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ON THE SIDE of a housing development at the corner of Bride Street and Golden Lane, Dublin 8, are eight terracotta plaques.
In line with the second floor of the red-brick building, the plaques are easy to miss unless you’re actively looking for them.
Should you throw an eye upon them, however, passers-by will realise that each plaque depicts a scene from Gulliver’s Travels.
The artwork tells the story of Jonathan Swift’s first part of the tale, A Voyage to Lilliput, and was created by Irish sculptor Michael C Keane.
Each piece was made from a solid disc of clay, Keane’s website explains, and built on a specially constructed easel. From there, the scene itself was carved into the disc before it was cut into sections, hollowed out and dried for two weeks.
It was then fired in a kiln, coloured and sealed to be made weather-proof. To finish, the border was placed around the disc before it was fitted into a brick circle and the two pieces were cemented together.
Among the scenes of the 1726 fable, the plaques show Gulliver being held prisoner, as well as him later earning the trust of the people of Lilliput.
The placement of the plaques is no coincidence – Swift himself was Dean of nearby St Patrick’s Cathedral, where the Jonathan Swift Festival is held annually, from 1713 until 1739.
After suffering from Meniere’s Disease in his later years, Swift died on October 19, 1745 and was buried on the grounds of the cathedral.
The plaque marking his grave reads: “Here lies the body of Jonathan Swift, Doctor of Divinity and Dean of this Cathedral, where savage indignation can no longer lacerate his heart; go traveller and imitate if you can, this dedicated and earnest champion of liberty.”
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I’m sure lots of people throw a bet for a bit of fun. But, I can’t help but think that lots of people are going without the basics to keep Paddy in €69 million profit.
Great to see the UK and Irish governments indirectly helping out paddy power in the form of dole payments!
its insane that we see more of these shops up and down the country at the one time that people should not be wasting money on such nonsense,
either these types of shops should be more heavily restricted or there has to be a way to restrict how dole money can be spent…because betting is not an acceptable use!
I’ll waste my money on whatever nonsense I want.
Why should the shops be restricted!?! It’s a person’s own decision to go in there & bet their money!! If it turns out that the money being punted originated as a welfare payment then more-fool us, as a state, for giving it to them!!
The Chinese love to gamble even though it is illegal in Mainland China. The Chinese population in Ireland will keep Paddy Power afloat : )
They don’t need the chinese to help em, we’re not shy of a bet or two. But your right the chinese and a few more Asian countries have the gambling gene big style..
getting into bed with the Italian and Spanish governments to rip-off punters in those countries was a solid business move.
banning or severely limiting anyone who turns a profit also helps.
they’re a mickey mouse bookie really. All style, no substance.
No substance ? I bought some of their shares 18 months ago at €27 each, today they’re worth €52 each, I’ve nearly doubled my money on them so for me they have plenty of substance to go with their style. Paddy Power are one of the most profitable Irish companies about and if they manage to crack the US and Canadian markets that share price will go even higher up towards €70.
And you don’t know what you’re talking about Steve.
I don’t dispute their business acumen. They provide a lot of jobs here and I applaud them for it.
But their success is based on clever marketing and the ability to attract the casual punter that doesn’t particularly care about things like low limits and lousy margins, in contrast to somewhere like Pinnacle where competitiveness pricing and limits are everything.
Paddy Power is not a place for serious punters and any book that offers odds on a market and then only allows a customer to place less than a tenner on it is Mickey Mouse in my book.
And I can assure you I know what I’m talking about.
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