Bhí sé gaofar ach d’fhan tirm.
DAOINE
Bróna, Orla agus Diarmuid were the foireann today.
Bróna remarked that every Saturday as she returns home from the Moore Street table, she thinks about all the nice and interesting people she met there. It’s true – we do meet lots of interesting and nice people; of course it could be that they are nice to us because they support our campaign.
As well as the Dubs signing the petition and chatting to us today, we also had people with Cork, Tipperary and Louth backgrounds.
A Brazilian woman stopped her two male companions and got them to sign and three Bengali women visiting from London signed also, displaying the henna artwork on two of them (the younger one seems to be the artist and said if she were staying, she would have done it for us too).
A young Romanian woman signed and we had a chat about history, politics and language with a young Indian graduate from UCD. Finally, an elderly Russian woman was shocked to see us there. She had signed in the past and expected us to have won years ago.
HENRY, BY HARRY!
A boy in a family group signing was called Harry which started a discussion about the name. Diarmuid remarked that the ICA Volunteer killed near the corner with Salmon’s Lane in 1916 was also commonly called “Harry”, though his name was Henry Coyle. Bróna reminded us that her relative Harry Boland (who came through Moore Street in 1916) had been christened Henry.
Diarmuid then wondered whether in England Harry was derived from Harold but was a short name for Henry in Ireland. However, according to Wikipedia, ‘Harry’ is a medieval form of ‘Henry’, a name brought into England by the Norman Conquest (pronounced ‘on-ree’ in French, very similarly to its Irish equivalent, Éinrí [‘ayn-ree’]). The long list of famous people named “Harry” in Wikipedia, by the way, contains not a single Irish one.
UASDÁTAÍ/ UPDATES
Some work was done on the windows of some buildings in Moore Street; they look a bit better from the outside but possibly bars were being installed too. As is common with work to which people might object in Moore Street, it was done last Sunday (when demolition was planned in 1916, the hoardings were erected on a Sunday too – and at night).
Our Appeal.
An Bord Pleanála has not given its decision on the appeals against DCC’s granting planning permission to Hammerson yet.
But the Irish Times today carries a report that “Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien told An Bord Pleanála (ABP) to cut off Paul Hyde’s phone and email three days before he stood aside as deputy chairman of the planning body. The disclosure casts new light on the controversy that has rocked ABP for months as attention turns to how the body’s chairman, Dave Walsh, responded to claims against Mr Hyde of impropriety and conflicts of interest. The former deputy chairman resigned in July after three months of controversy over alleged conflicts of interest. ABP acknowledged on Friday Mr Hyde was never formally interviewed by Mr Walsh under specific legal procedures for cases in which the chair believes a board member’s conduct “has been such as to bring the board into disrepute”.”
Well, ABP has long been regarded as more of a friend of property speculators than a fair planning authority. Chartered Land’s plan for a giant “shopping mall” in Moore Street a decade ago was agreed by the Bord against the recommendations of ABP’s own officer. And ABP refused us an oral hearing on our current appeal because these “are generally held in appeal cases which are complex or where significant national, regional or local issues arise”(!!!)
The rumour on the street is that something is expected at the end of month and that Hammerson is going to sell their stake on. Well, they’d get very little for it unless they had the planning permission go-ahead so perhaps they’re expecting a decision in their favour at the end of the month.
For the broad campaign, our group and others, among the options in that eventuality are legal cases and of course street protests.
New Canopies
We hear from the street traders that the Council have told them they’ll be getting new canopies but without any consultation. Years ago, there was discussion about changing the design of the stalls and some of them submitted designs; in addition some Technical University students at Bolton Street designed and built an actual-size model some years back. Nothing happened, which is pretty much in line with the general official pattern regarding Moore Street:
“keep the people talking, do nothing, meanwhile get ready to demolish.”
No Sign of the Sign
And along similar lines, the O’Rahilly Monument sign is still missing, still not replaced. Cén mhaith a bheith ag caint, indeed!
As Usual
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