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Dublin Pubs (Mid 1980s)
I picked up this book for $5 in the amazing Powell’s bookshop in Portland, Oregon during the summer. It features 60 full-colour photographs of pubs across Ireland taken by Liam Blake with accompanying...
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Early Houses of Dublin (2019)
In February 2015, I published an article listing the remaining 14 or so ‘early house’ pubs in Dublin city centre along with some brief historical background about why these bars have special licenses...
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Multiracial bands in Irish music history (1963-1980)
Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s was a very homogeneous and white society but there were a handful of groundbreaking bands that included both black and white musicians. This a work in progress. In late...
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The Atrix relaunch – Sugar Club (Thurs 19 Sep 2019)
Dazzling Dublin New Wave/Post-Punk band The Atrix are set to release their long awaited anthology. The boxset (available in vinyl and CD) of remastered tracks from the 1979-81 period also includes a 24...
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Royal British Legion halls in Dublin and Wicklow
The Royal British Legion (RBL) is a charity, founded in 1921, to provide financial and social support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces. It’s best known for its annual red poppy...
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Gangland murders in Dublin (1970s/80s)
(Regarding crime and Dublin, the blog has previously looked at 18th century gang violence; joy-riding in Dublin from 1918-39; War of Independence bank-robberies; the 1920s ‘Sons of Dawn‘ who were...
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Gangland murders in Dublin (1990-94)
(Regarding crime and Dublin, the blog has previously looked at 18th century gang violence; joy-riding in Dublin from 1918-39; War of Independence bank-robberies; the 1920s ‘Sons of Dawn‘ who were...
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Seamus Costello letter in Military Service Pensions Collection file
The Military Service Pensions Collection is a publicly accessible online archive of material relating to the 1916-23 period. For successful applicants, material and correspondence on their file can...
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Colourful account of gay social spots in Dublin from an English visitor (1968)
George Lucas (born George Quirke) (1926–2014) was an English civil servant who documented his gay social life in a series of detailed personal diaries from the 1950s until the 1990s. Lucas befriended...
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The life and death of IRA Volunteer Peter McCarthy (1917-1937)
Peter McCarthy, a 20-year-old IRA member, was shot dead in June 1937 on Lower Clanbrassil Street. He was killed by an off-duty Special Branch officer with an unlicensed revolver in dubious...
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The life and death of IRA Volunteer Jackie Griffith (1921-1943)
Jackie Griffith, a 21-year-old IRA member, was shot dead in July 1943 while cycling near the corner of Lower Mount Street and Merrion Square in Dublin city centre. Although only a young man, he had...
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Major new map project of Dublin gun murders (1970 to 2022)
IntroductionThis new map plots out the locations of almost 350 gun murders in Dublin (and neighbouring counties) relating to organised crime, anti-social elements, paramilitary feuds, robberies and...
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The life and death of republican Patrick Murray (1933-1950)
(Author Sam McGrath has previously examined the fatal shooting of IRA member Peter McCarthy on Lower Clanbrassil Street in 1937 and the killing of another young republican Jackie Griffith near Merrion...
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The life and death of IRA Volunteer Christopher Bird (1916-1939)
(This is the fourth part of a series of in-depth articles on the lives of Republicans who died in Dublin in the 1930s to 1950s period, author Sam McGrath has previously examined the fatal shooting of...
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Early Houses of Dublin (late 2023)
In February 2015, I published an article listing the remaining 12 or so ‘early house’ pubs in Dublin city centre along with some brief historical background about why these bars have special licenses...
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