DAOINE
Bróna, Orla and Diarmuid were the foireann inniu.
We were delighted to see Emily again; she was once a regular on our stall but has since returned to the USA. Veronique, a regular visitor, appeared also, over from France. Yes, we have friends in the international community!
The street was even livelier than usual, it being the big LGBT Pride day in Dublin and lots of people came through the street wearing the colours as well as dressed in many different ways. A DJ was playing lots of recordings in the southern section of the street.
Consensual sex between same-sex individuals was only legalised in Ireland in 1993 and obviously there had been many, many homosexuals before that, having to live in secret or tolerated only within specific circles.
The 1916 Proclamation of Independence stated that “the Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and opportunities to all” but was never the case in the Irish state. Up until the mid-1970s a woman could not enter into a hire-purchase agreement or obtain a credit card without proof of permission from her husband. Nor did she have any right to the property of the couple’s house, even if she were the main or only breadwinner. And despite decriminalisation of homosexuality, same-sex couples could not avail of the marital status available to others until 2015.
There are a number of prominent people among the heroes of 1916 who are believed, due to their domestic arrangements, to have been in same-sex relationships and one couple was in Moore Street with the others in the final battle there.
AIMSIR
Bhí sé ag scoilteadh na gcloch, as they say, ‘splitting the rocks’ (or maybe the cobbles) in Moore Street today – very hot. And humid.
There were a few minutes of strong wind, that blew one of the stall tents over but nothing after that, when we’d have been glad of it.
UASDHÁTA (repeat from last week)
No change as we await the High Court hearing for the Hammerson appeal against Dublin City Councillors naming five buildings for listing as of historical importance.
No change also with An Bord Pleanála’s long-postponed decision on our appeal against the Hammerson plan. It’s still outstanding but let’s face it, ABP decisions have a tendency to favour the property speculator over the conservationist, even overruling their own officers’ recommendations at times (as has occurred at least once before in Moore Street).
NÍ NEART GO CUR LE CHÉILE (there is no strength without united action).
What people can mostly do to help is to spread the word which can be done by sharing our posts on FB or website smsfd.ie on your social media from time to time. All your contacts potentially would then be reached and all together that’s thousands and hundreds of thousands of people.
