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JUST BEFORE CLOGHER Road meets Kildare Road in Crumlin, Dublin 12, is the place where one of Ireland’s best-known writers and poets, Brendan Behan, grew up.
While the legendary poet and man behind the much-loved sing-song tune The Auld Triangle is remembered worldwide – and immortalised in the form of a well-visited statue on Dublin’s Royal Canal – the circumstances of Behan’s life were modest, and started with him growing up on a nondescript council estate.
In 1937, at the age of 14, after living on Russell Street in the city centre since his birth, Behan and his family moved to 70 Kildare Road.
The renowned poet lived there with his brothers, Dominic and Brian, his mother Kathleen and his father Stephen, according to Behan’s biographer Ulick O’Connor,
Behan lived in the two-bed house until 1939 when he moved to Liverpool, where he was sentenced to three years in a borstal for being found in possession of explosives. He detailed his time in the detention centre in Borstal Boy, published in 1958.
Following his release in 1942, Behan was “deported to Dublin“, and shortly after he was jailed for the attempted murder of two gardai. He was released under a general amnesty in 1946.
In between arrests and jail time, returns to Number 70 were “frequent for the writer”, according to Come Here To Me. In the coming years, Behan moved between Ireland and France before settling down in Dublin in the early 1950s.
Behan is said to have spent some of his last days in the Kildare Road home before dying on March 20, 1964. A plaque was placed above the front door in 1977 with an engraving of Behan’s face, his name and the years of his life.
The property went on the market in 2009, while O’Connor called for it to be declared a national monument.
“Behan is getting bigger and bigger every day. He is still an icon and a legend,” he told The Herald at the time.
Today, the home is yet to be declared a national monument, but the plaque commemorating Behan holds pride of place above its bright red front door.
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Shane Ross is not interested in fighting. If he was he would be fighting to regulate the car insurance industry and be telling us where the income from 245,000 vehicles a day, most of them commercial that cross just one of eleven toll bridges is going.
@Tom Fennelly: The only thing they fight over is how much of a pay rise they are entitled too
@Tom Fennelly: he specifically told me that’s not his remit.
Mcgregor is an inspiration to the country. The most famous Irish man bar none. I’ll tell you what’s disturbing, hunting, horse racing, grey hound racing, bull fighting… They don’t have a choice. Mma two consenting adults throw down and suffer minimal injuries. What’s disturbing about that?
@Eoin de Barra: we don’t go much for bull fighting in Ireland Eoin…..bull$hit yes, but not bull fighting. As for “consenting adults” I think you’re on the wrong thread with that one :-)
@Eoin de Barra: He’s not an inspiration to me, or most of the people I know. I’ve never seen any of these fights, only see McGregor in news clips promoting himself and his brand, I chose not to buy into it as I am not a sheep.
@Sloop John G: good man sloop. I live in Spain. Bullfighting exists here. You’ll have to look up the meaning of consenting kid.
@Nick Drake: well done fella.
@Eoin de Barra: Yeah, minimal damage, tell that to Joao Carvalho’s family.
@Weldoninhio: people have died running half marathons. It was a freak incident.
@Eoin de Barra: People died from blunt force trauma running half marathons?? Tough 13 miles
@Weldoninhio: that was tragic for sure. But it was a freak accident. It’s not the norm for sure. Hunters shoot to kill. I think that’s a problem.
@Eoin de Barra: Hunters kill dumb animals, not humans. Should we start arresting lions for the murder of gazelles??
@Weldoninhio: more people have died from playing rugby and its blunt force trauma. Mr Ross is happy to go to those games
Most intelligent people won’t watch this farce.
@P C: you have met the McGregor fans haven’t you? They’ll definitely be watching it.
@JJ O Riordan: yeah the “McGregor Fans” are easily identified, they are the ones that dont have their heads up their backsides
@Jonny Chip: and their knuckles scrape off the ground as they walk.
@Jonny Chip: Exactly, they have their heads up McTapper’s backside.
@P C: you’ll be glued to It so
I would give Ross a small amount of respect for his views, however it’s to late to worry about McGregor, behaviour like wearing a polar bear fur coat and trying to Dance on the bonnet of someone else’s car indicates catastrophic and irreversible brain damage.
@Dave Hogan: haha brilliant.. comment of the day
@Dave Hogan: comment of the year
Mr Ross, it’s not a MMA fight its Boxing ,
@ger power1: it’s a freak show
@ger power1: It’s not boxing either. In boxing, both people need to be able to box.
Shiny new teeth and a ticket to every major sporting event in the land. It’s amazing what a Ministry will do for a man.
Pity those new teeth didn’t come with a bit of bite.
And in other news: Leo Varadkar cuts his front lawn and paschal donohue blows his nose. Wow!
@theupsidedown: Leo lives in an apartment and Pascal has no nose.
@John O’Shea: comment of the day lolol
@John O’Shea: who said anything about grass?
Ross cares about nooooo one only himself ! As much as I’m not a fan of Mc Gregor he’s twice the man Ross is and that saying something .
Good for him not pretending he likes mcgregor or MMA just because an Irish chap has done well in it. This fight is nothing to get too brotheled about
Ha ha who really cares what Shane Ross thinks about McGregor vs. Mayweather?
He’s job is to propagate sports, but with a lean towards highly lucrative ones that can bring tax revenues. Boxing and MMA typically won’t bring massive revenues in Ireland. Larger field based team sports do so his is what he will focus on for the most part.
If that changed then he’d be all over boxing , mma etc.
Deffo not going to watch now that my hero Shane Ross wont..
UPDATE: Mayweather VS McGregor cancelled after Irish minister for Sport declares he won’t watch it.
Is there a prize for worst headline ever?
the phantom: that’s a great new word “brotheled “I am stealing it of you
@Brian O Reilly: Me too.
Shane Ross… an utterly usrless and incompetent politician and aside from that comes across as an eccentric nerd who is a bit of a chancer. But as an Irish politician he isn’t in the minority unfortunately.
Shane Ross is an out of touch failed plonker ! You cannot push back a flooding tide. Cmac is huge and MMA is huge and we should be very proud that he represents our country with such passion and pride. Sure, there are elements in MMA which may appear to be unsavoury but that goes for nearly all contact sports. Ice hockey, USA football, rugby( union and league), boxing etc. His wishy washy ” I’ll be watching all the ladies rugby” etc is patronising and nauseating. Go back and do what you do best. Holding hands with Eamonn Dunphy !!!
I am to my shame going to watch it ,but at a local venue with all the other Romans
Never going to be fun watching fun watching someone (McGregor) get battered
Does anyone honestly give a fck whether Ross watches this fight or not?
Hickey knocked him out in Rio. Useless spineless worm. That said he knows farce and shit when he sees it.
@Eoin de Barra: Shane Ross should definitely do something about bull fighting in Ireland.
Who actually gives a f### what he thinks
Sean your on your own there .
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