The Dublin Community Blog

Yesterday Bono was presented with an honorary knighthood by the British Ambassador, David Reddaway, at his Dublin Embassy residence.  Since the news of his knighthood was announced in December there has been a lot of discussion as to whether or not he should have been awarded it and if he should accept it.  I’m delighted he accepted it and in my opinion he thoroughly deserves the recognition for his tireless campaigning against global poverty and outstanding contribution to music. Because he is not a British citizen he cannot use the title “Sir”. No doubt he’ll be called by many other names!

Nice one Bono

U2.com

Irish Independent

CNN

One of the results of economic progress in Ireland is the relentless construction that surrounds. Here in Dublin’s suburbs, we see it on the motorway. We see it near the supermarkets. We drive through it to get to the train or LUAS station. Often, it even seems to be in our back garden.

Since my wife and I moved in to our house 7 or 8 months ago, there’s been an apartment building project just over the wall from our back garden. Recently, we noticed a large shadow moving across our estate, like a massive bird flying overhead. When we looked up, we saw that it was a crane. No, not the feathered, egg-laying type, but rather the steel kind that you might remember seeing the new 007 jump around on in pursuit of a bad guy. Fortunately, I’m quite certain that this crane won’t cause the noise and earth quakes that the large, machine operated jack hammers have done over the last 2 months. I’m also quite certain we’ve even had a stray rock, a little larger than the size of a golf ball, fly over and chip the windscreen of our car.

Just last week, we noticed construction crews beginning to clear a path to extend the LUAS line from Sandyford, across the M50 and down through Carickmines where (rumour has it) a Sainsbury’s supermarket is scheduled to go in, across the car park from PC World and Woodie’s.

Most suburbanite Dubliners find the constant construction a little unnerving at times, but seem very aware that it’s a necessary result of the “Celtic Tiger� economy. While local government and construction crews can always do more to make it less invasive, people seem to recognize that every individual project has an end. Which can never seem to come quite soon enough.

I noticed on Saturday night that the Spire was in darkness. Does anyone know who is responsible for its lighting maintenance? I can’t see anything on the Dublin Council site. Would this be a worry for the Aviation Authority?

Update, Declan: I remembered I’d snapped a photo of the spire a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s something cool to do some weekend, or whenever, the chimney lift in Smithfield. The chimney is from the former Jameson Distillery and boasts a glass life and two glass viewing platforms.

Costing only €5 the lift leaves every 45 mins approximately and you get about 20-30 mins of viewing time. The lift was packed out but as it is only 10 seconds to the top, if you have to wait on a second lift it is no big deal.

The guide can tell you what building is which, or where something is and you get about 30 mins or so at the top. However it all proved too much for one woman during our trip who ended up on her hunkers on the floor before being brought back to ground level.

It’s a great spot for taking pics, however as we went up at noon there was a lot of haze over the city while that doesn’t spoil your enjoyment it isn’t great for taking photographs. But I managed a couple I was happy with.

Since I have written a couple posts about moving to Dublin, we have gotten a few comments/questions about the cost of living. Here is an attempt to clear a few things up.

Dublin is expensive. According to the 2006 Mercer study on cost of living, Dublin ranks 18th in the world. But what does that mean?

Accomodation. The two main sites that I know of to look for rental accommodation are daft and myhome.ie

1 Bedroom: expect to pay 1,000 Euro a month (or more) in pretty much any area.

2 Bedroom: a quick Daft search revealed at least 2,000 a month but I know people paying less than that.

Pint of Beer/Cider: 5 Euro

Dinner Out in City Centre: 35-50 Euro for 2 people, average place, 1 starter, shared dessert, 2 mains/entrees, generally water to drink. This is a mid place. Of course there are cheaper and a lot more expensive places.

Public Transport:

Bus: Fares range from 1-2 Euro per journey depending on how far you go. If you go outside what is considered Dublin, then the price goes up. You can get a monthly bus pass for 83 Euro per month for the Dublin area.

Train: This is a more reliable mode of public transport. Fares vary on distance travelled. You can get a monthly ticket for 85 Euro a month

Luas: This is the most reliable form of public transit. Again, fares vary on how far you travel. You can get a card that you put money onto and swipe as you get on and off the Luas.

Monthly bus and train tickets: 113 Euro per month

Monthly bus and Luas: 92 Euro

Automobile: Since I don’t have a car, I have no idea what the insurance or tax cost. I also don’t know what it costs to buy a car. I have been told that having a smaller engine means lower insurance. I do know that both insurance and tax are checked by the police twice a year. Petrol usually costs between 1.00-1.20 per litre. I also don’t know what parking costs when in city centre.

Groceries: This varies hugely on what you eat. As with anywhere else I have lived, if you want a lot of fresh fruit and veg, your bill will be higher. Note, these are city centre prices and may vary in other areas. I don’t know since I live and shop in city centre.

I usually pay about 4.99 for 4 chicken breasts. A litre of skim milk is under a Euro. Bell peppers are usually 99 cents each (for the higher quality ones). Eggs are usually about 1.79 for 6 eggs. Apples are usually about 1.69 per kilo. Our total bill is usually between 60-80 Euro per week for two people. It isn’t that much less to shop for one person.

Television Liscence: 158 Euros per year

Electricity: Lately our bills have been a bit over 100 Euro per month (one-bedroom)! However, we don’t have the
most energy effecient apartment.

Cable: We use NTL cable and pay 30 Euro a month for digital cable (we have a bit over 200 channels)

Clothing: Again, this varies on your personal style. I am not surprised when a jumper (sweater) cost 50 Euro. Same for women’s trousers.

I hope this helps people get an idea of costs of living. The difficult thing is that so much depends on how you live and what your goals are. Another big factor is your debt level (I have student loans so good chunk of my income goes to that). You can get pretty cheap flights to the rest of Europe. If you have a car, your cost of living goes up a lot. If you eat out frequently, again your cost of living soars. A few of my co-workers make about 35,000 a year. Most of them have money to travel. Most also share accomodation. Two of them live with their partners so they have dual income, no kids. Another couple I know live on 55,000 Euro a year in a 2-bedroom apartment in Dundrum and have a car. They don’t travel as much as they want to but have made 2-3 trips around Europe per year.

Over St. Patrick’s Day weekend, I had the chance to visit a new restaurant and pub here in South Dublin (new to me anyway), both of which I can highly recommend.

On Friday night, my wife and I stopped in for dinner at La Dolce Vita, in the heart of Sandyford Village directly across from the Sandyford House pub, just south of the M50.  It’s a small, quaint little Italian restaurant that seats approximately 25 people.  The owners have done a decent job with the décor, including some interesting art work, and lighting that makes for a subdued, but classy atmosphere.  We both enjoyed our food and thought it was a good value overall.  My wife had a pizza, which she found far more tasty and less greasy than “fast food� pizza.  I had the Pollo Pesto and would probably give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.  (CLICK HERE to view the menu.)  It will definitely be a place we go back to in the future.

On Monday evening, we met some friends at the Wishing Well pub in Blackrock to round off our St. Patrick’s Day weekend.  It’s located just up the street from the TGI Friday’s on Newtown Park Road.  It’s a larger pub with modern décor and several flat screen TVs for the GAA and Premiership football fans.  There’s a back room that can be reserved for private functions and has more of a traditional look and feel to it.  Every Monday evening, a group of musicians convene in this back room for a traditional music session.  I was surprised at how many musicians were actually there, including a pair of accordions, banjos, and acoustic guitars, along with a fiddle, and a bodhrán.  Given the fact that there were so many of them in a relatively small back room, they seemed skilled and experienced enough to compliment one another and provide a good mix without making the guests wish they could turn the volume down.

IMMA are currently exhibiting works of major American artist Georgia O’Keeffe .

The exhibition comprises some 30 works ranging from 1918 to 1977 and deals with the central concern of her work – the transformation of nature into abstraction.

I went along last Sunday week and I have never seen IMMA so busy. Its a lovely exhibition, a mix of her flower images, animal bones, landscapes and an amazing sculpture. I have been an admirer of her art for a long time and frequently spend time pouring over the images in this book however its the first time I have seen her art on display. Its a big treat and many thanks to IMMA for organising such a wonderful exhibition.

The exhibition runs until May 13, 2007. At the time of my visit there were no Georgia O’Keeffe catalogues, books or images for sale in the shop. I hope this changes.

Further information can be found on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum website.

Go along and enjoy. I know I’ll be back!

The Port Tunnel “malfunctioned” this morning and the south bound bore was closed for a period of time during rush hour traffic. City officials therefore decided to lift the ban on 5 axle vehicles in the city center putting extra traffic onto the M1 and M50. On top of this there were a couple of traffic accidents around the city, on the M1 and the Swords Road. The result was traffic chaos and gridlock.

Now it appears that that the tunnel malfunction was a height sensor. Forgive my amazement but surely there should be some level of redundancy built into a project that cost €752 million? Would it have broken the bank to install a second set of sensors, or maybe just one of those bars across the top that represents the max height? It’s not rocket science.

If the Dublin traffic system is so close to breaking point that 2 accidents and a faulty sensor can cause traffic jams all over the city and become the main headline on the morning news reports then there is something very seriously wrong in city.

Anywhere that I have lived there has been a joke that if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it’ll change.  Well, that was certainly true today.  When I got up, it was sunny.  A little later, it was cloudy.  Then it got cold and windy.  Then it was hailing.  And finally: snow.  And 15 minutes after the hail started, it was sunny (but cold) again.  Unfortuntately, the weather meant that some of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities got cancelled.

  

One of the main events of the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin is the parade. Myself, my Mum and my daughter walked down to see the beginning of the parade at Parnell Square. The atmosphere was great with lots of laughs and the parade was terrific. The rain which was threatening to come just started as the festivities were winding up. While it was cold, it nearly always is, there was more than enough colour and craic to keep everyone happy.

I know others from Dublin Blog were there taking pics and maybe they will post them here too. Here are some that I got and there will be more also in our Flickr group.

Update from Declan: I finally managed to post some photos to the flickr group last night. Here is a selection. I posted them as thumbnails to save space.