The Irish

i had reports during a meal out last night that tayto park is, in fact, surprisingly good for a park that on the face of it would be about tayto

the Tayto bars were vile. Mainly cos of the quality of the chocolate though

the park is/was fine, but the zoo bit is depressing

Looking for Tayto Park? You are in the right place! We have rebranded to Emerald Park. Our theme park and zoo reopens in March 2023 under our new name.

Ominous for the best bit of the park (the free bag of Tayto when you leave)

Maybe they'll give everyone a free emerald when they leave?

https://www.planetcandy.ie/image/cache/data/Mini%20Packs/oatfield-emerald-150g-planetcandy-550x550h.jpg

My sister gets a load of those every Xmas from a friend of hers who lives in Ireland.

actually made in the UK these days 😬

Emeralds are absolute shit these days, I think the original company sold to some other company years ago and they were terrible even when they were in Ireland. Used to be guaranteed pulling a tooth out as a child, good times.

Yeah, the old Oatfield factory was in my hometown. Demolished in the early 2010s sometime

I was at my mum's house earlier and she was going through old photos from the 50's + other stuff and showed me a letter from Ray Coyle, the Tayto crisps magnate, that he had sent to her just about a year before he died. It was thanking her for the Christmas card and saying it would be nice to have a meet up and talk about the good old days of their childhood in Kilbrew if she was ever returning to Ireland. It's funny and sad because she was almost adopted by his family, but ended up one of the industrial school orphans instead.

Mattie McGrath 🤦

Making the Healy-Raes look normal!

“How could we build houses then and can’t build them now?... It’s f**king Thatcherism, Reaganism, the neoliberals and the trickle-down economy that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both bought into, [the idea] that the market will sort everything out. B***ocks.” https://t.co/mYdquIxhPQ

— Shane Beatty 🎙️ (@ShaneBeattyNews) July 8, 2023

Promising.

pretty sure we are building houses at a pretty good rate historically at present, to a far higher standard than previously (building lobby still hasnt gotten over the regs introduced c. 2013 or so)

his sentiment may be welcome, granted

thought this bump would be about the oireachtas committee proposal to make the glorious twelfth a holiday tbh

i guess to address both the general point and the specific point re are we building *enough* housing then the answer is certainly no but the (FF, let it be noted) historical solution of building large social housing estates -creating, say a new dublin 5, etc- isnt a solution that any of the parties with an interest in forming a govt are signed up to, because the ethos around such a step has changed utterly and delivery of new housing of any sort has become very much a planning and skills minefield, none of which any of the parties who might form the next government have any proposals for solving that actually look like they would work

id note that despite my antipathy for the shinners, o'broin is certainly the pick of td's with ideas you'd like to see at least attempted, but could any combo of SF and others remove height restrictions for dublin, for instance?

could any such combo penstroke through the planning, objection, margin and skills issues that currently block - on the face of it- the building of 75k units a year or whatever?

could they do so and remain electable if those units were built and inhabited? another conversation entirely I think- the answer to that one is "perhaps, if they hadnt managed to break everything else" which ofc ofc ofc is a hurdle which many will argue FF/FG have fallen at themselves enough times to maken it moot

conclusion: move to vote in general support of meaney for president

"pretty sure we are building houses at a pretty good rate historically at present"

Quite an interesting graph. Building rates are significantly lower than mainland Europe. Ireland is in a pattern with the UK.

Massive differences in the development of housing supply and house prices across advanced economies. Housing supply grew more strongly in EU countries than in the Anglosaxon world.

Real house prices in Italy are today significantly lower than in 2013. pic.twitter.com/pBNtBlhzdU

— Philipp Heimberger (@heimbergecon) July 16, 2023

President of Ireland speaks movingly on the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile.

El Presidente de Irlanda, Michael D. Higgins (@PresidentIRL), se suma a la conmemoración de los #50AñosdelGolpe y espera que la conversación por #DemocraciaSiempre llegue desde Chile a todos los continentes. Un abrazo y gracias por demostrar su compromiso con la democracia una… pic.twitter.com/g93q0UHOnT

— Gabriel Boric Font (@GabrielBoric) September 9, 2023

Unthinkable from the UK head of state or government.

Yes, especially considering Thatcher was friends with Pinochet and the bill to legalise murdering Irish civilians passed last week.

the UK LOTO being a member of the Trilateral Commission along with the (unfortunately still living) architect of the coup against Allende might have a different take.

I'm writing a thing at the mo and would appreciate any Irish ilxors perspectives: in the wake of various disparate cultural events - Lankum and the trad renaissance, Sinn Feinn's poll lead in the north and the republic, that Wolfe Tones crowd the other week, the rise of Blindboy, post-Rooney/Stinging Fly literary dominance, the cartoon saloon Irish trilogy (Kells, Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers), the emergence of Evan Ferguson, doubtless other things I am unaware of... - would you say there had been some discernable ~*Irish vibe shift*~ in recent years, or is this just something I'm imagining? Is there any useful analysis of post-Tiger culture I should look at?

Question partly born out of realisation that Lankum, Lisa O'Neill, John Francis Flynn and CMAT are probably all going to feature in the end of year album's list I'll have to submit imminently...

that 90's Select "Irish mafia" piece that grouped CC, Graham Lineham, Sean Hughes, that prat from Divine Comedy (can't remember t'others) has just flashed through my memory.

i dont think there has been but its definitely worth examining

trad never went away but perhaps the groups occupying a lankum space didnt hit mainstream- not for me tbh to say that lankum are any bigger than any of the rest of them but for instance the likes of donal lunny and planxty one night/limited runs have never not filled the likes of the Olympia and trad has always been a fixture in local pubs as far as im concerned

youd need i guess to draw a line about trad vs "less irish" acts that have ben prominent and successful

the wolfe tones moment is forced imo, agains singing along with ra songs never went away and is being given cultural prominence in light of SF but imo is being linked rather than causal or really relevant in a groundswell kind of way

sinn fein lead in north and south is a long time coming and i guess you could have asked these questions at any stage over the past decade, if you see what im saying there!

blindboy meh, is he any more prominent *in this light* as any other young/got something to say voice that has come through any channel?

id have offered you ken early or richie sadlier in similar vein perhaps

i personally amnt necessarily the guy to ask again but, again, post rooney to me is a framing put on it but kevin barry and colm barrett were already well on the way to prominence going back several years and (like the bands point) id need to be clearer on whether you were really angling for a certain "type" of writer or writing or movement to carry the point

ferguson is big as are a number of our athletes i guess thats a resurgence but the rugby team have been world class for fifteen years and that lot hardly linked in to the general point you'd be making i guess!

xpost

By David Cavanagh no less!

http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2012/04/untouch1.jpg

before (?) that irish mafia even in comedy tho you had ed byrne and sean hughes and tommy tiernan and dylan moran all coming through

Evan Ferguson deciding to play for England would have been hilarious tbh.

Was hoping for a DMac contribution - thanx. I wondered about adding Second Captains - again that's a long rise thing? I have not heard many of Ken's politics pods, should check out the new IRA one.

I suppose I like Blindboy cos he self-consciously theorises a lot of this stuff. His recent pod about heritage vs emergent forms, making the parallel with Flann O'Brien, felt v suggestive to me.

I am more of Barry boy than a Rooneyite ofc, but feel like she and Stinging Fly were a tipping point. And I guess the abortion vote feels key in terms of young women Irish writers claiming a voice?

The only post-Tiger stuff I have seen has been by the likes of Fintan O'T, talking about about the loss of *cultural aspiration* since the crash. Was chatting with the Lankum lads in Phibsboro on Monday and they suggested, with some pushing from me, that there was maybe a new confident voice - a certain cultural cringe had been lost?

We discussed SF upthread if you scroll you’ll see the discussion there, I don’t think my views have changed much since then

And I guess the abortion vote feels key in terms of young women Irish writers claiming a voice?

I still think this conversation from here reflects most of my views

The Irish

Thanks gyac, apologies for any clumsy conflation/shorthand

Catherine Corless & Mary Robinson both hugely important ito being very different people who are hugely influential on the present shape of the country. Michael D as well.

Robinson was out there campaigning against the original 8th amendment and being shouted down on tv by cunts like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWnoQjTNiw

Michael D Higgins lost his Dáil seat because he opposed the 8th. Both sit well to the left of anyone we have ever elected Taoiseach.

Catherine Corless deserves the highest honours this country has for her work uncovering the Tuam babies scandal, and for proving that official resistance through all the institutions is barely dimmed since the Mother and Baby days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTqIhIf5KQE

Thanks again. Interested in this ancien regime resistance - in the electoral system, would a prospective SF govt be allowed to carry out any reforms to housing, tax structures etc? Obvs as Corbyn voters we saw the full force of the <deep state> unleashed from the military, MI5, the media etc at the very idea of him becoming Labour leader, let alone getting anywhere near power. Would a prospective SF govt be similarly sabotaged?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Ireland

Irish Times probably the most important media piece in resistance to progress outside of certain limits constrained by capitalism.

I’ve just read Nigel Biggar’s British Empire apologism in the Irish Times and tbh laughter is probably the most appropriate response for now. This section in particular stands out. 1. It is called the Irish Literary *Revival* for a reason 2. What “renaissance of Irish language”? pic.twitter.com/NivUNzcw8q

— Liam Hogan (@Limerick1914) March 10, 2021

I mean this racist whitewash of a murderous ethno-nationalist movement is still live on the @IrishTimes website. pic.twitter.com/q7XniWAnW0

— Liam Hogan (@Limerick1914) August 8, 2019

Here is @IrishTimes journalist @rmcgreevy1301 casually offering to pay for @MaryLouMcDonald to take a selfie without makeup and asking whether she’s “been at the fake tan”. The Irish Times has been at it for years. pic.twitter.com/JcA1W3VcKX

— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) October 12, 2022

Jennifer O’Connell: Michael D Higgins’s blunt refusal of an invitation to an ecumenical service of reflection and hope marking a centenary of partition and the formation of Northern Ireland is no act of healing https://t.co/ARSS5Nlm5g

— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) September 18, 2021

More than two-thirds of respondents back President’s decision not to attend NI centenary https://t.co/YT7hDfVNt3

— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) October 8, 2021

as part of the deep state I'll have no further comment other than the answer to "are ministers and their advisors allowed do what they like?" being "no and while we won't get any thanks for that ye should be on yr fucking knees giving it nonetheless" and that's under any govt formation i could mentions

the structures in place that are preventing the housing solutions advancing are baked deep into the citizenship, community, social, capital and political models of the state and the extent to which any govt could advance radical solutions is demonstrated by the fact that FF/FG together cant even achieve the little (FG) would want to happen even with the past masters of "get it done its popular and who'll stop us" (FF) on board

Otm

obv thats a small point vs the entrenched resistance to all the laudable changes pushed through by the worthies gyac lists there

Church way less powerful than it was ofc but I never underestimate the infrastructure and influence that still exists

the question as to how a sf majority govt would get on with the rank and file or leaders of its own justice dept, gardai or army is a very interesting one, and imo it flows in both directions

this should go down as a classic https://t.co/a9cCToVOyg pic.twitter.com/Ty8DdDc9ed

— conn (@carryymeout) September 22, 2023

hello excuse me kind irlxors, i would like to bake an apple cake for one of your deoraí and was wondering -- fruit chunks in the cake or slices on the top? a touch of ginger & clove in the batter, or "mixed spice", or other? if i've no cow milk in, which should i substitute for the custard sauce: almond milk, coconut milk, mayonnaise?

im not aware that its a particularly irish delicacy but just my opinion:

chunks in batter and slices atop

couldnt go wrong with any combo of the spices listed imo

i would not substitute the cows milk soz

the internet keeps assuring me that "irish apple cake" is a legitimate phenomenon (tho the particulars remain a matter of some controversy) and the general concept sounds like something the fella in question would enjoy, but idk. is there a more irisher dessert or dish that is likely to lighten the heart of an expat? i suppose i could ask him directly but i want it to be a surprise

fair question

i think youre safe enough with this one im sure the internet can suggest a custard substitute my personal experience no help alas

If I think of that kind of thing, I think of apple tart or apple crumble, both big favourites in my house (not with me personally, not a fan, but 99% Irish people disagree). So something like this?

https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/recipes/2016/1110/830148-molly-makes-apple-crumble/

Oh here you go, maybe this is the kind of thing you mean?

https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/recipes/2023/0315/1363477-catherine-fulvios-irish-apple-cake-today/

Apple tart here: https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/recipes/2016/0318/775323-traditional-irish-apple-tart/