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Older than the Vikings but with one of the most youthful populations in Europe, Dublin is a city where the past and the present rub shoulders in striking proximity. A European business centre with enough time for long lunches and a serious dedication to the craic, Dublin will delight you with its roguish charm. The first-time visitor has an embarrassment of riches to discover, without even stepping into the tourist lures of Temple Bar, from bullet-riddled architecture in O’Connell Street to giant gas braziers towering above open-air concerts in Smithfield. There are artworks by Picasso and Caravaggio in the National Gallery, a ton of Celtic gold in the National Museum and mummified bodies in St Michan’s Church. You can take to the river in a converted army amphibious vehicle, hop aboard the ghostbus on one of the city’s sillier tours or catch the DART to Dun Laoghaire past wildlife habitats and seaside villages that have joined the commuter belt. The shops of Dublin are filled with beautiful Irish crafts and quality Irish-designed clothes or, if you prefer, funny green hats, Roy Keane T-shirts and tea towels with bad Irish jokes on them. Restaurants range from the too-familiar fast-food chains through gorgeously overdesigned café-bars to posh nouvelle Irish eateries with Michelin stars. And the pubs! From Edwardian splendour to unreconstructed 1960s chipboard, and joke ‘paddywhackery’ to postmodern glamour, this city has an astonishing glut of drinking dens to suit all comers. Dublin’s dedication to giving its visitors a good time creates an ever-changing city that alters so fast that even its most determined residents can hardly keep up. Nicknamed the ‘Celtic Tiger’, Ireland’s unprecedented economic growth right through the 1990s utterly transformed this former poor relation of Europe. Dublin has expanded and grown wealthy to such an extent that people who have lived in the city all their lives struggle to recognize it. For decades Dublin’s architecture reflected its economic and cultural decline; now the city’s new wealth and pride is imprinted on its streets. A whole area of run-down docklands has sprouted acres of green glass to become the International Financial Services Centre, while new bridges arch across the river helping to break down the old distinction between wealthy south Dublin and run-down north Dublin. Young, well-educated Dubliners who might once have dreamed of a green card to the States now have cash to burn and little time to burn it in. They rent riverside apartments built on the ruins of the city’s docklands, eat and drink at designer café-bars that come in and out of fashion quicker than a reality TV pop star, and buy second homes in Spain or the far west of Ireland. To meet the needs of this burgeoning new Dublin, thousands of foreign workers have arrived in the city, shockingly quickly for a largely monocultural community. Where other capitals have slowly absorbed waves of immigrants and benefited from their diversity, Dublin seems bewildered by the sudden influx of foreign arrivals, and not all native Dubliners are coping with their new neighbours. The situation is not helped by the unpalatable fact that the Irish economy has begun to slow down since the heady days of the 1990s, with daily news stories of job losses and cutbacks in government spending. For the ignorant minority this has become the rationale for a dislike of non-Irish cultures. The newspapers carry stories of attacks on foreigners and even long-term, non-native residents are experiencing antagonism. Dublin has found itself suddenly and violently jerked out of the life it knew for decades, and into a world of wealthy twenty-somethings, sad-eyed refugees and fun-hungry tourists; new buildings stand where ruins once quietly mouldered, and revelations about the priesthood, about brown envelope-wielding politicians and crooked property developers have shaken old beliefs and securities. For all the new developments, there have been few improvements in the city’s inadequate transport system, and while a projected new tramway may do much to alleviate the problem, for the moment the rush hour barely stops before it starts again, there are traffic jams in mid-morning along the quays and just getting across the city is an adventure for pedestrians. Meanwhile, the Georgian streets, medieval cathedrals and the even more ancient river quietly wonder at all the fuss, while out in the suburbs ordinary Dubliners sit in their bars and living rooms shaking their heads at every new building project, every tribunal investigating another political scandal, every luxury hotel replacing a bank or a horse fair or a school. Dublin carries its history, its culture and its feelings on its sleeve for all to admire. Come here for the music, the food, the craic, the history and above all for that mouthy, politically incorrect, jackeen humour that simmers just below the surface and can break out in the oddest places. For the real voice of Dublin, listen to the taxi man who brings you from the airport, the bus driver endlessly dealing with map-wielding tourists, the dinner-jacketed waiter in one of the city’s older restaurants, or the stall-holder selling fruit and veg in Moore Street market.
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