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SO IT’S COMING to that time of year again.
The Easter eggs have been in the shops for about three months so we know it’s still at least another month until that particular holiday.
The pretend green plastic shamrocks are being inflated as the smiling, waving green politicians are readying themselves for global ‘Paddy-pushing junkets’ to glamorous global locations. These annual shamrock shenanigans will no doubt spur a round of handwringing about government spending while people continue to sleep on the streets of this supposed fair green land. It’s clear, the snake-charming saints day is imminent.
And wedged in between the alcohol fest and the chocolate fest is the day when we celebrate those who should be celebrated above and beyond saints and saviours – mothers.
This Sunday, 19 March is Mother’s Day. It’s the day officially allocated to us to take a few hours to acknowledge the women responsible for our very existence – our mams, mums, moms, mammies, mummies, mothers, the auld one, herself – whatever we call our mothers it doesn’t matter, so long as we call them.
And we should call them and thank them, for to be a mother for a moment is to be a mother for life. They know us like no one else. They grew us and nurtured us. Protected us. Taught us. Inspired us. Stood by us. Pushed us. Put up with us. They loved us. Love us. Always. It’s not a choice. It’s what mothers do. It’s nature.
My own mother passed from cancer over a decade ago. And as she lay there in the hospital bed riddled with that awful disease and in pain on a cold January day… her main concern? I’d walked into the ward without a coat.
It’s freezing out there. Have you got a coat? Why haven’t you got a coat on? You’ll catch your death.
The year before my mum left us my wife and I had accidentally stumbled across a small unoccupied farm in county Wicklow that was up for sale. This farm was unlike any other farms I’d been on before. Hidden down a pothole-ridden half-mile lane and with no road frontage the first time we walked onto it we were immediately smitten.
Whilst the fields had been set out by the owners for silage production the edges had been let go wild. Trees had been planted to provide cover for pheasant shoots.
Large ponds had been developed in a substantial wetland area to allow for fishing and duck shooting. The farm had sat on the market for some time as the wild that had been created for hunting was not of value to agricultural production.
However, what farmers saw as a liability we saw as an invaluable positive. Nature. Habitat. Beautiful in all its wild messiness.
We loved it. Wanted to protect it. Nurture it. Mother it, I suppose.
But this hadn’t been in our plans. Our sights had been set on warmer climes. Foreign adventures. Should we scrap our plans? Change tack completely? Should we take this on? Could we take this on? We talked ourselves into it. Then out of it. Into it again then out of it then back in again. This went on for over a year. We tried to shake it. To continue with our plans. But it called to us. It felt like where we should be.
About six months after my mother’s passing we decided to stick with the original plan. It looked like the kids would grow up speaking French and collecting baguettes from the local boulangerie. We set about organising the move in earnest.
Then a funny thing happened.
The farm had been on my mind. Niggling.
Sound asleep one night, a familiar voice whispers soothingly in my ear… ‘It’ll be okay’. I sat bolt upright wide awake. No one was there. My wife was asleep. Now, I’m not a guy that holds any stock by afterlives and the like but that voice had been my mother’s voice. Overtired dream or something else – I don’t know. But it was my mother’s voice.
The following day I was drawn to visit the farm. One last look. Au revoir, and all that. With the previous night’s occurrence running through my head as I drove the 20 or so minutes on back roads, I challenged the universe.
Show me a sign. If you want me here, show me a sign.
I arrived in the empty yard. Parked. Walk down the lane by the old shed. Pheasants scurried before me. Birdsong filled the air. Bees buzzed by. Hovers hovered. Nothing unusual for this place. Familiar to me from many previous visits. Down the side of the big barley-filled field, I headed for the spot I preferred – the large pond in the wetland.
Through the dip which marks the entrance to the wetland I distractedly checked my phone for messages. Nervous ducks rising off the pond as I approached made me glance up.
And there it was – the universe’s response to my challenge. The sign I had glibly requested. Floating in pure white peacefulness across the pond was a wild swan.
My adrenaline began flowing, my hair stood on end. I sat down and watched her graceful movement for an hour or more. She was gone the next day. Along with our plans. And the farm was ours.
That farm is now the only native wild bee sanctuary on the planet. Since that day we have protected her. Nurtured her. Cared for her. Loved her. Mothered her. Learned from her. Listened to her.
She, and all the creatures she is home to. All the trees. All the bees. All the flowers. Why?
Because when you get to live in a place like this you realise that we all owe the lives we get to live to the mother of all mothers – Mother Nature.
She is the creator. The giver of life. She provides. She shelters. Unconditionally.
You also realise very quickly that Mother Nature is failing at our collective hand.
She needs us to show her the love and respect we show our own mothers. She provides all and asks very little – but even that now seems to be too much to us in our arrogance.
Our race to progress. Our disconnect.
So this Mother’s Day how about we cherish and celebrate our mothers and the original mother? Mammy and Mammy Nature.
Bring flowers to one if you like but sow wildflowers for the other.
Don’t take either of them for granted.
It’s too late when they’re gone.
Thanks for everything, Mum. x
Paul Handrick, known as The Bee Guy runs The Bee Sanctuary in County Wicklow.
Save the bees with us by becoming an Official Friend of the Bees via the website - www.thebeesanctuaryofireland.com. To honour Irish Mammies the sanctuary is creating The Mother Woodland on the site – a willow woodland habitat specifically dedicated to mothers. You can gift a tree planting for Mother’s Day. For more on The Mother Woodland, see SavingBees.ie.
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Walking
Someone make this man head of planning for dcc !
There’s be so much room for activities.
Make that man head of appropriate use of step brothers lines… Surely already a junior minister role!
A junkies paradise.
Hardly. If one has an addiction they want a safe place to use it. They anxiety for those with addictions is off the charts so unlikely they’ll appreciate being around hundreds of people
Complaining about the pedestrianisation
It does look much nicer in the image above. Most European cities have large open squares and we are playing catch up
Pedestrians?
Why do they congregate on O’Connell Street, the boardwalks and Temple Bar? They don’t strike me as shy and retiring type of people.
Can you imagine how bad the traffic is in the city at present. Now with this all bus routes and other traffic will be pushed onto the Quays.. Let the bedlam commence…
Chugging
@Bill O’Connor:
Begging from tourists.
Open space for dealers, can see in all directions.
Good off licences close by, beg a couple of Euro, buy a tinnie and stretch out on the new plaza.
@Bill – ah that’s the life, can’t wait!
Well maybe the DCC could use it to set up a decent, central Christmas market for once, and possibly a few markets throughout the year.
Late night street fights, homing the homeless, more pigeons, annoying trinners student demos and drug taking… Better off leave the buses, keep the place clean!
End the drug war. Allow nightclubs open 24/7 like the rest of Europe. Invest in social housing & more council multi use bins. Maybe the odd safe injection centre too. I’ve just solved all your problems except for the trinners, I’m afraid there is no remedy for that
@Brown Boots: basically like the boardwalk, except people have to pass through it sometimes.
Zac-tly! Ha! It’s fine when the bus gates up, maybe leave it at that.
@NO 2 (them) Is there a way we can build all of that in just such a small space? What of the squirrels and stag parties?
Build all of what? I’ve named multiple policy solutions that would be implemented nationwide
Build a place that would house homeless, a rehab for drug users, a safe needle clinic place, a 24/7 night club(which I find odd given many homeless people struggle with alcohol abuse), and at the same time as all that build it so fortified that will be able to withstand attacks in the drug war, we all know those drug dealers and their uzi machine guns etc. So yeah if you can build all that, go for it… The pigeons will find their own home.
Or walking back to my car because of this fiasco
The fact you think something individual needs to be build to allow 24 Hours night clubs goes to show you don’t even know what I’m talking about.
Does everything have to do with the homeless? Can that not be handled as a separate issue? This is about having a plaza in a city that needs one.
The fact you dont know I was ripping the pesh shows you haven’t a clue… Better just kock yourself inside
There is no tradition of civic spaces in Ireland, it’s typical when we even have to ask; “what do we DO with this space” as opposed to thinking it would be great to chill, people watch, have a coffee and just live, which is what towns and cities are supposed to be for. I partly blame the bad weather, but it doesn’t fully explain it if you compare it to say Scandinavian countries’ attitude
Have you ever actually been to a Scandinavian country? I can assure you they’re not “having a coffee” outside in freezing temperatures. A sauna would be a more common hangout area. As for Ireland not having a tradition of “civic spaces” what about Stephens Green and Phoenix Park among other city centre spaces? The Phoenix Park is one of the largest city parks in the world.
Liam I’m on about civic plazas that are actually used, Stephens green is a park that is closed at night and the Phoenix park is well a park. You go to a European city and you have plazas with benches for older people and cafes surrounding them, here you just have thoroughfares to funnel consumers from one shop to the other
Liam you’ve evidently never been to one yourself. Plazas are commonplace are used daily
@An_Beal_Bocht:
The idea of a “plaza” is actually a very socialist, trade union inspired idea. No wonder the Sinn Fein dominated Dublin City council are in favour.
Dublin doesn’t have open plazas because it was not historically a socialist city.
Thousands of piazzas all over Italy and they’ve never had a socialist tradition
Socialist idea my boll*x, central plazas go back to Roman times where they were the trading heart of the city, the forum. Since most trading and economic activity in cities has moved indoors, the obvious progression was for them to become simple public squares and the idea spread from there.
They exist across a range of countries and date from a various points in history just look at St Marks Square in Venice, Dam Square in Amsterdam or the main Square of Krakow, they existed long before the word socialism was even coined.
Jays your some dose, so the the first Italian piazzas in the middle ages were commi socialist constructs
Never mind Fred….. still seeing “reds under the bed” from the US McCarthy era…..
@An_Beal_Bocht:
Coffee kiosks? They tried that on parliament bridge and the boardwalk. Only 1 left. The drug low life’s forced citizens to move on and they had to close. What makes you think it will be any different?
The drug problem needs to be addressed not civic plazas, they come later.
And warm weather to go with with your cup of coffee.
I was in a town square in the UK it had huge tv at the time they where showing a current sports event, they had ping pong tables permanently bring your balls/rackets , and a few market stalls selling home made style foods and drinks. Was very nice.
Boom. Lovely idea
Hence why it’ll never happen
Ping pong in college Green… Would ya go on out of that with your fancy Dan ideas! A few bags of turf and a stall selling pints of plain and that’ll do you and quit complaining, this bad enough we can’t graze it and have to bow down to be more European, what next a golden dragon too. Cop onto yerself!!!
Sounds like a fanzine of sorts. Imagine being there for the next ‘Robbie Brady scoring against Italy’ moment
@emeralds they could do that already if they wanted, as per new years and American presidents we like. There needs to be a willingness by the corpo to do things like that, and as pie in the sky as this plan described here my seem, changing the corpo is just outrageously ridiculous they would contemplate such a thing… Be realistic man!
You need something that works for Irish weather.
- Large canopy umbrellas in the centre (that look nice) which serve coffee prepared by coffee shops on the perimeter of the square. The seating here needs outdoor heaters.
- A weekly farmers market – probably on a Sunday
- A quarterly live event – music, comedy etc, playing monthly during the summer
- Conversion of coffee shop space and associated seating to restaurants at night – restaurants around the world do this frequently to get the best use from the space. Again, outdoor heating and cover needed.
- strict policing in the area, removing knackers and with fines on cyclists not dismounting (I’m a cyclist but flying by on a plaza is not on)
- removal of all heroin / methodone clinics within a 4km radius. Seriously – how is this not done already?!
- Christmas markets
It needs to be used regularly to prevent the knackers taking it over. Plus it needs adequate greenery, benches and cover. People always complain about what a great country it would be if we could only roof it…..well bloody put some kinda roof or cover on it!
@Mike F we’ve been on about that roof for ages! OK OK your comment was too long so I didn’t read it all, and that’s coming from me, nothing but long comments but I have a limit!
…rhwy do have something that works for Irish weather : St Stephens Green Centre, Jervis Street Shopping Centre, ILAC Centre, Dundrum Shopping Centre, Liffey Valley. ….The list is endless. This project is for the bird’s.
A good start would be to keep all McDs, BKs and all other fast food outlets a million miles from the place.
Temporary stages for culture festivals (who remembers B.B. King’s concert at that spot?), art exhibitions, innovative spaces for sitting down and doing a bit of people watching, underground bike parking.
The relevant question is how will the local zombie population make use of the college green plaza…
It will be nothing but a nuisance and is a bad idea. The likes of AAA / socialist parties will be there every day of the week shouting into a mike…something about worker solidarity or human rights abuse in the Sudan.
Close off all open public spaces in the city.
@Fred Johnson: or what will happen is it will cost huge monies and then double in price and we the punter will get something nobody asked for, including a super bill, nothing to do with aaa or pbp.
These comments are an example of why ireland can’t have nice things… moaners don’t appear to want nice things
DCC might want to a study of the traffic lights around the city. There is at least 20 sets of lights at major junctions that are out of sequence. Gardiner St lower, Five Lamps, Fitzwilliam place,,Baggot st and Mespil Rd. Ballsbridge turning on to Shelbourne Rd. Etc etc.
@gerard carey: bushey park bus lane lights, complete annoying, no bus, no traffic, no green light
Mass…
On the plane to knock with you
Bare knuckle Gypsy fights
be careful head of dcc owen keegan has history when it comes to public money and white elephants
Make cyclists and those horror rickshaws walk with their bikes … pedestrian only!
Cyclists think they own the road, footpath, grass, and that trafic signals, stop and yield signs don’t apply to them!
Other cities have banned them and actively issue fines!
Serious amount of negativity and cynicism in most of the comments on this article. Bit sad really. I think it’s actually good the council are asking for citizen input..democracy at work. Hopefully they’ll get some decent suggestions from people with a positive vision for the space.
Water protest after water protest after water protest……
i’d use it for cycling
Cycle tracks will feature on all sides of the space. It’s what to do with the middle plaza, leaving it open with a few trees and benches be grand
@NO 2 FF/FG/LAB: more cycle tracks, like a maze
@NO 2 FF/FG/LAB:
No trees….”they” can hide under trees and congregate there. Leave it very open and exposed with cctv cameras everywhere.
Who the hell is they? You mean irish citizens?
@NO 2 FF/FG/LAB:
You know exactly who tends to congregate in open spaces in the centre of Dublin.
And maybe a guard or two otherwise it will be a free for all just like o’connell street.
Sounds great. Craft stalls, outdoor cafes in the summer, lots of trees. Sign me up!
No! No more trees! They obscure the lovely architecture. They should cut down the trees that are there already. Trees can go in other places
Most large cities and capitals have a plaza, Dublin needs one.
It’s a great idea to pedestrianise the area but unfortunately the powers that be will surely screw this up. The junkies and aggressive beggars that are a law unto themselves will take over it drinking and roaring and pi$$ing as we can see from other areas in the city centre. Why can’t the methodone clinics be moved away from the centre the junkies have free travel passes anyway. Such a blight in the city centre. Until the junkballs are shifted there’s not much point with this as we see from the boardwalk which was promised all Dubliners and visitors alike will enjoy.
Great idea….on paper. Where is all the traffic going to go? I saw a proposal recently where there would be a huge increase of traffic on Parliament St which is it wont be able to handle,its too small. Also what about businesses in the area and hotels how will they be serviced if a traffic ban is imposed? Its a silly idea and bad for the city
How about you get your smelly cars out if the city centre. Dublin air quality is historically bad enough as is
Shooting up and pickpocketing
i have no idea!. sounds like another daft Corpo. idea.
I would hope it would be a little more on the ‘Green’ side that what’s displayed in that mockup.
Driving. There’d be no other cars so it should be fast !!!!
Ireland is not an outdoors country…we’re more barstool culture looking outside. It’s mainly down to our depressing weather. Imagine October is our driest month of the year
What a sad existence you have. Get off your arse
Eh,for driving my car on it?
i an not apposed to the idea but i think they should have pedestrianised O’Connell street instead of running that stupid bloody Luas up it, the Luas could have been sent along Marlboro street and the busses put to one side of O’Connell street, i am worried about the traffic problems closing College Green will cause, non of these plans should have been put in place until a proper integrated traffic management plan had been put in place, they put the cart before the horse and when the traffic chaos ensues the whole college green plaza idea will unravel, and sadly i suspect this is just property speculation taken priority over what the city really needs
More space for the Junkie’s to hang out ? the broadwalk and temple bar is already littered with rhem
Shootin up.only joking decriminalise drugs
Cars
Looks like the trees on college green will get the chop, not a good thing.
Avoiding junkies.
So the poor junkies have somewhere to hang around
Well me and Decko and his burd will be hanging out down dere all day after pickin up de welfare and shooting up. It’ll be a deadly place to hang out and cause trouble for de laffs!
Free heroin hq with clean needle exchange . Goof out area
Nothing against junkies or homeless people but that’s who is going to be using this space primarily.
have your say