Dublin

LOCKS IS AN ATTRACTIVE RESTAURANT ON THE BANKS OF THE GRAND CANAL

May 5, 2023 by infomatique

1 WINDSOR TERRACE PORTOBELLO

When I last visited this it was under different management and ownership. Locks Brasserie was originally owned by Claire and Richard Douglas in the 1980s. In 2010, Sébastien Masi and Kirsten Batt took over. Locks Brasserie ceased trading on 18 July 2015. I am not sure when the current Locks Restaurant was established but I have heard that it is excellent.

Portobello is an area of Dublin in Ireland, in the south city centre, bounded to the south by the Grand Canal.

It came into existence as a small suburb south of the city in the 18th century, centred on Richmond Street. During the following century it was completely developed, transforming an area of private estates and farmland into solid Victorian red-bricked living quarters for the middle classes on the larger streets, and terraced housing bordering the canal for the working classes.

As a fast-expanding suburb during the 19th century Portobello attracted many upwardly-mobile families whose members went on to play important roles in politics, the arts and the sciences. Towards the end of the century came an influx of Jews, refugees from pogroms in Eastern Europe, which gave the name “Little Jerusalem” to the area.

I WALKED ALONG NEW STREET SOUTH AND CLANBRASSIL STREET

May 4, 2023 by infomatique

6 APRIL 2023

In 1953 all residents of Clanbrassil St. received a notice from Dublin Corporation that residences on the west side of the street would have to have 16 feet (4.9 m) removed from the frontage of the properties to make way for a new road. This proposal was constantly changed or deferred, so that in the 1960s and 1970s the street fell into ruin. One by one businesses, public houses and retail outlets closed up or were demolished, and that side of the road became a wasteland. By 1980 the road engineers had increased the amount of space needed to 60 feet (18.3 m), in order to run a 6-lane dual carriageway through the street, past St. Patrick’s Cathedral on to Christ Church Cathedral.

After protests and demonstrations by locals and sympathisers against the road, and intervention by the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, work on the road eventually began in 1989. A 4-lane dual carriageway was constructed, flanked by new houses and apartments. The cost of the road was estimated to be £2 million.

Among the features destroyed by the road construction was the crossing known locally as the “Four Corners of Hell” (the junction of Patrick St., Dean St., New St. and Kevin St.), because there was a public house on each corner; and the well-known hostelry The Bunch of Grapes (formerly Fitzpatrick’s, constructed in 1739).

LEONARD’S CORNER

May 4, 2023 by infomatique

A PUB AND A LOCATION

Leonard’s Corner at the junction of the South Circular Road and Clanbrassil Street

Several notable junctions in Dublin city in Ireland still carry the name (usually unofficially) of the pub or business which once occupied the corner.

While this practice is not unique to Dublin, the pace of recent development in the city has meant that the original source of the name is more likely to have disappeared.

THE CORTEN STEEL SIGN LOOKS LIKE A SHIP

April 30, 2023 by infomatique

DUBLIN PORT COMPANY

In some of my photographs you may notice a large pool of water at the side of the road. As I was photographing this sign a middle aged woman redirected her car to pass through the water in order to splash me and that is what happened … I had to return home to change as a result.

Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance after several years’ exposure to weather.

Dublin Port is the seaport of Dublin, Ireland, of both historical and contemporary economic importance. Approximatively two-thirds of Ireland’s port traffic travels via the port, which is by far the busiest on the island of Ireland.

The port is operated by the semi-state Dublin Port Company (DPC), incorporated on 28 February 1997 (formerly the Dublin Port and Docks Board, and successor to the Ballast Board founded in 1707), the headquarters of which are located just beyond the main port entrance on the northern side of the Liffey. In 2017 the area around the headquarters was rebuilt with the installation of a heritage crane and creation of a maritime-themed garden. The company is responsible for infrastructure of the port, with individual operations run by tenants such as State authorities, notably the customs service, ferry, freight and oil companies, terminal operators, and stevedores.

The port company is responsible for pilotage services within Dublin Bay, and manages the three port lighthouses (but not those of Howth or Kish Bank). It also formerly operated two drydocks, which were closed in 2016.

According to DPC, the port handled 23.5 million tonnes of cargo in 2003, as well as 1,426,000 passengers. That year 7,917 ships docked in the port, including 54 cruise liners carrying 54,000 visitors. In April 2010, the company announced its “busiest week ever”, following restrictions placed on European airspace because of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. Some 72,118 passengers were reported to have travelled through the ferry terminals during the week of 15–21 April that year, and that week saw the culmination of increased trade in Dublin Port, as the company’s figures for the first quarter of 2010 would eventually reveal. March 2010 saw a 13.5% trade increase when compared with March 2009, and that month was declared by the company as the fourth consecutive month of trade increase[6] since the economic downturn. The figures of imports and exports declined during the depression of 2010 but then increased during the decade and in 2019, 38.1 million tonnes of cargo was handled and there were 7,898 ship movements of which 158 were cruise ships.

WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY EVENT

April 28, 2023 by infomatique

AT THE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE 28 APRIL 2023

A national commemorative event has been held in Dublin by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to mark Workers’ Memorial Day, an international day of remembrance for those who have been killed or seriously injured in work-related incidents.

In Ireland, 481 people were killed in such incidents over a 10-year period from 2012 to 2021, and so far seven people have died in incidents at work this year.

Workers’ Memorial Day, also known as International Workers’ Memorial Day or International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured, takes place annually around the world on April 28, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured, or made unwell by their work. In Canada, it is commemorated as the National Day of Mourning.

Workers’ Memorial Day is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace incidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety. The slogan for the day is Remember the dead – Fight for the living.

Although April 28 is used as the focal point for remembrance and a day of international solidarity, campaigning and other related activities continue throughout the year right around the world.