Onthefrontline
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★ Paul Flynn ★ Seán Moncrieff ★ Roe McDermott ★ 7-day TV &Radio Saturday, April 25, 2020 MES TI SH IRI MATHE GAZINE On the front line Aday inside St Vincent’s Hospital Ticket INSIDE nthe last few weeks, the peopleof rear-viewmirror, there was nothing samey Ireland could feasibly be brokeninto or oppressivelyboring or pedestrian about Inside two factions:the haves and the suburban Dublinatall. Come to think of it, have-nots.Nope, nothing to do with the whys and wherefores of the estate I Ichildren, or holiday homes, or even grew up on were absolutely bewitching.As employment.Instead, I’m talking gardens. kids, we’d duck in and out of each other’s How I’ve enviedmysocialmediafriends houses: ahuge,boisterous,fluid tribe. with their lush, landscaped gardens, or Friends would stay for dinner if there were COLUMNISTS their functionalpatio furniture, or even enough Findus Crispy Pancakes to go 4 SeánMoncrieff their small paddling pools.AnInstagram round.Sometimes –and Idon’tknow how 6 Ross photo of someone enjoying sundownersin or why we ever did this –myfriends and I O’Carroll-Kelly their own back gardenisenough to tip me would swap bedrooms for the night,sothat 17 RoeMcDermott over the edge. Honestly, Icould never have they would be sleeping in my house and Iin 20 LauraKennedy foreseen ascenario in whichI’d look at theirs. Perhaps we fancied ourselvesas someone’smodest back garden and feel characters in our own high-concept, COVERSTORY genuine envy (and, as an interesting body-swap story.Yet no one’s parents 8 chaser, guilt for worrying aboutgardens seemed to mind. Everyone felt safe, and when there are clearly biggerproblems in comfortable, which amounts to as ideal a the world). And yet here we are. childhood as one could hope for. For obvious reasons, 2020 is likely to Does this sort of thing happennowa- make alot of peoplereappraise their home days? Ihaven’t lived in suburban Dublinfor environment and evaluate their lifestyle. close to three decades. As soon as Imoved PhotographerAlan The city has alwaysheld huge appealfor to London, Iwas punch-drunk on how Betsonspendsaday me, mainly because of its energy and bountiful everything felt, how many people withstaffonthe going-out qualities; bars, restaurants, were around, and how near Iwas to a frontlineinthefight cinemas, theatres, friends nearby. But it’s McDonald’s. Ienjoyed that claustrophobic, againstCovid-19 TANYA times like this –orperhaps, at this particu- hemmed-in feeling; Ifelt energisedbyhow atStVincent’s lar life stage –that you question the point of hecticthe city’senergy was.It’s no small hospitalinDublin city living. irony that half the time, Iwas paying so My priorities are shifting right beneath FEATURES my feet: Idon’tneed to be near the fun, cool SWEENEY 14 stuff.The buzz of nightlife and the energy of ayoungneighbourhoodholdsnothing The whys and wherefores of for me. With a14-month-old child, Idon’t ‘‘ ‘The suburbs get much opportunity to enjoy the full the estate were bewitching. bountyofamenities on offer in the city As kids, we’d duck in and made me who I anyway. Ifind myselfcraving space.A AdaptingNormal garden. Asettled neighbourhood. Commu- out of each other’s houses: a Peoplewasalways nity. Family. The sonorous pace of the huge, boisterous, fluid tribe goingtobetough,but am, and with suburbs, away from the vegan pizzavans, authorSally Rooney the DJ gigs, the flat whitesand the wine anddirectorLenny any luck, they’ll tastings. much rent that Ineverhad enough money Abrahamsonhave Iasked afriend recently –also anew to enjoy the city to its fullest. It’s ascenario risentothechallenge parent –about his recentmove to acom- that, in recentweeks at least,feelsall too 18 make my muter town, and he deemeditthe best familiar. decision he’d ever made. “Fine,there’s no Iwould rarelyadmit to my suburban daughter, too’ Bunsenhere,but whenever you go into the provenance in London, even to friends who city, you reallyenjoyitfor what it is,” he had come from estates in Norfolk, Swin- reasons. “You get more value out of Dublin don, Scunthorpe or Southend. Somehow, once you move away.” admitting that you came from somewhere Howdosomeof Igrew up in the suburbs of west Dublin. where nothing happened felt like admit- Ireland’smoststylish As akid, and especially as ateenager, Iwas ting that you hadn’t lived any kind of life peoplecopewithbeing oddly embarrassedbyhow pedestrian and yet. The suburbs felt, to my arrogant and confinedtothehouse? uneventful this non-place was: row after teenaged mind at least,like the kind of Thinkkitchendance row of identical houses, in neat, orderly place you went to when you gave up living. parties,brightclothing lines.The only way you might differentiate The truth is, the suburbs made me who I andcocktailhour one house from another was through their am, and with any luck, they’ll make my choiceofcurtains. And everything hap- daughter, too. REGULARS pened behind those, givingthe impression, There’s something about this quotidian 25 to my young mind anyway, that nothing rhythmofthe suburbs, and its lack of was happening at all. harried, frenzied pace that definitely The city had its own specific identity and appeals now. Sitting outside while being atmosphere. So, too, did rural Ireland. The overlookedbyyour neighbours seems like suburbs, meanwhile, seemed like ano-fly apiece of heavennow; one Ineverthought zone in which nothing of note ever hap- I’d even want. Safe, secluded and 4 Archive pened,and Icouldn’twait to leave. non-eventful sounds perfect; now, more so 7 WeLove... Exceptthat, when you look at it all in the than ever. 17 Advice 18 Style 20 Beauty THE IRISH TIMES MAGAZINE24-28Tara Street,Dublin2.Email: [email protected] DisplayAdvertising: 01-6758585. 22 Food Editor: Rachel Collins. On the cover: On thefrontline, pages8-13; nurse AoifeWaldron, porter XoseFeronn andnurse Lauren Fitzgerald 26 Drink moveaCovid-19 patient in St Vincent’sUniversity Hospital, photographbyAlanBetson 27 TV&Radio THE IRISH TIMES Magazine | April 25, 2020 | 3 THE WAY WE WERE irishtimes.com/archive ecause we are in a person behind the Perspex time when the mind screen who slides out my cof- starts to wonder, I fee. Self Aid: When Irish tried calculating how When it comes to contact that Bmany people I’ve been is slightly more intimate –where rockers took on coming into physical contact you chat about something, with. On awork day, Ileave the where you know their name – unemployment house and walk to the Dart the number is depressingly low. station. Imay pass one or two It’s in the hundreds. Over the Published: May 13th, 1986 people. We nod or wave but course of alifetime. Despite all studiously avoid each other. The the noise and busyness, our lives nMay 13th, 1986, The Irish Times Dart station is usually deserted. are far more constrained than printed apreview piece about what was On the train there may be a we might imagine. Every day, Oone of the most anticipated musical couple of people, but we all sit so we tramp the same invisible events of the era, although one that also gener- far away we can’t really see each paths, we meet the same people. ated aconsiderable amount of debate. “Famine other. Often, there are more My pre-lockdown number of in Africa evokes asimple response but unem- security guards than passen- daily interactions isn’t that ployment in Ireland is immediately perceived gers. much higher than it was after- as amore complex subject,” Maev-Ann Wren The centre of Dublin is abit wards. began, “Or so the organisers of Saturday’s Self livelier; though that’s arelative The hugging-and-learning bit Aid concert have been discovering.” term. Imagine Dublin at 6am on of this should be that when all Self Aid was “the brainchild of some of the abank holiday. Everything is this is over, we need to make an RTÉ crew who worked on Live Aid,” and also closed, and most of the noise is effort to talk to more people. brought together the Irish Congress of Trade generated by sirens and empty Easier said than done, though. Unions, the Federated Union of Employers, the buses and Luas trams swishing Those of us with ajob to go back Industrial Development Authority and others. by. There are some pedestrians to will have to work harder than By the time the concert moved from the idea and homeless people crouched ever to resurrect our economy. phase to the production phase, ICTU was in doorways. Everyone avoids already annoyed by the name change from everyone else. Emboldened by “Jobs Aid” to “Self Aid.” SEÁN the lack of humans, there are “We would be totally opposed to the ideologi- seagulls everywhere. The hugging-and- cal connotation that it is up to people to create As Iget closer to work, the ‘‘ their own jobs, and that it is not economic and streets become almostcomplete- learning bit of this social policies generally that are creating our MONCRIEFF ly deserted. There is one food should be that when problems,” ICTU’s economic and social affairs outlet that sells half-decent officer, Peter Cassells, said at the time. “The coffee, so Icall in there. Gloves all this is over, we State has failed and failed miserably or we on, two metres away from need to make an wouldn’t have 250,000 people on the dole,” You don’t know anyone else. The coffee is slid RTÉ producer Niall Matthews said. “We are not out underneath aPerspex effort to talk to more talking about solving the unemployment as many people screen, but at least here there is people. Easier said situation. We are trying to give aplatform for a ahuman who takes my order different view of the problem.” and at the end we thank each than done, though The concert was to be broadcast over 14 as you think other.