Five things I learned about Dublin Docklands

1. The water of Dublin Bay used to lap on the shores of Merrion Square. Really!

2. The docklands used to be very noisy, according to James Joyce:
By lorries along Sir John Rogerson's Quay Mr Bloom walked soberly, past Windmill's Lane, Leask's the linseed crusher's, the postal telegraph office. Could have given that address too. And past the sailor's home. He turned from the morning noises of the quayside and walked through Lime Street. By Brady's cottages a boy for the skins lolled, his bucket of offal linked, smoking a chewed fagbutt. A smaller girl with scars of eczema on her forehead eyes him, listlessly holding her battered caskhoop. Tell him if he smokes he won't grow. O let him! His life isn't such a bed of roses! Waiting outside pubs to bring home. Come home to ma, da.

3. U2 video, circa 1980


4. This is how the promotional literature of the CHDDA saw the future of the Dublin Docklands in 1987:
It is a warm, calm September evenin. The highly paid executives in the Financial Services Centre are still at work - the VDUs giving out the latest on Wall Street. At the Liffey's edge the tanned and fit members of the Custom House yacht club are tying up their craft and strolling leisurely to the dockside pub for a pint or G&T. The kids are not yet back at school. The culture vultures are on their third museum - in the Dublin section they are still not over the shock of what the city was like when it had vacant sites. At the heliport a Ryan Air courtesy helicopter arrives with some more tourists. A limousine whisks them to their luxury hotle. In the apartments a successful young barrister has just arrived home via a vaporetto from the law courts up the quays. She sits on her penthouse balcony admiring the spectacular view of the mountains. As she sips her Campari soda she wonders if the Bunuel movie is playing at the Screen on the dock.

5. Now we know where low tide debris comes from: