In school I was taught that the first reference to the Emerald Isle, in print, was ‘When Erin First Rose’ by Irish poet William Drennan (1754-1820)

When Erin first rose
From the dark-swelling flood,
God blessed the green island
And saw it was good;
The emerald of Europe,
It sparkled and shone,
In the ring of the world,
The most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil,
In her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain,
Her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular
On her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp
Mid the ocean's deep roar.

I have a Sigma 105mm and it is large and heavy and unfortunately it attracts a lot of unwelcome attention (I had a nasty incident last Sunday) so I do not get much opportunity to use it however the Botanic Gardens is Glasnevin is an ideal location so as the weather was beautiful early in the morning I decided to visit for a few hours.

The gardens include some glasshouses of architectural importance, such as the Palm House and the Curvilinear Range.

Fuchsias are much-loved for their hanging, bell-shaped, bi-coloured flowers that look like colourful, dancing skirts. The flowers last all summer long and there are thousands of varieties available, in shades of white, candy pink, magenta, purple and red. Some varieties have golden or variegated foliage, or purple or red-tinged leaves, too.

Is this Royal Purple Smokebush? a large, upright shrub becoming spreading with age. In spring, the foliage emerges a rich maroon-red, darkening to a velvety purple as the summer progresses. Insignificant flowers mature into dusty wine-red feathery plumes, earning it the name Smokebush.

I highly recommend the spectacular circular rose garden at the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin.

The Viking house and its garden has been built to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the battle of Clontarf and is a permanent installation. The house is open to school and public tours to educate visitors on Viking life in Dublin 1,000 years ago.

I cannot find any information relating to this sculpture near the main entrance to the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. This sculpture is on permanent display and I have photographed it a number of times because I like it.

Because of its colour, or should I say total lack of colour, this Marian statue is not very visible from The Western Way or from Constitution Hill. I know some who ware aware of it aware of it but did not know that there was a narrow walkway behind it and that there were steps leading up from the street below.

Ireland's first telephone exchange opened on Dame Street in 1880 and 22-year-old Kate Isabel Hampton from 19 Hollybank Road found employment at the Dame Street exchange in the early days but I could not establish if she was the first operator or even the first female operator ... but why let such details ruin a good story.

St. Columba, also called Colum, or Columcille, (born c. 521, Tyrconnell [now County Donegal, Ireland]—died June 8/9, 597, Iona [Inner Hebrides, Scotland]; feast day June 9), abbot and missionary traditionally credited with the main role in the conversion of Scotland to Christianity.

The East Quad is a Cultural Hub not only for the campus but also for the city. Opened in late 2020, students can access the East Quad directly via the Broadstone Gate – a new public plaza, which incorporates the Broadstone/University Luas stop on the Green Line. In addition, a range of Arts and Humanities courses are delivered in the East Quad in Art & Design, Media, Music, Drama, Dance, Languages, Law, Social Science, Education and Social Care.

Older Dubliners will remember the Iona Garage murder which occurred Friday, 7th April 1961. I was eleven years old at the time and passed the garage twice every day on my way to and from school so I remember the incident but never really knew the details.

When I was young I lived on a mountain in Donegal and had to cycle two miles to school every day and the family red setter (Noel) came to the school every day to bring me home. He was never late and never failed to be there to greet me at the classroom door.

I have delayed processing some photographs from my 2022 visit to Cork until now for a variety of reasons. The actual visit was a bit strange as the city had yet to recover from Covid-19 restrictions. For example my hotel had been block-booked by the Department Of Health up until a few days before I arrived. I also had problems with public transport as scheduled buses failed to arrive and as a result I ended up being stranded for hours in unfamiliar locations and in some cases had to walk long distance in order to return to the city centre.

"City Foxes" by Shane Sutton Art on Dorset Street: Shane is an highly skilled artist with a fervent passion for multiple disciplines, including traditional painting, film-making, and street art. His diverse range of talents spans various mediums, and his current focus is on street, canvas, and digital art, which he explores through his street art persona, SPACER. Shane’s work embodies the intersection of art and technology, producing technically resonant works that delve into themes and ideas in innovative and unexpected ways.

Monahan Road is an established commercial location with a mixture of warehousing, industrial and office uses in the area. The South City Link Road (N27) is 1Km to the west and provides access to all main arterial routes via the South Ring Road (N40). Cork City centre is within c.1.3 kms. Nearby occupiers include Cleve Quarter & Business Park, Monahan Road Business Park, Tellengana House, Lawley House and the CORE building.

I decided to reprocess this and other photographs from my 2022 visit to Cork using three AI apps that I am currently beta testing.

Every time I have seen this there have been signs of anti-social activity [assuming that graffiti is always anti-social] and that is not something that I would associate with Blackrock in Cork.

About twenty years ago I heard a young child refer to a red metal sculpture as a "red metal yoke" and I decided to use the term myself. In Irish slang, the word 'yoke' doesn't have anything to do with eggs. Instead, it's another way of saying 'thing'. So if someone in Ireland sees an object that they've never seen before, they might ask, 'What's that yoke there?

R & H Hall has been the leading supplier to the Irish feed industry of grain and non-grain feed ingredients since 1839.

The tall structure in my photographs has a visual significance beyond its intrinsic utilitarian design as a result of its visibility from many parts of the city. It serves through its height and scale to define the remaining commercial docks area of the city from some distance.

Grain store building, c. 1945, part of R. & H. Hall complex. Mass concrete walls with pilaster detail and flat roof. Metal windows to ground and first floor and to all floors on east elevation.

I had planned to visit and photograph Custom House Quay after visiting Kennedy Quay but when I arrived at Kennedy Quay I had to shelter under some industrial equipment for about an hour because of an extreme thunder storm.

During its 400 year history, Kennedy Quay and its associated docklands have been the seat of commerce and trade for the City of Cork however the area has been in decline for many years.

The Custom House is located at the eastern extremity of Cork City's centre island, where the north and south branches of the River Lee reconverge.

As you can see this area could be derelict back in 2011 and unfortunately there was no sign of any improvement when I visited in May 2023.

The church grounds are south of the River Lee on Holy Island, on one of the many inlets forming the Great Marsh of Munster. Saint Fin Barre's is on the site of at least two previous church buildings, each dedicated to Fin Barre of Cork, patron saint of Cork city and founder of the monastic hermitage at Gougane Barra.

St. Mary's Abbey in Trim, County Meath, Ireland is a former house of Augustinian canons dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The abbey was situated on the north bank of the River Boyne, opposite Trim Castle, on land given to St. Patrick who is often credited with founding the abbey. The abbey was a prominent pilgrimage site, famous for the healing power of its statue of the Virgin Mary, until its dissolution under Henry VIII during the Reformation. Little remains of the abbey except for the Yellow Steeple, the ruin of the abbey bell tower named for the yellow colour reflected by the stonework in the setting sun, and Talbot's Castle, an abbey building converted to a manor house.

The Sheep Gate is the only surviving gate of five that once provided access to Trim. The town wall and its gates were built in the 13th or 14th century. Sheep Gate may have been so named as a toll was charged here for sheep being brought in to be sold at market: in 1290, the murage and pavage tax was one penny per ten sheep, reduced to a farthing in 1308. The name could also derive from the archaic meaning of cheap, meaning "market" (cf. Cheapside). This name is not recorded before the 19th century; it may have been known as the Porch Gate, possibly from French porte ("door"), which may also give its name to the Porch Fields lying outside the city walls. The gate was locked between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m.

The main item of interest on Watling Street was once the largest smock windmill in Europe and was built as part of the Roe whiskey distillery in 1757. Although it has lost its sails, it remains an iconic reminder of the industrial heritage of the area, particularly its extensive associations with the distilling and brewing industries.

The main item of interest on Watling Street was once the largest smock windmill in Europe and was built as part of the Roe whiskey distillery in 1757. Although it has lost its sails, it remains an iconic reminder of the industrial heritage of the area, particularly its extensive associations with the distilling and brewing industries.

Official description: "Freestanding drinking fountain, erected 1790, comprising fluted Portland stone obelisk with projecting block and oval sundials to each face, ball finial to top, set on painted masonry plinth having carved human masks to each elevation, cast-iron wall-fountains to north, south and west elevations, plaque to east elevation. Surrounded by cast-iron bollards. Restored 1995."

Robert Emmet (4 March 1778 – 20 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, and to establish a nationally representative government. Emmet entertained, but ultimately abandoned, hopes of immediate French assistance and of coordination with radical militants in Great Britain. In Ireland, many of the surviving veterans of '98 hesitated to lend their support, and his rising in Dublin in 1803 proved abortive.

Emmet’s Proclamation of the Provisional Government to the People of Ireland, his Speech from the Dock, and his "sacrificial" end on the gallows inspired later generations of Irish republicans. Patrick Pearse, who in 1916 was again to proclaim a provisional government in Dublin, declared Emmet's attempt "not a failure, but a triumph for that deathless thing we call Irish Nationality".

St. James' Church is a former Church of Ireland church in James's Street, Dublin, Ireland. Established in 1707, the corresponding parish, which was separated from that of nearby St. Catherine's, was established in 1710. There had been a shrine dedicated to St. James at nearby St. James's Gate, a stopping-off point for pilgrims, since medieval times. It has been proposed that the current church is near to the site of a church to St. James of Compostella which is first referred to in the mid-13th century.

The green in Harold's Cross, which is now Harold's Cross Park, is visible on many of the oldest maps of the area. The archbishop maintained a gallows on the green which helped to keep the Harold Clan at bay. Later, the gallows were replaced with a maypole and this became the centre of dancing and festivities each May, until the practice ceased around the middle of the 19th Century.

The cemetery has one of only two Christ-thorn bushes in Ireland (the other is in the Botanic Gardens).

Mount Jerome Cemetery & Crematorium is situated in Harold's Cross on the south side of Dublin, Ireland. Since its foundation in 1836, it has witnessed over 300,000 burials. Originally an exclusively Protestant cemetery, Roman Catholics have also been buried there since the 1920s.

In the 1970s, the condition of the Cemetery began to deteriorate and in 1984 it was put into voluntary liquidation.

The Family Vault of Alderman Fry Pembroke Place 1857... "Until the day break and the shadows flee away" [Song of Solomon 2:17].

Until today I did not have much luck finding any information relating to Alderman Fry or his family. However, I now know that he was born in Dublin 9 June 1804 and died at 29 Pembroke Place 17 January 1857. His mother was Anna Maria Louisa Dawson Lawrence and his father was Thomas Fry. His wife was Evelina Brassington who was also born in 1804 and she died in 1875.

Holly Pereira is a muralist & illustrator based in Dublin. Her hand-painted murals are colourful, fun and bold, and create bright and exuberant environments in which we are invited to play. Holly often gets inspiration from folk art and typography.

The park is an important regional park located on both sides of the Tolka River. The park is spread over 140 hectares and follows the Tolka River Valley for 8km from Mulhuddard to Ashtown. The pasturelands and playing fields of the upper section give way to woodlands, undulating fields and wetlands, providing varied landscapes and natural habitats for a wide range of fauna. The river valley is rich in plant and animal life, a haven for biodiversity within the city, and local history.

On Thursday, 24 November 2016, President Michael D. Higgins inaugurated the first global memorial to murdered human rights defenders.

The Human Rights Defenders Memorial celebrates the lives and achievements of people who have been killed because they worked peacefully for the rights of others. The aim is to gather the names of the estimated 3,500 human rights defenders who have been killed since the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998.

On Thursday, 24 November 2016, President Michael D. Higgins inaugurated the first global memorial to murdered human rights defenders.

The Human Rights Defenders Memorial celebrates the lives and achievements of people who have been killed because they worked peacefully for the rights of others. The aim is to gather the names of the estimated 3,500 human rights defenders who have been killed since the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998.

I recently came across the following, very much out of date, description of Williamstown.

WILLIAMSTOWN, a maritime village in the parish of Booterstown, partly in Dublin barony, but chiefly in that of Rathdown, Dublin county, 3 1/4 rules S.E. from the General Post Office, Dublin, comprising an area of 46 acres, Population 575, inhabiting 94 houses.

The Williamstown Martello Tower, located in Blackrock Park, was built between 1804-1806. When the tower was built, it would have been surrounded by sea water at high tide as it was built in the inter-tidal beach area. The tower became isolated from the sea when the construction of the railway took place, but sea water still flowed into the area at high tide. It wasn't until the filling in of the area to form the Blackrock Park that the tower was to be on dry land. That part of the tower which is visible today is actually the first floor as the ground floor is buried underground.