21.12.14 / 17 PROFILE DAMIEN DEMPSEY Sewage plant A working-class hero row continues to bog down with a lot on his mind Irish Water Arklow’s wait for waste water A singer-songwriter treatment is a long-running who uses his gritty Dublin saga, reports Kate Butler roots and chequered ast month Irish Water announced it will be 2019 before it can build a waste water life to embrace wider treatment centre for the town of Arklow, which has a population of 13,000. Until then, social themes and 30 pipes carrying raw sewage will continue to Lspill into the Avoca river. injustices the world over As far back as 1993 there has beeN a plaN to locate a treatment centre at Seabank, north of Arklow, with an outfall pipe dumping treated sewage out to sea. The site choseN by Arklow urban district council, as it was knowN hen he has time off from the touring then, was beside a caravan park owned by Arklow circuit, Damien Dempsey some- Holidays Ltd, whose directors are BrendaN and Jeremy times travels to Howth where he Hynes, and who have had a site with 290 mobile homes climbs the 30ft rocks at Balscadden and up to 1,600 annual visitors there since 1964. The and jumps into the icy waters below. outfall pipe would pass through the dunes and beach W“There’s no bungee rope,” he once used by the holidaymakers. told RTE’sMiriamO’Callaghan.“It’stheclosestthingto BrendaN Hynes had some form in the courts. He was being a bird.” Dempsey hits the water so hard that it appointed chief executive of Tara Mines in 1974. In the takes 10 seconds to come back to the surface. He sees 1980s it became involved in Bula v Tara Mines, a case that parallels with his task as a stage performer. A shy man, raN for 277 days in the High Court. he has to take a leap of faith every time he performs In 1999, Arklow council was granted planning permis- before an audience. sion by Wicklow county council for the treatment centre; The challenges keep coming. Last June, the singer- Arklow Holidays Ltd challenged this in the courts. After songwriter was arriving at a venue in Enniscorthy, Co four years of litigation, including a 41-day hearing, the Wexford, when he saw two men in the river Slaney. matter was concluded in favour of Wicklow county “One of them was bobbing up and down and trying to council. Costs estimated at €1 were awarded against come up for air,” he later recalled. “He was obviously Arklow Holiday Homes. struggling to keep afloat and his friend couldn’t keep In January 2005, following a five-day hearing, An Bord him up for long.” Pleanala upheld Wicklow’s 1999 decision. Arklow Holi- Knowing that if he dived into the water, he too might days challenged this in the courts, but ultimately lost in be dragged under, Dempsey threw a sheet to the flailing 2006. Again, hefty costs were awarded against it. On swimmer, saving the man’s life. Dempsey, a passionate appeal to the Supreme Court in 2011, it was held that open water swimmer, was not interested in accolades, Arklow Holidays’s second set of proceedings were an according to a bystander. “I shouted ‘well done’, but he abuse of process — many of the grounds it raised against didn’t answer me. He had no interest in any praise the finding of An Bord Pleanala in 2005 could have beeN whatsoever,” said Mark Ronan. raised in the first set of proceedings in 1999. Last week, it emerged that Dempsey was involved in A compulsory purchase order had beeN suspended another act of heroism earlier this year. BeauticiaN Joan during the 12 years of litigation. When the council Moore was in a restaurant in Dublin’s Fairview when a attempted to act on it in 2012, however, Jeremy Hynes maN snatched her handbag and she was knocked to the allegedly parked a JCB across the gate of the lands. The ground. Dempsey and John CoNNors, the actor who council sought an injunction restraining the Hyneses from playedtravellerPatrick inLove/Hate,were dininginthe going onto the lands. restaurant at the time. The pair chased the thief down The parties were back in the High Court, and the the street. Hyneses had further points to raise, such as that the Paddy Dunning, owner of a recording studio, said permission granted by An Bord Pleanala in 2005 was for such heroic behaviour is in Dempsey’s nature: “When five years only. The president of the High Court found he sees something that’s wrong, he’ll try to right it. against them on that point. The Hyneses appealed that If he sees a womaN fall on the ground, he’ll pick her decision, which is scheduled for hearing on January 15 up. So many people will walk past these days. If in the Supreme Court. Their challenge to the CPO is Damien sees something that is wrong, a cause, he Happy Xmas (War is Over), is in aid of Aware, a charity parents separated. Dempsey lived with his father, a also ongoing. champions it.” for people with mental health issues. panelbeater,andby hisowNadmissionwentofftherails Back in 2007, Jeremy Hynes said the court battle was At 6ft 2 in, the Irish Lion, as he is known, is not to be According to Cribbin: “You see plenty of people who “drinking, fighting and doing drugs”. A short dalliance about “saving his business”. He agreed that the local trifled with. In his youth he trained as a boxer, and he may use charities for self-promotion. That’s not the with ecstasy left him “so deeply depressed” that he council had offered an alternative water supply — the still enjoys sparring sessions. But while he has the case with Damien.” As part of his work with the Preda could barely move. treatment plant was to be located on top of the holiday physique of a champion, in persoN he is softly spoken, Foundation, which was established to protect the rights Music was his saviour. Dempsey entered a 2FM song site’s water source — but said it wouldn’t be sufficient at shy and socially awkward. Dempsey only turned up HE WENT OFF THE of women and children in the Philippines, Dempsey contest and came second. He studied at Ballyfermot peak times. He said that a survey of suitable sites for the at the National Marine Gallantry and Meritorious visited a prisoN outside Manila. “Damien is a sensitive Rock School (at Ballyfermot College of Further Educa- treatment centre placed the Seabank site eighth. Service Awards 2014 to please his mother. In fact, RAILS. A SHORT and aware person, and it moved him when we saw the tion), and played at Dave Murphy’s singer-songwriter Perhaps the Hyneses had a valid case against the he was embarrassed at the attention over his conditions in the detention centres,” CribbeN said. night at Dublin’s International Bar alongside Mundy, authorities, but while the courts have entertained them at gallantry in saving the man’s life. DALLIANCE WITH “On the flipside, we saw the kids who were released Paddy Casey, DeclaN O’Rourke, and others. length — and at a staggering administrative cost to the “That’s him,” says his friend Philip Cribbin, from from custody and giveN structure, family life, In 1997, he released his first single, Dublin Town, but state — they have lost on every point. It is a mystery why children’scharityPredaFoundation.“He’dcrawl under ECSTASY LEFT HIM rehabilitation.” was uncomfortable with the song’s pop-style produc- the Hyneses feel it justifiable to spend millions on saving a a rock rather than seek publicity. Whether he likes it or The musiciaN gave an impromptu performance for tion. “It picked up a lot of radio play, and a lot of people small seasonal business. not,hehasto reactto thestory,butit’snotsomethinghe FEELING SO DEEPLY about 50 prisoners, singing his owN songs as well as a liked it, but many thought it was a bit of a gimmick,” he It’s also impossible to know how the local authorities tries to promote.” few by Bob Marley. “One guy cried in the cell when he said.Twoyearslater,hewasplayingtoursupportforthe acted throughout the litigation, since there is no Singer Glen Hansard once compared Dempsey to DEPRESSED THAT heard him,” said Cribbin. “It’s his raw passion and Hothouse Flowers when he met producer John transparency in relation to any settlement talks betweeN Atlas, carrying the woes of Ireland on his shoulders. commitment. Whether he’s singing about patience or Reynolds at a party in London. Reynolds helped to pro- the parties. We will never know why a decision was When he first emerged on the Irish music scene in the HE COULD negative vibes, positive mentality or being true to your- duce his first album, They Don’t Teach This Shit in not taken to abandon the Seabank plaN and start 1990s, with socially driveN songs informed as much by BARELY MOVE self, they’re universal themes.” School (2000). afresh elsewhere. hip-hop as by Irish folk, some people considered him a In recent times, Dempsey has aspired to writing Ever since, Dempsey has picked up the folk mantle BrendaN Hynes’s combative style must have beeN novelty act. Others felt alienated by his insistence on songs on global themes, although a working-class, from artists such as Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew. He knowN to the local authorities. His business temperament singing in a thick Dublin brogue.