The Dublin Community Blog

We in Dublin had our fair share of festivals this year already – the Dublin Writer’s Festival, the Dublin Soul Festival and the Latin America Festival to just name a few – but we’re not done yet. Which is a fact I very much appreciate. So, without further ado, here are my favourite festival picks for the upcoming months:

Image by Absolut Fringe

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Remember the friendly guys from Friend?, one of the first bands we featured in the Discovered in Dublin-series? The 5-piece has intensively toured in the last year, and has also secured a deal with local label Eleven:Eleven. And they are playing in Whelan’s this week. On Thursday, to be more precise. Together with two other Alternative/Rock bands from the North, Kasper Rosa and Axis Of.

So, if you are interested in getting a glimpse of the next generation of Irish alternative hopes from both sides of the border, why not head to Wexford Street on Wednesday – even to celebrate the German win over Spain after the game on Wednesday. To whet your appetite, here are Axis OF with the video for their new single “Port Na Spaniagh”:

Even though the weather is not really made for any indoor activity these days, we know that it can start to rain any day in Dublin. And so it is good to have some kind of indoor alternative in case the current sunny spell ends. Therefore, as the pirate fan that I’ve been since I was 5, I’m happily announcing: The Goonies Pirate Party.

Goonies never say die! On Thursday 1st of July the Screen Cinema will host a special screening of the classic adventure movie The Goonies. This is an unmissable screening for anyone with an inner Goonie that needs to be embraced. To make it extra special we’re making it socially acceptable to dress up as pirates in the cinema. In fact, we’re actively encouraging it! And hoping that you’ll join us for some ale and swashbuckling afterwards in Doyle’s pub.

June 7th marked the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, and The Screen wants to give Irish fans the chance to celebrate the much-loved film’s anniversary with a celebration as boisterous as the movie.

This marks the second film in the wildly popular ‘Screen Hearts 80’s’ season of 80’s blockbusters which commenced with ‘Ghost Busters’ on Monday the 21st of June to a packed house.

Screen Hearts 80′s’ will run throughout the summer including gems such as Gremlins and Top Gun and will also feature an Arnie action season and a John Hughes tribute in August that will open with the teen classic The Breakfast Club on August 6th.

The Goonies is a thrill-a-minute adventure film. When brothers Mikey (Sean Astin) and Brand (Josh Brolin) learn that greedy developers are forcing their family to move, they and their friends decide to have one last adventure together. With the help of a treasure map they’ve found in the attic, the group, known as the Goonies, go in search of buried gold hoping against hope that if they find it, Mikey and Brand will succeed in keeping their home.

So get your cutlasses and eyepatches, and board the Screen cinema on Thursday. Tickets for the event are available on www.screencinema.ie, in the Screen’s box office or by calling 1520 927005.

The good people of Dublin hit the streets of Dublin in their thousands over the weekend to check out the Street Performance World Championships. We made it along but not quite in time to participate in the world record attempt. From what I read on Twitter it seems like too many people hopped along! Congratulations to all who particpated in this wonky bit of history!

Congratulations too to the staff and volunteers at SPWC for organising another great free festival. We managed to catch JP Koala, Dr. Kaboom and Thom Sellectomy. We couldn’t get next or near last year’s winners, USA Breakdancers, but had we managed to catch them we would have missed our favourite this year, Dr. Kaboom so all’s well. Like last year the Festijeux were a big hit with three generations of our family and I eventually had to drag my father away!

This Friday (i.e. the day after tomorrow!) the Hyperbolic Crochet Reef, which has been on display in the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin since March, will be packed away to continue its world tour elsewhere. I have yet to see this exhibition myself – the timing was a bit off for me with all that has been going on but I am heading to the gallery on Friday to catch a tour of the reef. I’m sorry to be leaving my trip to see this fascinating marriage of science and craft so late, being a bit of a hooker myself. I even rustled up a few pieces of coral myself which are still languishing at the bottom of my crochet box: as I said there’s been a lot of changes recently!

Photo owned by superfem (cc)

What in the heck is hyperbolic crochet I hear you ask? Well you can read Karlin Lillington’s excellent column from last week’s Irish Times to get an idea of this amazing process of modelling 3 dimensional geometry which was first developed by Latvian Dr Daina Taimina. Taimina was in the Science Gallery during the week to talk about her work. This was one of many events organised by the Gallery throughout the coral’s visit to Dublin.

You can also watch this brilliant TED talk given by Margaret Wertheim who, with her sister Christine, has used this modelling method to raise awareness of the dangers to the world’s coral reefs.

Some of my co-bloggers here on Dublinblog.ie have written a post or two about the Science Gallery and really it’s a gem. If you are visiting Dublin, planning a trip to the Gallery via the grounds of Trinity is well worth it. It’s easily accessed from a number of bus routes or you can alight at Pearse Dart Station and the Science Gallery is just around the corner. There’s a full calendar of events with something to suit all types, from ubernerds to schoolkids.

While I don’t think my children’s patience will stretch to it on Friday, I’m delighted to see that the Science Gallery’s Friday Tapas are back as I heard a number of favourable comments. Some day I’ll make it

You’ve probably heard the cringe worthy advert currently running on national radio stations in relation to MenuPages.ie giving vouchers for restaurants. The advert might be annoying, but the offer is definitely worth a look. The value from each restaurant varies considerably. From taking a quick scan today, I noted good deals by Buenos Aires Grill and Cafe en Seine.  Should you find yourself on Dublin streets accompanied by hunger pangs, these vouchers might come in use. The majority of offers cannot be used during the weekend, however, dining out on school nights is more fun anyway.

I took myself and my three children along to the RHA Gallagher Gallery on Ely Place (map) to check out their annual exhibition. It runs until 31st July and I would recommend that you get yourself along to it. It’s a hop, skip and a jump from Stephen’s Green so we combined our visit with a picnic in the park. (This was originally supposed to be a playground post but the playground in Stephen’s Green is closed for refurbishment but looks like it will be ace!)

To be honest my visit to the exhibition was kind of a duty: my brother, Blaise Smith, and brother-in-law, John O’Reilly, both have paintings on display. The painting right is by  the brother in law.

That’s the thing about the RHA Annnual exhibition: if you know any Irish artists chances are you will see some of their work exhibited here. It’s a great opportunity to see the work of up-and-coming or established artists. I am the farthest thing from an art critic. I look at the paintings and think about what they make me think about. I like this or that because the colours appeal to me or it evokes memories or reminds me of a person, place or thing. Some paintings I enjoy because they make me smile or conjure up other emotions. I have a very rudimentary art history education so I won’t even attempt to review the exhibition in those terms but as a way to spend an afternoon in Dublin you could do a lot worse. You are bound to see something that will make you melt inside, raise your hackles or that will feature in your dreams or nightmares. All types of materials are used and while painting features heavily there are also prints, photography, sculpture, architecture and even one brooch featured! The refurbished gallery is a beautiful exhibition space (it’s probably been refurbished for ages but y’know I don’t get out much!) It was a fine way to spend the afternoon with two lively under 7s and there was no difficulty getting the buggy around and up and down.

My husband was very glad when I told him I didn’t get a catalogue and buy any paintings but if you are looking to invest in some work this is a great place to pick up some iconic Irish art as many of the items are for sale. I hadn’t planned to write a blog post about the exhibition so while I know which items would be my top five I can’t remember all the details. I do plan to go back so I might take notes next time!

180th Annual Exhibition, Opening hours:
The RHA Gallery will revert to opening ALL Exhibition AREAS, 7 days a week, for the 180th Annual Exhibition, from 24 May – 30 July.
Monday & Tuesday 11 – 5pm
Wednesday – Saturday 11 – 7pm
Sunday 2 – 5pm

As a mammy-ish aside I also note that the RHA run children’s workshops throughout the year. My older son was very interested in the exhibition so I’m off to book him into the workshop that focuses on the exhibtion.

This year’s Dublin Writers Festival kicks off on June 1st, and I have to say that this year the list of featured authors is impressive: Ian McEwan, Anthony Beevor, Joseph O’Connor, Anne Enright, Hanif Kureishi, Yann Martel a. m. m. mark this year’s edition a festival not too miss. You’ll find the full programme here, and you can follow the festival both on Twitter and Facebook as well.

I’m really disappointed to miss it, as I’ll be on holidays at the time, but if you’re into books, please give it a go – tickets are between 12 and 20 €, and events take place at different venues throughout town, such as the Project Arts Centre, the Sugar Club and the Dublin Writers Museum. Go bookworms!

Yay, the long-awaited long May weekend is almost upon us. And if you’re still looking for something to do over the weekend, we are here to help. You could try these things:

First of all there’s the SoGo Arts Festival in and around South Great George’s Street all weekend. This 3 day bonanza kicked of today, but there are loads of activities and things to see over the next 2 days as well, like “The Best of Busking” featuring the Mighty Steph, a screening of “Once” in Walton’s music store and a flea market on Sunday.

Next on the list is the recently opened Glasnevin Museum – a museum on Dublin’s most famous graveyard, dedicated to Irish heritage & genealogy, and the history of the graveyard itself.

If a proper Indie rock festival is more of your liking, you could also head to Balbriggan on Saturday, where the Sibin Festival officially opens the Irish open air-festival season. For those of you who prefer electronic tunes, you can either keep on partying or start your own festival season on Sunday with the Yes Festival down in Clontarf.

And if this is too much activity for you, you can always relax in one of Dublin’s beer gardens – the weather permitting…

Image via

It’s been a shocking long while since I’ve posted here or anywhere else for that matter. However I have a very good excuse – I’ve been busy increasing the population of Dublin!

Since I started contributing to Dublinblog.ie I have been meaning to write reviews of playgrounds. (Picture, left, is the playground in Marlay Park, which I will review in the future.) As a parent this is the kind of information I would love about a city I’m living in or visiting. There’s nothing like a playground to retrieve some of your sanity when you’re hanging out with kids. You can sit down with a book or a coffee and they can vent their energy. However it can all go wrong if you rock up and all the equipment looks perilous for your little darling. I am also always interested to hear about developments in parks in the city because, recession or no, there has been some interesting developments in Dublin parks recently. No doubt they were planned and paid for before things began to slide. Swings and roundabouts eh? (Expect much more playground wordplay ) Also, as your kids grow, certain playgrounds lose favour or playgrounds that were once too challenging are now just challenging enough. I’ll also try and include some essential info for parents (proximity of hot beverages, picnic tables, benches etc.; y’know essential!) Please, as always, share your thoughts or comments because I may not notice what you might notice about a playground.

The only possible problem with the series is that I’m a southsider and with 3 small children it will definitely be the summer before I make it to any northside playgrounds, if I make it at all. If you are based on the northside and have children and would like to contribute please leave a comment below and we’ll get in touch. Also I refer to my children as Nipper 1.0 (Boy, 6ish, kind of cautious), Nipper 2.0 (Boy, 3ish, bonkers) and Nipper 3.0 (Girl, Shiny, shiny, new, new!)

With no further ado I’m going to kick off with Rathfarnham Castle Playground. (Map) This was discovered by Nipper 1.0 when he and his classmates were brought here by his school. He was mad keen to revisit so we have been back a couple of times since then. The playground here seems to be very new and unlike many in Dublin does not use bark chip as a weed suppressant/ falling child catcher. The ground directly under the various equipment is covered with a soft rubbery, faux tarmacadam and elsewhere a bright hard tarmacadam like composite. I understand the attraction of bark chip but it gets very messy when wet and while it hasn’t rained for a good while in Dublin this is not the norm. But more about bark chip when we get to it!

When we were at Rathfarnham castle today it was quiet enough. Last time we were there during the Easter Holidays and it was busier. What I like about this playground as a parent is that while it is sizable enough so that you are not sitting on top of the other families that are there, it is still small and flat enough to see from one side to the other, thus allowing you to keep an eye on the kids without shifting from your seat. Also the fact that it is big enough means that the equipment isn’t packed together so it is easy to see around it. I forgot to take photos today but future posts will include more. (And if i’m back in the meantime I’ll add photos. Obviously I have to be careful not to include other people’s kids so it can be a little challenging if the playground is busy!)

There are about 5 main pieces of equipment and then a variety of swings and, for want of a better word, twirlers. The five items include a spiderweb style rope climbing frame that rises in a pyramidal shape to about 15ft. This is quite a challenging item although Nipper 1.0 told me today that a girl in his class climbed to the top and got in trouble when they were there with the school. He wouldn’t dream of doing this but I would say it’s only a matter of time before Nipper 2.0 is shouting at us all from up there. There is a piece of equipment that involves stepping stones on springs, balancing and reaching, which would be suited to older children. There is set aimed at toddlers and ambitious wobblers with bridges, platforms, steps and slides all placed at a lowish level. Finally there is a large castle with rock-climbing style walls, slides, steps and various games, tables, windows, a portcullis (non-operational boo hiss) and the ground also includes blue fauxmacadam in the shape of a moat. It is attached by a rope bridge to the spiderweb rope frame. The castle appeals to both the nippers and because it is accessed by steps and has wide bridges and large platforms it is very easy for parents with toddlers to use it as well. As mentioned there are a variety of swings including a large disk into which a number of children (or adults, I daresay!) can fit. Also I recommend you give the twirlers at the gate a go. You hold what is for all the world like a steering wheel that is nearly parallel to the ground but about 6ft up and place your feet on a disk that is also skewed off the horizontal and the next thing you are spinning. The pic right are the nippers twirling on the bottom part. A lot of the playgrounds have variations on these clever twirlers and they can be great fun until somebody pukes!

There are also quite a few simple but not uncomfortable red benches and enough bins. I think it’s a pity that the benches aren’t two sided so you can face either way and so capacity is increased. I also noticed that there isn’t a bin beside the gate into the playground which is always handy so you can dump your rubbish as you leave. You might laugh about me commenting about the bins but this can be an issue in some parks. There are no picnic benches i.e. benches with tables, which is a pity but this is not a deal breaker for me. We were there for about an hour today and could easily have stayed longer without the boys getting bored. The park itself is very simply landscaped and of course contains Rathfarnham castle itself. There are tearooms in the castle but at the time of writing and during my previous visit they were closed. Rathfarnham village is just across the road and through the archway. We were there on Good Friday so trading was a little funny but there’s a good sized Spar where you can get takeaway coffee or ice cream for the kids! I think there are public toilets available in the castle as well and will confirm on my next visit. There is parking available just off Rathfarnham Rd. directly after the traffic lights. It is 50c/hour, max. stay 3 hours. According to DublinBus.ie you can take the 15n, 16, 16a, 17, 48n, 74a or 75 to Rathfarnham but do check their site to find the most convenient bus for the park.

Also housed in the park grounds is the Tree Council of Ireland. You can read more about Rathffarnham on Wikipedia.