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| Ariel photo of Tallaght (c) http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056669235/2? |
Aerial
photo of Tallaght in 1997 © Jupiterkid via Boards.ie
In 1979, I was born, and thus my 37
years+ love affair with Tallaght began.
If anyone asks me where I am from, I happily tell them, Tallaght, and if they ask further, Dublin 24.
I can never get people who fake their address; People who live the far end of Templeogue, swear they live in Terenure, those who live the far end of Terenure swear they live in Rathgar, Rathgar folk swearing they live in Rathmines and so forth.
If anyone asks me where I am from, I happily tell them, Tallaght, and if they ask further, Dublin 24.
I can never get people who fake their address; People who live the far end of Templeogue, swear they live in Terenure, those who live the far end of Terenure swear they live in Rathgar, Rathgar folk swearing they live in Rathmines and so forth.
As far as I’m concerned, what matters
is that you have good neighbours, the school nearby has a good educational
ethos, and good transport links and shops are nearby.
If the area you live in has all of the above, does it really matter if it is Donnybrook or Donnycarney?
If the area you live in has all of the above, does it really matter if it is Donnybrook or Donnycarney?
I think Dublin folk can be very pass
remarkable, and have decided the chapter and verse of the type of person an individual
is, simply by their accent.
I have worked with people who were born with very clipped ‘D4’ accents, who were the nicest kindest people you could meet.
And I’ve also met people who came from hard poor backgrounds, who now very annoyingly swan about the place in an over the top fixation at trying (and badly failing) to portray themselves as “Middle Class”.
I have worked with people who were born with very clipped ‘D4’ accents, who were the nicest kindest people you could meet.
And I’ve also met people who came from hard poor backgrounds, who now very annoyingly swan about the place in an over the top fixation at trying (and badly failing) to portray themselves as “Middle Class”.
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| (c) http://www.schooldays.ie/school/st-dominics-n-s-rollnumber-19950J |
I have fond memories of attending
Saint Dominic’s Primary School.
We had very little, and often in P.E. we would play uni hoc, or other sports using patched up equipment covered in masking tape, donated to us from some posh school somewhere.
Yes we didn’t have computers, or go on fancy outings like kids in the “better” schools did, but when you had great inspiring teachers, who’s ingenuity knew no bounds, it didn’t matter.
We had very little, and often in P.E. we would play uni hoc, or other sports using patched up equipment covered in masking tape, donated to us from some posh school somewhere.
Yes we didn’t have computers, or go on fancy outings like kids in the “better” schools did, but when you had great inspiring teachers, who’s ingenuity knew no bounds, it didn’t matter.
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| (c) http://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/1202/750693-president-hillerys-last-day/ |
Oh how disappointed and 8 year old I
was, when President Hillary arrived at the school to plant a tree.
I had my hopes built of my being blown right back, as this fancy helicopter landed in the school yard, and a platoon of soldiers flanking him like it happened in The A-Team or McGyver.
Instead he just appeared out of nowhere (I found out later he had arrived in some big fancy car well out of eye shot of where I and my classmates had lined up)
I at the time though "I've endured Mrs Cotter’s forced imprisonment for hours on end in the school hall until we could all sing Amhrán na Bhfiann, for this?"
I had my hopes built of my being blown right back, as this fancy helicopter landed in the school yard, and a platoon of soldiers flanking him like it happened in The A-Team or McGyver.
Instead he just appeared out of nowhere (I found out later he had arrived in some big fancy car well out of eye shot of where I and my classmates had lined up)
I at the time though "I've endured Mrs Cotter’s forced imprisonment for hours on end in the school hall until we could all sing Amhrán na Bhfiann, for this?"
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| (c) http://darraghdoyle.blogspot.ie/2007/01/day-i-met-boscos-mammy-for-coffee.html |
© RTE.IE and lambert Puppet Theatre
I had a happy childhood, and never
wanted for anything (ok the expensive Bosco slippers sold in Nugents shop in
Tallaght Village my Mother point blank refused to get me - despite my squealing
- aside).
Many happy day trips were spent with my family, and myself and my friends would be out on the road for hours on end, playing chasing, football, and, usually around Wimbledon, we'd briefly re-ignite a desire to play tennis.
Many happy day trips were spent with my family, and myself and my friends would be out on the road for hours on end, playing chasing, football, and, usually around Wimbledon, we'd briefly re-ignite a desire to play tennis.
I have very good neighbours on my
road, and in other parts of my parish who would drop everything on the spot to
give you a hand if you were in a spot of bother, be it a flat tyre, being
locked out of the house, realising you've not got enough Bisto on Christmas
morning etc.
How many people in Dublin 4 can say that?
How many people in Dublin 4 can say that?
I will admit straight out that
everything was and is far from rosey in the garden regards Tallaght.
I can still remember the reverberations of shock when Packard Electric and later the Gallagher cigarette Factories closed in Tallaght, with hundreds of jobs lost.
I can still remember the reverberations of shock when Packard Electric and later the Gallagher cigarette Factories closed in Tallaght, with hundreds of jobs lost.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/packard-plant-in-tallaght-to-close-with-the-loss-of-800-jobs-1.44286 © Irish Times Limited.
Quite a few of these people are still out of work, the Technological age, and the fact it's vital to be tech savvy to get a job nowadays, passed these people by.
Quite a few of these people are still out of work, the Technological age, and the fact it's vital to be tech savvy to get a job nowadays, passed these people by.
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| (c) http://www.echo.ie/news/article/amazon-re-submit-planning-application-for-old-jacobs-site |
Jacobs Biscuit Factory - Another big employer who left the area
My Parish was also the area were sadly Garda Reynolds lost his life in 1982,and
last year a man sadly lost his life in an attack beside the bridge to Tallaght
Village, and there are a small number people who pop up quite a bit in the
courts page in the Tallaght Echo.
But despite these few incidents of negativity, I invite you to pay a visit to Dominic's Community Centre, or the two Primary Schools in
the area, and you will witness just a fraction of the goings on in my vibrant, united parish with a 'can do'
attitude.
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| Ariel view of Dominic's Parish (c) https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.2836434,-6.3514138,931m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en |
ALL VIDEO CLIPS (C) YOUTUBE
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