*ISSUE 23 28PG
11/18/07
4:56 PM
Page 20
On the grou
Pat Liddy, historian.
Joe Costello, Labout TD
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"EAST Wall is a relatively new part of the Dublin", says Dublin historian Pat Liddy. "The community has only been there since the 1920s . . . It's never really had time to establish itself." Neither has it ever had "a heyday". "There was always a dearth of decent work, of churches, shops, schools. Whatever jobs there were (largely daily work on the docks) all disappeared by the 1960s and 1970s." "The powers that be have never taken East Wall into consideration as an integral part of the city", says Joe Costello, the local Labour TD. He is critical of the Docklands Authority for its "piecemeal" and "haphazard" approach to local development and says "there has never been a proper, overall plan for the development of East Wall". It's deeply ironic, he says, that public transport serves East Wall so badly when the Busarus depot is "a stone's throw" away and the rail network is based there. The lack of a proper bus service is "one of our great failures", he says, though "it's not for want of trying", with meetings having been held with Dublin Bus and with the local authority.
Chiropody It may not be the most obvious of social injustices, but chiropody is a big issue – though a hidden one – for old people, says Owen Binchy. Those with diabetes can have chronic foot problems, and are recommended to make six visits to a chiropodist per year. The issue can be as simple as having their toenails cut: because of reduced mobility and sensitivity, old people cutting their own toenails are more likely to accidentally cut themselves or break skin tissue; these can get infected and, ultimately, gangrene will result. But there is no chiropody service for old people in East Wall, and the public health nurses who service the area don't have proper facilities. Binchy has been campaigning for the Health Services Executive to provide a monthly chiropody service in East Wall. "It's beer money", he says. "For the cost of really small procedures, people are being immobilised." His campaign may have proved successful: at time of going to print, he was optimistic that he would soon get confirmation that this service would be provided.
changing ireland
gives a word of warning to wouldbe students of community development. "College graduates – they think they're going to change the world", says Owen Binchy, community worker in East Wall, Dublin. "If you can make a small change, great. But there's no panacea, there's no cure-all. There's never going to be Utopia." Binchy is not disillusioned, just pragmatic. The sole development worker on the two-year-old Nascadh Community Development Project in East Wall, he works in a geographical area currently experiencing massive change, yet in a sector where change is incremental. As he talks, an auld fellow sings along to a Tony Bennett CD on the stereo in the corner.
"I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan, I'm going home to my city by the bay…" The gent does a quick two-step with a snooker cue, and bends down to line up a shot on the snooker table. Four men are playing doubles, and another one or two are watching, chatting across the game. These are the small changes Binchy is talking about. We are in the local youth club, where Binchy runs a weekly facility for men. ***** Between snooker shots, John Donnelly of nearby Mary Road explains just why such a facility is needed in East Wall. "When it rains, most of the old men don't come out of their houses – we've no chipper, no boozer, no nothing. There's a pub, but you can't shout, you can't sing. Every parish in the city of Dublin has a social club, bar this parish." This set-up, with the snooker table, stereo and old-timer cds, tea and biscuits, is not a club – this, for Binchy, is crucial. With clubs, people often think they're "cliques", that "they're not welcome", he says. The ethos here is "that you can just drop in, drop out". "There's a sense that 'this is our room'. People know that this is here and they can come down – the very fact that it's here is
East Wallers rave at a Sonny Knowles concert organised by Nascadh CDP.
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cso: over 6% of men in ireland were in consistent poverty in 2005
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