Picto Diary - 24 April 2019 - A Day in Dublin

Above: David Conner. Tailor. Lewis Copeland Clothiers. Dublin, Ireland. 24 April 2019.

Bishop mines Pierce Brosnan's tailor for a new jacket.

Above: Plaque on Oscar Wilde's house. Dublin, Ireland. 24 April 2019.

Hoops, Bronx, Girl, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) took a city tour on a hop on hop off bus.

Above: Guinness Brewery. Dublin, Ireland. 24 April 2019.

Arguably most notable symbol of Ireland is Guiness Brewery, brewer of world famous Guiness Draught. The brewery was founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a British company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997.

The brewery was leased to Arthur Guinness in 1759 for only IRL45 (Irish pounds) for nine thousand years. Guinness became the largest brewery in Ireland in 1838, and the largest in the world by 1886, with an annual output of 1.2 million barrels. Although no longer the largest brewery in the world, it remains the largest brewer of stout.

Above: The Book of Kells. Trinity University. Dublin, Ireland. 24 April 2019.

The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland and may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created in 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible, known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle l of Insular illumination. It is also regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.

Above: Trinity College University Library. Dublin, Ireland. 24 April 2019.

The Library of Trinity College Dublin serves Trinity College and the University of Dublin. It is a legal deposit or "copyright library", which means that publishers in Ireland must deposit a copy of all their publications there, free of charge. It is also the only Irish library to hold such rights for the United Kingdom. The Library is the permanent home to the Brian Boru harp which is a national symbol of Ireland, a copy of 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and the Book of Kells. Two of the four volumes of the Book of Kells are on public display, one opened to a major decorated page and the other to a typical page of text. The volumes and pages shown are regularly changed. Members of the University of Dublin also have access to the libraries of Tallaght Hospital and the Irish School of Ecumenics, Milltown.

Parting comment...

So ends a ten day trip to Ireland, my first experience travelling there... and, about the 120th country I have visited.

If asked to cite the most important insight coming from the visit, I'd have to note the incredible resiliency of Irish culture in the face of centuries of effort by England, in its various incarnations.... ie. Normans, Cromwell, Henry VIII and Protestantism... to assimilate "colonial Ireland" into "The British Isles."

Notwithstanding English efforts to bring Ireland to heel, Ireland has remained Gaelic/Catholic Ireland for the most part. The intrusive, English, Protestant Ireland, first centered in The Pale (Dublin environs), has worked its way to the northern six counties of Ulster, where the majority unionist population sides with England, and by vote, has remained separate from the Irish Republic as part of the United Kingdom.

But, the more part of the Irish island, the Irish Republic, remains some combination of secular (growing) Gaelic and Catholic (diminishing), and continues to lay emphasis on a culture unique and quite apart from its former oppressor, England. Though most Irish don't speak Irish, the state insists that the language be preserved. Irish law is written in Irish (a Celtic derived language related to the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Wales) and then translated into English. Public school teachers must learn to speak, read and write in Irish, even though most of the instruction today is done in English. There are parts of Ireland, mainly in some western cultural enclaves, where the government encourages the common use of Irish.

So, Ireland pushes hard to retain its Irish culture while enthusiastically participating as a full fledged member of the European Union. I don't see other European nations working as hard as Ireland to preserve a national culture in the face of a growing Brussels bureaucracy. Where once French culture was anchored by the strong influence of the Catholic Church, French culture today stands for nothing more than the state ensuring the right of individual self expression in an increasingly centralized bureaucratically driven European Union working ever harder to regulate the means of production and the rules of consumption. Ireland pushes harder, it seems to me, than, at least, the French do, to assert a national identity in the context of the European Union.

To be sure, the influence Church in Ireland, is waning. The Church's reputation has been battered by child abuse scandals. Also, secular life generally, along with growing prosperity, has taken a toll on the Church's role in Ireland. But, Ireland, unlike other European nations who have ceded cultural control the EU bureaucracy, has buttressed waning Church cultural influence with its assiduous promotion of uniquely Irish and Gaelic identity, by boosting Irish language, for one, as a cultural identifier.

Also, the role of technology as a cultural identifier in Ireland needs to be cited. Making a cultural comment, over a delightful lunch at Ballynahinch Castle in Connermara, my Irish author friend, Pat Mullen said that "technology has replaced Catholicism as Ireland's national religion." Because of favorable tax laws, and a well educated, English speaking people, a disproportionate number of the world's leading technology companies make Dublin their European headquarters. As tech companies have rushed to make Ireland their headquarters, the need for new employees has turned Dublin into a San Francisco- like housing market. A taxi driver informed us that six thousand new jobs were put on hold because of insufficient availability of affordable housing. Religious in the traditional sense it may not be, but, techno culture is a growing, bonding influence in Ireland today.

Another cultural bonding agent is Ireland's encouragement of writing. Income received from writing and other arts is not taxed. In encouraging literature, the Irish want to build on the foundations established by her great writers... Oscar Wilde, James Joyce et al.

Ireland still maintains a close tie with the land. Farm and dairy exports, though diminished relative to the total, remain an important part of Irish identity...;. not to mention Jameson and Guinness.

To me, Irish culture has a resiliency not seen in other European cultures being absorbed by the European Union. Perhaps Ireland can have her cake and eat it too.

Addendum:

Irish Hoops 😊 is Pats son.
Pat Gallagher is Chris cousin on his dads side with whom you had breakfast in Dromoland.

I'm his mom. I don't give anyone else the credit for giving birth to my children... 😁😁

I'm enjoying the write ups.

Nora,
County Clare, Ireland

Hey! I knew that! Sorry for the goof, Nora. Enjoyed the breakfast conversation at Dromoland Castle.

On my book review of "Educated."

I read this book quite differently. Yes, two sides the story. But, when your parents abuse you in that fashion you have a right to emerge to the dark side in full colors. She was not given an education. For goodness sakes, no one ever told her what the holocaust was. She was not taken to a hospital when ill. She was abused by a sibling and her parents turned a blind eye. Her father was crazy (bipolar). She is not estranged from everyone in her family. And, unfortunately, I think you are very wrong about BYU not espousing that a women’s place is in the home still. Of course, they do. I don’t really see her bashing Mormons or BYU in particular. This was her way out actually and I think she appreciated that. Anyways, I think you grossly read this the wrong way. I am sure not entirely true as we don’t have the other side. But, wow, I can see why she went to the complete other side given how she was raised. She was abused for goodness sakes.

FeeBee,
Park City, UT

Whatever her motivations in writing the book, embellishments or not, she deserves a lot of credit for her sterling academic accomplishment.