I felt slightly soiled after reading this tawdry tale of opportunism and malice; but for those of you outside Ireland (or those of you without an affinity for ‘human interest’ stories – what the kids these days called ‘clickbait’) then you might not yet have heard this sordid story. Continue reading #Bloggergate: The White Moose edition. A deeply grubby tale.
The Pavillion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire was my destination last night, to see ‘Forgotten’ – the one-man show written by and starring Pat Kinevane. Through the media of Japanese kabuki theatre and Irish storytelling. Kinevane tells the interlinked tales of four geriatrics living in care homes (or ‘assisted living facilities’ as they are so euphemistically described by Americans) in Ireland.
Continue reading Theatre times: ‘Forgotten’ by Pat Kinevane
Yesterday evening I went to clown class. It is part of an ongoing series of clowning workshops that have taken place with the theatre group, but the first one I could attend. Continue reading Murphy, the red-nosed clown.
Update 23 March 2023 . A man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s were arrested yesterday in Kerry on suspicion of murder of Baby John – the Caherciveen baby).
I was a child when the Kerry Babies case was the biggest news story in the country. I can remember it being splashed all over the news, and can recall the bare bones of the story. I can remember the picture of Joanne Hayes on the front page of every newspaper, every day for what seems like months, during the Tribunal of Inquiry into the original case. I can remember my father describing it is as a horror film. Continue reading The Dark Tale of the Kerry Babies
She wasn’t a friend of mine. I didn’t know her. Dolores dying makes me incredibly sad though. Continue reading Dolores O’Riordan – the voice of Limerick
I am in Limerick again this weekend. This is the third consecutive weekend I have spent here. Granted the first two coincided with Christmas but that’s irrelevant. It means that I have had a growing urge to explore the region. Continue reading The castle
That was an attention grabbing title, I am sure you’ll agree.
It is partly true, it is also partly a personal challenge. Continue reading I have written a book
Christmas was gluttonous. Some exercise was needed. What better way to stretch one’s legs, while communing with nature, than a canal walk from the city, to where the canal joins the river, and onward to the University of Limerick, along the banks of the River Shannon. Continue reading Shannon Banks
Now that we are plumbing the depths of winter, with daylight a distant, hazy memory, and climate conditions that would chill you to the bone, my trek to work to the industrial wastelands has become virtually intolerable. My work place itself, is in the November of locations – a singularly dank, grey, miserable, depressing, ugly part of town.
The journey has become a relentless obstacle course.
For starters, you never know when or whether the bus is going to arrive. The road which was closed while the tram track was being built, has now reopened. It’s since become a lottery whether or not you’ll end up standing by the side of the road, like a streetwalker, waiting for half an hour. In the dark, biting cold. Continue reading Love on the No. 40
A few weeks before Christmas last year, a group of activists called Home Sweet Home, occupied Apollo House – a vacant state owned building in the city centre, that used to be the home of the Department of Social Welfare. They turned it into a dry (as in no alcohol or drugs permitted) shelter, offering accommodation, food, and support to homeless people. The conditions were far superior than those offered by the homeless shelters funded by the government. They did this, not only to offer support to vulnerable people but also to address the growing homeless catastrophe that is convulsing Ireland, and to try to pressure the government into dealing seriously with Ireland’s housing emergency. Continue reading House
midnightmurphy 