill ourselves eating”.

Jail

While the Witness Statements of Volunteers who were on active service or on-the-run describe breakfast in enthusiastic terms, it’s understandably the opposite when it comes to their experiences in jail.

Patrick Colgan, a member of the Irish Volunteer from Maynooth, was sent to Stafford jail. His breakfasted consisted of “a portion of black, badly baked bread and a small piece of maragine, about half a pint of very weak, unsweetened tea”.

Sean O’Neill, who was active Irish Volunteers in Tuam, spent time in Galway Gaol. His morning meal was “a small quantity of porridge in the depths of a black handless tin, a ‘basin’ of milk – the warder always called it a basin – a small tin bowl containing a naggin of shell-coca brew … a junk of bread and a speck of margarine.”

Liam Tannam, Dublin Brigade IRA, fared a little bit better in Knutsford jail in Cheshire, England. Breakfast comprised “eggs and ham, tins of jam, genuine butter and porridge”.

Galway Gaol, April 1958. Credit – Advertiser.ie

War of Independence

Seamus Kavanagh, a member of the IRA in Dublin, was sent to Newtownhamilton, Armagh for the 1918 Election to help ensure there was no interference with the Sinn Fein election campaign. A decent breakfast was a life-safer for the men who had been living on bread, jam and tea for two days.

On the morning of the third day when someone said that a good breakfast could be had in the town for 2/6d per head there was a charge made for the restaurant where we got ham, rashers, eggs, tea, bread and better … I was  never so glad that I that I had 2/6d then I was on that morning.

Robert Brennan, active with Sinn Fein Press Bureau and the anti-Treaty IRA, was called upon by De Valera to visit him in Clonmel.  His train was held up due to a blown up railway bridge and the passengers had to sleep on the train overnight. He recalls a humourous story of one hungry heretic who questioned why the priest in their company received more food than them.

In the morning, the dozen … travellers betook themselves to a nearby farmhouse, where we breakfasted on tea, bacon and eggs. The farmer’s wife apologised because there was only one egg apiece. A red-haired, jovial fellow growled that the only priest in the party had got two eggs. He solemnly told the farmer’s wife that she had undermined his faith and that he was going to turn Protestant. The lady pounded him on the back and said he was not going to imperil his immortal soul for the sake of an egg. “It’s not for an egg” he said “it’s the principle of the thing”.

Robert Brennan in later life. Credit – http://www.yvonnejerrold.com.

Good Friday 25th March 2016

Sinn Fein are organising a “major rally to celebrate the lives of the executed leaders and role of the Irish diaspora in the Rising”. They are assembling at 12pm at Kilmainham Gaol and marching to Arbour Hill where party leader Gerry Adams will address the crowd.

Friday 25th March, Sinn Fein march.

Saturday 26th March

Meeting at Liberty Hall at 11am, Sinn Fein are co-ordinating an ‘Irish Citizen Army’ parade that will march to the Wolfe Tone monument at St. Stephen’s Green.

Saturday 26th March, SF parade.

The Seán Heuston 1916 Society’s main centenary parade is meeting at the GPO at 12pm and marching to Arbour Hill

Saturday 26th March, 1916 Societies march.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party are assembling at 12.30pm at Liberty Hall for their main centenary march.

Saturday 26th March, IRSP march.

Eirigi are holding a wreath laying ceremony at Mount Street Bridge at 2pm.

Eirigi

On Saturday night, the North Inner City Folklore Project are launching a new 1916 history book in Lloyds Bar on Amiens Street.

Sunday 27th March

The Irish State parade begins at St. Stephen’s Green at 10am, pausing for the wreath-laying ceremony at the GPO at noon, and concluding at Bolton Street at approximately 3pm. This event is open to the public who will be able to view the parade all along the parade route. Large screens will also be available to assist viewing.

Sinn Fein’s main 2016 parade in Dublin is meeting at 1.30pm at Berkeley Road Church in Phibsboro marching to the 1916 plot in Glasnevin Cemetery. Mary Lou McDonald TD is the key note speaker.

Easter Sunday – Sinn Fein parade.

Easter Monday 28th March

RTÉ’s major ‘Reflecting The Rising‘ is a city-wide event taking place between 11am – 6pm involving  a huge range of “talks, exhibitions, live music, theatrical performances, special films, interactive activities and family entertainment”.

Musical highlights include Lisa O’Neill, Kíla, Mick Flannery and co. performing on stage at Lower Fitzwilliam Street. As well as Sharon Shannon, The High Kings, The Celtic Tenors and co. on O’Connell Street.

Also, the North Inner City Folklore Project are unveiling a plaque to Sean MacDermott street. Meeting at Liberty Hall at 12pm.

Saturday 9 April 2016

The Cabra 1916 Rising Committee and the East Wall History Group are co-organising a day of talks in City Hall with historians Brian Hanley, John Dorney, Hugo McGuinness, Stephen McCullagh and Maeve O’Leary. Entrance is free.

‘Rebellion : A Peoples History’ poster.

Saturday 23 April 2016
Republican Sinn Fein are hosting their main commemorative march. Assembling at 1.45pm at the Garden of Remembrence.

RSF poster

On Saturday at 3pm, the Seán Heuston 1916 Society are hosting a public meeting in the Teacher’s Club with Tommy McKearney (ex-hunger striker), Kieran Conway (author of Southside Provisional) and CHTM’s Donal Fallon.

Seán Heuston 1916 Society, Dublin public meeting

Sunday 24 April 2016

On the 100th anniversary of the Rising, the National Graves Association are hosting a Citizens Commemoration.
Assembling at the GPO from 12.30pm and then a march to Glasnevin Cemetery for the unveiling of a new monument at St. Paul’s Cemetery which marks the graves of a number of Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army killed during the Rising.

NGA poster

Assembling at Merrion Square at 2pm, the ‘Reclaim the Vision of 1916′ are organising a march and pageant.  Patrons of the organisation include Robert Ballagh, Jim Fitzpatrick, Betty Purcell and Tommy McKearney.

Reclaim the Vision of 1916 march.

Saturday 30th April

The Stoneybatter and Smithfield People’s History Project will unveil a plaque on North King Street to remember sixteen locals killed by the British Army. They are assembling at 2.30pm on Manor Street and will march the short distance to North King Street to unveil the plaque.

Saturday 14 May

On the 100th anniversary of the execution of James Connolly, éirígí are holding their main centenary commemoration. Assembling at 2pm at the Wolfe Tone statue at Stephen’s Green and marching to the GPO.

Eirigi 2016 march

Thanks to our friend Conor McCabe for uploading this seven minute clip from The Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC2). It features presenter Andy Kershaw traveling to Dublin to report on the local live music scene in May 1985.

It opens with clips of the Ha’Penny Bridge and the Liffey. Followed by images of gig posters for:

– The Virgin Prunes, TV Club, Friday 17th May 1985
– Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, National Stadium, Saturday 11th May 1985
– The Alarm and the Faith Brothers, National Stadium, Sunday 19th May 1985
– Jason & the Scorchers, National Stadium, Thursday 16th May 1985

Cutting to the TV club venue on Harcourt Street, there is footage of live performances from local bands Blue In Heaven performing ‘Big Beat’, Cactus World News performing ‘The Other Extreme’ and Flo McSweeney performing ‘You Are’.

Intertwined between these clips is an interview with DJ and music journalist Dave Fanning.

Finally, presenter Andy Kersahw talks to Paul Cleary of The Blades as he takes them for a walk in the shadow of the now-demolished gasometer. Cleary compares the scene in Dublin to Manchester and Liverpool and discusses their recent record management woes with Electra.

Check it out here. Thanks again Conor.

Thanks to our friend Daniel Lambert (of the wonderful Bang Bang cafe in Phibsboro) for letting us share this wonderful historical letter which was has been in his family’s possession for eighty years.

It is an invitation (dated 15 September 1936) from the Republican Congress to its Dublin members calling on them to attend an important Emergency General Meeting at the Engineers’ Hall at 8 Gardiners Row off Parnell Square. Signed by legendary Irish republican figures George Gilmore (1898–1985) and Frank Ryan (1902-1944), the letter uses emotive language declaring that extreme-right “terrorist squads” in Ireland are breaking up left-wing meetings backed by the “Fascist organ” the Irish Independent. The Congress calls on all sections of the Republican and Labour movements to “act together” and “combat and defeat the Fascist offensive”.

Less than three months after the meeting, Frank Ryan and about 80 men left Ireland for Spain to fight with the International Brigades against the Franco and his Fascist forces. A total of around 300 Irish anti-Fascists fought in Spain. They “fought bravely on several fronts between 1936 and 1938, notably Jarama, Brunete, Teruel and the Ebro. Close to a third of their number died in Spain and many more were injured” summed up Fearghal McGarry in an 2001 article in History Ireland.

The Republican Congress, a fleeting but momentous attempt to establish a broad left-wing front in Irish politics, failed to unify disparate internal voices and faded from public activity by November 1936.

Letter

Republican Congress letter (15 September 1936). Owned by the Lambert family.

 
Transcript:

Republican Congress

Extraordinary General Meeting of Dublin Members on Tuesday September 15, 1936.

A chara,

The Republican Congress call all its members and sympathisers to an Extraordinary General Meeting on Tuesday next, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. in the Engineers’ Hall, 6 Gardiner’s Row.

The meeting will consider the present situation in Ireland with particular reference to the strenuous efforts now being made – with a certain degree of success – by the Fascists, organised in bodies such as O’Duffy’s Foreign Legion and the so-called Irish Christian Front, to pose as “defenders of Faith and Fatherland”.

The Fascists are taking advantage of the divisions in the national ranks to organise terrorist squads to break up Republican and working-class meetings and to stifle free speech. They are taking advantage, too, of events in Spain to pose as the “defenders of Christianity” here. And abroad, they misinterpret Ireland as a country that would the strangle the liberties of her ancient allies the Spanish, Catalan and Basque people. The Fascist organ, the “Irish Independent”, is conducting on their behalf, a campaign of calumny and intimidation in an endeavour to isolate the several sections of the Republican and working-class movements in order to destroy each individually.

The campaign must be halted. The different, and differing, sections of the Independence movement must act together against Fascism and for the Irish Republic.
The forthcoming Extraordinary General Meeting of the Republican Congress will discuss fully the problems arising out of this latest Fascist ramp. The Honorary Secretaries will preset a comprehensive report on the situation and will suggest the methods by which we can combat and defeat the Fascist offensive.

We ask each member to help to make the meeting fully representative of Republican and Labour forces in Dublin, so that our decisions may have the fullest possible numerical endorsement. We assure you that the information at our disposal proves the time opportune to expose and defeat the Fascist plans. Accordingly, we urge on you the necessity for as full as punctual attendance as possible on Tuesday.

Sinne,

George Gilmore

Frank Ryan, Honorary Secretaries.

N.B. THIS LETTER IS YOUR ADMISSION CARD TO THE MEETING> PLEASE SHOW IT TO THE STEWARDS AT THE HALL.

It has come to light in the last week that deceased, convicted paedophile and former pirate radio personality Eamon Cooke (1936 – 2016) may have been involved in the disappearance and death of 13-year-old schoolboy Philip Cairns who went missing from Rathfarnham in October 1986.

After reading an excellent Broadsheet.ie post, I thought it would be useful to elaborate on Cooke’s brushes with the law in the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s. It is likely that he had some connections with the republican movement during this time period.

In the book Playing in the Dark (2011) by Rosie Dunn and Siobhan Kennedy-McGuinness (a victim of Cooke’s),  they cited an article (pp. 253-54) that Cooke wrote in which he claimed that his mother was a member of Cumann na mBhan during the Civil War and that he was in an “active service unit” during the 1950s. It also mentioned the following two incidents that occurred in 1952 and 1957.

In 1952, the O’Connell Monument in Glasnevin Cemetery was damaged by a homemade bomb. Three boys were quickly arrested, one of whom was brought before the courts. Aged 15, this ringleader was sentenced to 12 months probation. As Donal related in a 2012 article :

In a statement to police the boy said that “about two years ago I learned from other boys at school how to make explosions with potassium chlorate, charcoal and sulfur.” He was alleged to have told Gardaí he had set off some small trial bombs in the area, and had “purchased the ingredients for the bomb in small quantities in chemists’ shops for only a few pence.” On the afternoon before attempting his bombing at O’Connell’s tomb, the young 15-year-old used an old bicycle frame to pack in the required ingredients.

At 8.30pm on June 6th, the youngster climbed the O’Connell Tower, planting his crude explosion on the top storey with a lighted candle. When asked why he had done it, the lad remarked that “because it was so high”, he expected “a lot of noise and a big flash.”

A number of leads point to Eamon Cooke being the unnamed 15-year-old charged.

The first comes from the late great Shane MacThomais, Glasnevin Cemetery historian, who commented on Donal’s 2012 article:

did you know that the youth in question went on to become a famous Dublin Dj of the 1970s and a convicted rapist in 2007. He paid the cemetery 30 shillings for the glass broke in the tower.”

Cooke was born in 1936 so would have been 15/16 in 1952 and he lived just two minutes walk from the Cemetery. It’s also mentioned in a recent HotPress article (though they say 1960s) and the Broadsheet.ie piece (though they incorrectly say 1950).

In 1957, Eamonn Cooke (21) or Edward Joseph Patrick Cooke, a clerk, of 18 St. Theresa’s Place, Glasnevin, was sentenced to five years imprisonment at Wicklow Circuit Court. On the night of 18th February, he had shot six times at Gardai at Hollybrook Garage near Wingfield, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

Escaping the scene but later arrested at his home, he was charged with:

1) Attempted murder of four members of the Garda Siochana
2) Having a revolver in his possession with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property
3) Breaking and entering the lock-up garage of Patrick Farrell
4) Having in his possession a revolver without a firearm certificate
5) Causing malicious damage

Cooke replied to the first charge : “At the time I fired the shots, I did not know that they were police and I did not fire directly at the police”. To the second charge, he said : “I had no intention to endanger life”. He pleaded guilty to the third and fourth charges and in reply to the fifth : “I admit some damages”.

The prosecution later withdrew the first charge changing it to “shooting at four Gardai with intent to to resist or prevent lawful apprehension”.

In a statement, Cooke said that he noticed the garage after being in the Dublin Mountains with friends shooting and decided he would raid it for petrol. He broke the locks on two petrol pumps with an iron bar at the garage but the pumps were empty. Cooke stated that that he bought the gun six months ago to shoot at birds.

For the defence, Dr. Mary P. Mulvany, said the accused “suffered from meningitis, was of superior intelligence, was impulsive, and fond of approbation, and though not suffering from mental disease, was not completely stable and should receive prolonged psychological treatment.”

Eamonn Cooke newspaper report. (Irish Times, 19 Feb 1957)

In 1965, Sean Colley (20), a plumber, of 80 Decies Road, Ballyfermot was sentenced to six months imprisonment after being convicted of having a Lee Enfield rifle and eight rounds of ammunition on September 8th of that year. He was also charged for on that day assaulting Eamon Cooke, of 3 Sarsfield Road, Balyfemrot by pointing the rifle at him after an argument. When charged, Colley replied : “When I pointed the gun … it was not loaded. The magazine was taken out and in my pocket. I have no licence for the rifle”.

Colley stated in evidence that he “was not a member of an illegal organisation” and did not know if the gun was “the property of the I.R.A.”. He said the gun came into his possession after a written note was put in his door asking him to call to a cafe in Sandymount to collect the gun which he did. Cooke and Colley fired it at least once in the Dublin Mountains.

(A man by the name of Sean Colley, aged 30, was one of three Irishmen in Lancashire sentenced in 1973 to up to four years imprisonment for conspiring to blow up public buildings. The Sean Colley from Ballyfermot would have been 28 in 1973).

Eamonn Cooke newspaper report. (Irish Press, 05 Nov 1965)

In 1973, a letter to the Sunday Independent accused Cooke of being a police informer. It was published with a picture of Cooke. As Bodger summed in up in his excellent piece on Broadsheet.ie, it has recently come to light that Cooke in the 1960s and 1970s would involve himself:

in live Garda operations and patrols in the Kilmainham area of the city on a nightly basis, installing a CB radio and a blue flashing light in his Jaguar car and uses the call-sign “Alpha 7” to report the movements of stolen vehicles in Dublin ‘A’ District, pursuing and ramming them himself.

Eamonn Cooke newspaper report (Sunday Independent, 25 March 1973).

In April, staff at Radio Dublin ‘mutiny’ after Cooke’s sexual abuse of a local girl is discovered. The Irish Press report that it was due to “allegations” made about his “personal conduct”.

Eamon Cooke newspaper report. (Irish Press, 10 April 1973). via Broadsheet.ie

A 1978 issue of Magill magazine described him as the ““Godfather” of pirate radio in Dublin … an innocuous, quietly spoken IRA man.”

Eamonn Cooke (Sunday Independent, 05 February 1978)

In the late 1970s, Jimmy Saville visited Cooke at Radio Dublin a number of times.

In November 1984, Cooke organised the petrol-bombing of the home of John Paul O’Toole on South Circular Road. O’Toole had worked for Cooke at Radio Dublin but had been sacked. He was “seen” with Cooke’s former girlfriend who was the mother of his three-year-old son. Cooke wanted revenge and so approached a number of men to carry out the attack.

In 1986, four men were charged in connection with the firebomb attack. They were Gerard McMullan (40), of Ballyfermot Drive; Eugene Geoghegan (40) of Donard Avenue, Blackhorse Avenue; Alan Callopy (33), Ballyfermot Drive and George Sneddon (33) of Glentow Road, Whitehall.

Cooke (49), of 58 Inchicore Road, pleaded guilty to conspiring to assault O’Toole and was given a four-year suspended sentence and . It was stated at the time that Cooke had five previous convictions with the last one dating back to 1957.

Eamon Cooke newspaper report. (Irish Press, 04 Nov 1986).

In 2003, Cooke was convicted for attempted rape, attempted unlawful carnal knowledge and sexual and indecent assault of four girls but the conviction was later quashed on a legal technicality. He was released in May 2006 but was brought again to court and convicted, in 2007, on 42 counts of sexual abuse of children. In early June 2016, Cooke died at at the age of 79 in a Dublin hospice to which he had been transferred from prison

Sources. 1957: Irish Independent (19 Feb 1957), Irish Press (13 April 1957) Irish Examiner (13 April 1957). 1965 : Irish Independent (20 Sep 1955), Irish Press (05 Nov 1965). 1984 : Irish Times (22 Oct 1986),  Irish Times (23 Oct 1986),