Roddy Doyle's Dublin

[phil]

In an interview with the Guardian Newspaper today, Roddy Doyle has the following to say about Dublin:

"its a big con job...We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it's a dreary place most of the time. Try getting a pint at one in the morning and you'll find just how raving it actually is."

Any thoughts?

[asdasd]

Same opening hours as London. The thing is as an Irish artist when granting an interview to a London paper, 'specially the Liberals, about Ireland, is that you must be critical of the old sod, and get a dig in about the Catholic church too. So he did both.

[phil]

Yeah, I thought his interview was full of cliche aswell.

[kefu]

You have to be retarded not to get a pint in Dublin at one in the morning. I thought opening hours in London were more limited. No???

[Papworth]

Why does drink always infiltrate a discussion on Dublin / Ireland. I was in Spain on holidays and bought an Irish paper and there was Charlie Chalk (Oval bar) on page 2 with a pint of Guinness in his hand hoping Clinton would drop into his bar for a pint after his book signing in Easons and then on the next page Ahern with a pint of Bass in his hand and the article was about Bass closing down its Belfast plant. Especially when viewed from a distance it's all so pathetic and paddywackery !!

[mickeydocs]

Why do we always compare our towns with England... aren't there any other countries we'd like to compare/model ourselves? Shall we always be in the shadow of the 'mainland'?

Let's start to compare ourselves with other emerging nations such as Spain/Portugal/Hungary...

Originally posted by kefu
You have to be retarded not to get a pint in Dublin at one in the morning. I thought opening hours in London were more limited. No???

[kefu]

The first message in this thread specifically mentions a quote from Roddy Doyle about drink and says "any thoughts?". So excuse me if I actually address the question that was asked.
The reason London came up was because the article was printed in a London-based English newspaper (and ironic because of that). If it had been printed in El Pais or its Portugese/Hungarian equivalent, nobody would have mentioned English opening hours.

[Papworth]

Well it's never going to happen as we have the same bloody climate as our British neighbours our love of British football.. all engineers apply for the coveted C. Eng. ......all other professionals apply for membership of the British institutes and regulary attend conferences on the "mainland". We love British TV (the best in the world and in English !!)........ we want to win the "The National", Cheltenham, the Brooker prize, the Sterling medal, roar on the Lions........ launch plays on the West End and at one time even considered bringing Wimbeldon over and renaming them Dublin City. How does one explain this to a Hungarian !! In English I'd imagine !!!

[Papworth]

Well it's never going to happen as we have the same bloody climate as our British neighbours our love of British football.. all engineers apply for the coveted C. Eng. ......all other professionals apply for membership of the British institutes and regulary attend conferences on the "mainland". We love British TV (the best in the world and in English !!)........ we want to win the "The National", Cheltenham, the Brooker prize, the Sterling medal, roar on the Lions........ launch plays on the West End and at one time even considered bringing Wimbeldon over and renaming them Dublin City. How does one explain this to a Hungarian !!

[Irishtown]

Originally posted by mickeydocs
Why do we always compare our towns with England... aren't there any other countries we'd like to compare/model ourselves? Shall we always be in the shadow of the 'mainland'?

Let's start to compare ourselves with other emerging nations such as Spain/Portugal/Hungary...

I fully agree with that.

[chewy]

i thought we were traditionally compared to greece with in european terms are we too good for them now:)

[Irishtown]

I love Greece! I'm fine with that.

[Sue]

Of course, no one reads Roddy Doyle any more. So the only way he has of interrupting our consciousness is by saying something controversial whenever he is plugging a book. And the fewer books he sells (the dreadful Rory and Ita, anyone?) the more controversial he is likely to become. So we go from cracks at Bloomsday to describing Dublin as a dreary little town etc.

Doyle's best days are behind him. No more Booker prizes for him. If we ignore him, he will soon lapse back into obscurity.

[GregF]

Ah there's some truth in stereotypes.....we may complain about our stage Oirish potrayal in films, books, music etc...whether it be The Commitments, Father Ted, Ballykissangel, etc.... (As Jasus, we're not like bleedin' dat ) but when it all boils down, it is probably how we generally appear to the rest of the world...ie Dana, Jackie Healy Rae, Bertie Ahern, Colin Farrell etc......
(Anyone see Hector last night interviewing Bertie Ahern. Hector came across as an irritating culchie gombeen, even more so when in Paris, whilst our Taoiseach came across as the stuttering dithering Dub he is)...... Ah sure it was great craic!
Hop on a 78A bus and ye'll know what I mean.