Bhí sé chomh fuar le croí tiarna talún (it was as cold as a landlord’s heart) ar na doirneoga inniu (on the cobbles today). The sun shone but the air was cold and on occasion when the wind blew ….
The stalls were even more reduced in number today than they have become of late.
PEOPLE
The foireann inniu (team today) was Bróna, Diarmuid and Daniel and we were joined by Deirdre too.
Bróna’s sister Fidelma joined us also and her and Bróna’s family name is Boland. After Fidelma Boland had signed the petition, along came passer-by to sign the petition and did so on the very next line. His family name? Boland!
An encounter between Diarmuid and a woman today is illustrative of the banter that was once common on the street when stall nestled close to stall and the stall-holders (and often enough the customers) kept themselves verbally amused.
While he was distributing leaflets, the woman approached Diarmuid, who recognised her as she used to work on one of the stalls. But five years ago when her daughter died of cancer she felt unable to continue.
“Are you selling something?” she enquired.
“I’m kind of selling the future,” replied Diarmuid.
“Oh, I thought you were selling yourself,” she responded.
“Sure who’d buy me?” enquired Diarmuid.
“Wait now till I get a loan from the credit union,” she responded as she left!
A man who signed told us his mother used to have a stall further towards the north end of the street.
And a woman as she signed told us that she had done a project on Moore Street many years ago. Once again we had ample demonstration of the lack of awareness of the location of the O’Rahilly Monument – it is disgraceful that Dublin City Council still does not have it signposted, despite promises, the earliest from four years ago!
At least two couples from India signed the petition; the people of that part of the world had a long and hard struggle against British colonialism. There are a number of historical connections with the Irish struggle, including the Connaught Rangers Mutiny in 1920 and the Irish-Indian Independence League founded in 1932; the prominent Indian nationalist families of Nehru and Ghandi (a different family to Mahatma’s) were in correspondence with the McSwineys.
A man whose brother does history tours to include Moore Street spoke to us in passion about the need for historical conservation. A short while later, a walking history tour actually passed us by.
Erroll, a supporter not seen for awhile dropped by apologising for not bringing us fruit as he used to, instead dispensing donuts and a pain au raisin!
UPDATES
The deadline for observations on the Hammerson demolition plan is just over a week away: 13th December. We have posted guidelines for people who wish to register objections on our pages.
The past week saw the publication of a compensation offer for Moore Street stall holders of €77 per week for loss of livelihood during demolition and construction, including a report of its rightful rejection by the street traders as derisory.
The compensation question has muddied the water over the years to some extent, obscuring the main issues. Undoubtedly people are entitled to compensation for the temporary or permanent loss of their livelihoods. But it can also be made to seem that demolition of 1916 history and street market can go ahead provided those whose livelihoods are affected are paid enough in compensation. Without prejudice to the needs of street traders and independent businesses (who have been offered nothing at all) and their workers (ditto), there can be no adequate compensation for the loss of a street market and irreplaceable historical artifacts.
As always, you can play a part wherever you are by sharing our posts from our Facebook page or website from time to time – scaipigí an scéal!
