Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Donal Fallon
The old haunts that once dotted the capital city
MANY OF DUBLIN’S most important pubs no longer exist. On both sides of the Liffey and beyond the canals, Dublin’s built landscape is peppered with former public houses. When writing a book on the social and cultural history of Dublin’s public houses, it is the contemporary names that first come to mind.
Children’s curiosity will be sparked by sword-swinging history that seeks the ‘terrible truth’ about Dublin
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
'Many royal and political figures were honoured with street names'
FROM THE LARGEST metropolis to the smallest rural village, street names can give some indication of who holds power. They can also reveal much about who previously held it. There’s nothing uniquely Irish about a contested landscape of commemoration.
Sleep Easy, Shane
If Shane MacGowan had a hero, it was the Irish writer and playwright Brendan Behan. When the New Musical Express (NME) sought out Brendan’s mugshot for a 1984 feature on the working-class Dublin writer, the image credit went to “Shane MacGowan.” The image had been on the wall in his London apartment, part of a shrine to MacGowan’s heritage.
'We became an oasis for a new generation who had never visited parks before'
THE PHOENIX PARK holds a special place in the life and identity of the capital. Today, it is something of a symbol of Irish independence, hosting Áras an Uachtaráin. In political lingo, someone with political aspirations would be described as aiming ‘for the park.’ It also maintains some feeling of the imperial past. While Admiral Horatio Nelson has long vacated O’Connell Street, the imposing Wellington Testimonial still stands in the park, as does the nearby Magazine Fort, constructed in 1735.
During his time in Ireland, Frederick Douglass was captivated by Daniel O'Connell
ANTI-SLAVERY ACTIVISM in Belfast predated the birth of Frederick Douglass. In the days of the Society of United Irishmen, the founding fathers of Irish republicanism, members of the society hosted the former slave Olaudah Equiano on an Irish speaking tour in 1791. Equiano recorded Belfast as the city where he found the people most hospitable, lodging with the United Irishman Samuel Neilson. Neilson’s newspaper, the Northern Star, was fundamentally opposed to slavery wherever it existed.
How the Paris Commune Influenced the 1916 Rising
When Karl Marx looked at the revolutionary self-governance of the1871 Paris Commune, he saw an embodiment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Decades later,James Connolly, the leading Irish Marxist, seized on that same ethos of worker democracy.
Man and Showman
Brendan Behan died at just 41 years of age after he collapsed in a Dublin public house in March 1964. To Joan Littlewood, the pioneering figure of working-class theatre in post-war Britain, it was nothing short of a tragic waste of talent: I was so angry with Brendan for dying that I felt like kicking […]
Brendan Behan at 100
2023-02-09 09:19:10 Brendan Behan died at just 41 years of age after he collapsed in a Dublin public house in March 1964. To Joan Littlewood, the pioneering figure of working-class theatre in post-war Britain, it was nothing short of a tragic waste of talent: I was so angry with Brendan for dying that I felt like kicking that coffin.’ The journalist Kenneth Allsop who had joined Behan on more than one drinking bout, lamented that Brendan Behans rogue elephantine talent drowned in a whiskey glass.
The Young Brendan Behan on Apple Podcasts
This week marks the centenary of the birth of Brendan Behan. Over two editions, Three Castles Burning will explore the life and times of this remarkable talent. In the first part, we look at Behan's revolutionary days and the impact of Borstal on him.
Donal Fallon: The Castle, the intrigue and the Italians - welcome to old Dublin's Ship Street
BACK IN 1986, the printer and poet Vincent Caprani penned A View From The DART, at a time when the service was still something of a novelty in our lives. Vincent, a proud Italo-Dubliner (or Eye-talian, as he pronounced it) believed that you could get a good sense of the history of the city and county if you took the DART and got off briefly at each station.
Sam Stephenson's Dublin on Apple Podcasts
Sam Stephenson (1933-2006) is one of the most important - and divisive - architects in the history of the Irish capital. As the Central Bank returns to view, we're looking at it and other Stephenson projects in the city. Some, like the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS), have recently become protected structures. Others have already been lost.
Three Castles Burning - NEW ISLAND BOOKS
BASED ON THE POPULAR DUBLIN HISTORY PODCAST As featured in recent article in The Wall Street Journal by Matt Kronsberg. ”If Los Angeles feels like it was designed for the driver, and New York City for the subway passenger, Dublin, one could say, was made for the pedestrian. Its reputation as a city best experienced on foot was secured a century ago with the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses, a novel with an emphasis on perambulation.
Read, Share and Shape the News
Poll: Do you struggle to pay your bills? WITH THE CORONAVIRUS crisis beginning to fade into the background, fears about inflation are coming to the fore. Eurozone consumer price inflation rose to a new record high last month, according to official data released yesterday. The Central Bank has also said that consumer prices were 5.5% higher in December than they were the year before, the largest annual change in prices recorded since 2001.
Ulysses 100 years on: A story of love, lust, anger, jealousy and all human feeling
EDNA O’BRIEN WAS a young pharmaceutical student in the Dublin of the 1950s who instead craved to be a writer. Dismissing her own ability, she later wrote: “I did not know how I would achieve this and I safely say that my ambition outdistanced my talent.” The catalyst for change came when she stumbled on Introducing James Joyce, a fourpence well-thumbed book in one of the many dusty secondhand bookshops that then dotted the city.
Shaping the City and Suburbs (with Ruth McManus) on Apple Podcasts
34 min In 2002, Dr. Ruth McManus published her landmark study Dublin 1910-1940, shaping the city and suburbs. Now, ahead of its twentieth anniversary, it is back on our shelves. Ruth joined me to talk about all things planning and suburbia in a Dublin that was changign rapidly. 34 min Top Podcasts In History
Read, Share and Shape the News
Poll: Do you think schools should close earlier for Christmas due to Covid? THE IRISH INDEPENDENT is reporting today that the Department of Education will not be closing schools early for Christmas, and that there are no plans to delay the return of schools in January. As it stands, all schools close from Wednesday 22 December until Thursday 6 January.
Read, Share and Shape the News
Poll: Will you limit indoor visits to three other households at a time for the next while? THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced several new restrictions aimed to reduce Covid-19 risks heading into the Christmas period. As part of the measures from 7 December to 9 January, nightclubs will close, certain events will be limited to 50% capacity and visits to private homes are advised to be limited to a maximum of three other households (so four households in total).
Fear and loathing (and unbridled enthusiasm) in London: How the Treaty negotiators were greeted
THE ANGLO-IRISH Treaty may be regarded as the document that ended one war and began another. Its influence on Irish political life was to be far reaching, shaping politics and political identities into subsequent decades.
Donal Fallon: The incredible legacy of Herbert Simms, who helped transform Dublin
DUBLIN, IN THE words of the great Ulster poet Louis MacNeice, consisted of ‘grey brick upon brick.’ The Georgian city still captivates of course, leaving to us a battle-scarred but still present list of defining buildings like Gandon’s Custom House and the Four Courts. Increasingly, we are becoming more aware that our built heritage is not merely the fine Georgian buildings of centuries past, but is contained also in the twentieth century schools of Art Deco, Brutalism and more.
Three Castles Burning on Apple Podcasts
77 episodes Three Castles Burning is a social history podcast, dedicated to the story of the Irish capital. Dublin is a city of many stories, Three Castles Burning tells some of the more forgotten ones. Three Castles Burning is a social history podcast, dedicated to the story of the Irish capital. Dublin is a city of many stories, Three Castles Burning tells some of the more forgotten ones.
The Socialism of Oscar Wilde
That Oscar Wilde found much to ridicule in the conventional values of late Victorian society is evident to anyone who has turned a page of his work. What is less known is that the playwright and poet envisioned a very different society as not only desirable but possible, and penned a political essay — “The Soul of Man Under Socialism” — in which he outlined his political beliefs.
The Socialism of Oscar Wilde
That Oscar Wilde found much to ridicule in the conventional values of late Victorian society is evident to anyone who has turned a page of his work. What is less known is that the playwright and poet envisioned a very different society as not only desirable but possible, and penned a political essay — “The Soul of Man Under Socialism” — in which he outlined his political beliefs.
Read, Share and Shape the News
Poll: Have you done any Christmas shopping in person? THE TIME FOR the giving and receiving of Christmas gifts is drawing closer by the day. This Christmas will be a different one than most, with a lot of people opting to buy gifts online and often have them delivered straight to the other person’s door. However, judging by the crowds in Dublin city centre these days, many are still buying at least some of their presents in person since non-essential shops reopened last week.
The burning of Cork: Donal Fallon remembers a night of chaos and terror in 1920
THERE ARE FEW voices as authoritative on the Irish War of Independence as that of Florence O’Donoghue. Head of Intelligence of the Cork No.1 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army, he later devoted himself as a historian to the task of assembling the history of that tumultuous period.
The Vegetarian Restaurant of the Irish Revolution on Apple Podcasts
21 Henry Street, the vegetarian restaurant where the 1916 Proclamation was signed, was later attacked by the IRA in the Civil War, owing to the politics of its owner, Jennie Wyse Power. In its day it fed suffragettes, socialists, Indian students and perhaps the occasional G Man. A future President of Ireland, and a future President of India, both frequented it. Top Podcasts In History
Donal Fallon: 100 years on from the IRA assassinations of Bloody Sunday morning, mysteries remain
EVEN AT THE remove of a century, there are more questions than answers about what took place in the Gresham Hotel on 21 November 1920. At 9 o’clock in the morning, IRA assassination teams were moving into positions across the city, most of them in a small area of the south inner-city. Reading the addresses today – Lower Baggot Street, Earlsfort Terrace, Upper Mount Street, Morehampton Road – it’s almost claustrophobic to imagine the killing zone that morning.
Read, Share and Shape the News
Poll: Will you make use of the Stay and Spend Scheme? TODAY IS THE first day of the government’s new Stay and Spend Scheme, aimed at encouraging people to spend in hospitality sectors in the coming months. These sectors have been hit severely by Covid-19, and the scheme will see taxpayers able to avail of up to €125 back in tax credits from spending at pubs, restaurants, hotels, B&Bs and related businesses until the scheme ends on 30 April 2021.
Call for tighter lobbying rules ‘fall on political deaf ears’
THE RECENT CONTROVERSY over the resignation from the Seanad of Michael D’Arcy to take up a position as head of the financial services group, the Irish Association of Investment Managers, has brought the issue of lobbying regulation back to the fore of Irish politics.
Hong Kong police arrest 60 for protesting on Chinese holiday
HONG KONG POLICE arrested at least 60 people on suspicion of unauthorised assembly on China’s National Day holiday after crowds gathered on the streets of a popular shopping district chanting pro-democracy slogans. Those arrested included two district councillors, police said in a statement posted on Facebook. They said the people were arrested after they ignored repeated warnings asking them to disperse.
One couple, 30 cases: Here's what the statistics tell us about where Ireland is right now with Covid-19
IN RECENT WEEKS, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has attempted to use tangible examples to back up its core messaging for people to reduce the number of contacts they have to help prevent further spread of Covid-19. At last night’s press briefing, HSE West director of public health Dr Breda Smyth outlined how socialising emanating from one couple led to 30 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Gardaí seize €4 million in cash after raids on suspected drug trafficking gang in Laois and Kerry
GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING A gang suspected of being part of international drug trafficking have seized €4 million worth of cash. Yesterday, officers attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) carried out searches in Laois and Kerry as part of an operation targeting the suspected criminal activities of a particular organised crime group, In the course of the two searches, investigating members located and seized €4,000,000 along with three motor vehicles.
Dr Tony Holohan to return to his role as chief medical officer next week
IRELAND’S CHIEF MEDICAL Officer Dr Tony Holohan will return to work next week and is expected to resume his duties from Monday, sources say. Dr Holohan had stepped away from his role at the beginning of July to spend time with his family and help provide care for his wife, who was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer in 2012. It is understood she is still receiving care.
Christy Kinahan Senior 'faces extradition from Dubai' if he fails to appear in Spanish court
CHRISTY KINAHAN SENIOR faces extradition from Dubai if he does not appear in a Spanish court to face his passport fraud trial, a Spanish judicial source has said. Overnight reports said Costa del Sol prosecutors could try to have the convicted drug dealer extradited from the city after he was charged at the end of a long-running court probe sparked by a major 2010 police operation.
Voices of sexual crime survivors and far-right investigation: Latest news from Noteworthy
SEPTEMBER WAS A busy month for the team at our community-led investigative platform, Noteworthy, as they worked on several investigations including Selling Our Genes, Cost of Carbon, Shear Force, Spruced Up and Academic Uncertainty. The team also published a two-part series from the Speak or Survive investigation into the experience of victims of sexual violence in Ireland.
St John of God to hand over services to HSE due to 'systemic underfunding crisis'
SAINT JOHN OF God (SJOG) Community Services has announced it plans to end its service arrangement with the Health Services Executive and it intends to transfer responsibility for the operation of its services directly to the HSE over the next 12 months.
Some students affected by Leaving Cert grade errors may have to defer college course, Foley says
EDUCATION MINISTER NORMA Foley has said some students may have to defer going to college until next year if they get offered a place on a different course due to their initial Leaving Certificate results being affected by an error that saw thousands of students receive an incorrect grade. Yesterday it emerged that about 7,200 Leaving Cert grades were affected by errors in the calculated grades system.
Black people at almost twice the risk of Covid death, London study finds
BLACK PEOPLE ARE at almost twice the risk of dying from Covid-19 than white people, a new study commissioned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan has found. Khan is urging the British government to tackle the inequalities which have led to Londoners experiencing a disproportionate impact of Covid-19 after the independent report highlighted the uneven effect of the pandemic in relation to factors such as ethnicity and gender.
Poll: Will you make use of the Stay and Spend Scheme?
TODAY IS THE first day of the government’s new Stay and Spend Scheme, aimed at encouraging people to spend in hospitality sectors in the coming months. These sectors have been hit severely by Covid-19, and the scheme will see taxpayers able to avail of up to €125 back in tax credits from spending at pubs, restaurants, hotels, B&Bs and related businesses until the scheme ends on 30 April 2021.
Taoiseach to 'share assessment of Brexit' with European leaders today
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN will share his assessment of Brexit developments with other European leaders later today. He has previously said the government is preparing its latest Budget on the basis of a no-deal Brexit. He recently told the UK Liberal Democrats’ conference he was “not that optimistic” of a future free trade agreement being reached between the UK and the EU. Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, Martin said: “I look forward to joining colleagues in Brussels this week.
Irish journalist: I spent the last five years covering Hong Kong, but my visa was declined
TODAY, 1 OCTOBER is a public holiday in Hong Kong, as it is throughout China, ostensibly to celebrate the country’s National Day. An occasion that is traditionally marked with a showcase fireworks display has been tempered this year by the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning that no mass gathering is allowed to take place. It’s also the first National Day in five years that I will not be spending in Hong Kong.
'There are penalties, absolutely': Minister says there are sanctions associated with Polymetrika calculated grade contract
EDUCATION MINISTER NORMA Foley said there are sanctions associated with the Polymetrika International contract – the company that developed the calculated Leaving Certificate code. At a press conference with the minister yesterday, it was confirmed that the “original value” of the contract with the Canadian company was €75,000. An official from the Department of Education said that “the expenditure to date” is €160,000.
Stay and Spend: The scheme to claim tax credits back on food and accommodation spending begins today
A GOVERNMENT SCHEME aimed at supporting the hospitality industry which has been so negatively affected by Covid-19 launches today. The Stay and Spend scheme will allow taxpayers claim a maximum of €125 back in tax credits on their spending in the hospitality sector from today until 30 April 2021. To qualify for the maximum amount, a person must spend up to €625 (or €1,250 for married couples or civil partners) in restaurants, pubs, hotels, B&Bs and other qualifying businesses.
Biden blasts Trump as 'embarrassment' for failing to denounce white supremacist groups
DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN has branded election rival Donald Trump a “national embarrassment”for failing to explicitly denounce white supremacist groups, as the president moved to quell the storm sparked by his remarks on the debate stage. The bitter adversaries returned to the campaign trail yesterday after their off-the-rails showdown in Cleveland made headlines less for the substance than for its unrestrained chaos.
Gardaí seize three fully loaded pistols after stopping vehicle in Roscommon
GARDAÍ HAVE SEIZED three fully loaded pistols following a search last night in Roscommon. At around 8.30pm, as a result of what gardaí referred to as an intelligence-led operation into illegal crime gang activities, members attached to the Roscommon/Longford division stopped a vehicle on the main street in Castlerea. During the search of the vehicle, gardaí recovered three fully loaded 9mm pistols complete with loaded magazines.
Roma woman wrongfully accused of failing to pay fare and thrown off Dublin Bus
TWO WOMEN WHO are members of the Roma Community received a substantial settlement last year from Dublin Bus after being thrown off a bus when one was wrongfully accused of failing to pay her fare. The women were represented by Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac) in discrimination proceedings at the Workplace Relations Commission and in Circuit Court proceedings.
H-Block prisoners subjected to 'systemic inhuman and degrading treatment' during the Troubles, report finds
A SIGNIFICANT NEW report released today has concluded that protesting prisoners in the H-Blocks and HMP Armagh were subjected to systemic inhuman and degrading treatment. The study by the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the conditions at the prisons between 1976 to 1981 is the first review of the experiences of men and women prisoners held at the prisons following the withdrawal of Special Category Status on 1st March 1976.
Irish government won't be contributing to the DeSouzas' legal bill
THE IRISH GOVERNMENT won’t be paying all or part of the legal fees of Emma and Jake DeSouza, who were locked in a legal battle for five years with the British government to challenge a provision of the Good Friday Agreement.
Spain to put Madrid under lockdown as coronavirus cases rise
MADRID IS TO be put under partial lockdown, Spain’s government announced today, as it stepped up measures to fight Covid-19. But Madrid’s regional government reacted furiously to the new restrictions that affect mobility and gatherings, setting the scene for a political battle which could be dragged into the courts.
Investigation into €10,000 spend on fillet steaks and luxury chocolates for prison cookery classes
AN INVESTIGATION HAS been launched after it was discovered that almost €10,000 had been spent on cooking fillets steaks, legs of lamb, rib roasts and prosciutto for prisoners. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Seamus McCarthy scrutinised invoices for food purchased by prison authorities for use in cooking classes for inmates.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Donal
Contact Donal, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack