Housing in Dublin, 1964

Here is a look at the critical state of public housing in Dublin in 1964. Reporter John O'Donoghue talks to people who are being moved from their city-centre homes to new houses in the suburbs. As a result of the housing shortage, some families are being accommodated in Griffith Barracks. One man interviewed has moved out of the army barracks and is living in a tent in protest at housing conditions. Families who have moved from the city-centre to new homes in Finglas talk about the changes in their lives.
ALL RIGHTS IN THIS VIDEO GO TO RTE

[@neoncole8538]

It's good to tell the truth about diverse poverty, in all aspects of life. Thank you for the truth

[@kalista95]

Well I know what happend to Mrs Murphy. She was my grandmother, God Bless Her. I have fond memories of playing in the back yard at 48 York Street. The Jacobs factory was just across the way and St Stephen's Green was at the end of the street. Those beautiful Georgian town houses were pulled down and a drab 1970's non-descript housing project was erected. That was called progress, I guess. At least they went to Drimnagh . God help those folks that moved to Tallagh. Cold, damp and dreary.

[@bighands69]

Ireland was an extremely poor country and could not afford to keep those houses.

[@melindalemmon2149]

Those fine houses should have been renovated and the families put up temporary somewhere.

[@melindalemmon2149]

Your grand was a beautiful lady. She was so serious and so stressed. Who wouldn't be. So glad you all moved out.

[@user-cy4vw1qj9m]

As I said grew up in a country town in the 60s my parent rip weren't reared in conditions like that

[@adamc4972]

Looking at the people in the video and how decently dressed they were at the time, one wonders how Dublin ended up with the track suit culture of today. Look at these poor men in proper shirts and slacks with ties on. Incredible

[@jtothew4201]

Got to say compared to the people you might interview on a council estate today these people are extremely eloquent and really seems more intelligent than the poorer in society now. I don't understand how.

[@kayharris4894]

JtotheW proud people with self respect.

[@bighands69]

You want to know why that happened. Ireland when it was founded was done so as a controlled market economy meaning the government managed everything it could possibly imagine. This added to the fact Ireland also was a wealth fare state which mean it got poorer and poorer as time went by and the little ability it had to borrow on the international markets it used to build large scale vanity projects such as power stations that their was no industrial use for. I could go on and on with explanations why the poor just got worse and worse.

[@bighands69]

You want to know why that happened. Ireland when it was founded was done so as a controlled market economy meaning the government managed everything it could possibly imagine. This added to the fact Ireland also was a wealth fare state which mean it got poorer and poorer as time went by and the little ability it had to borrow on the international markets it used to build large scale vanity projects such as power stations that their was no industrial use for. I could go on and on with explanations why the poor just got worse and worse.

[@Dabhach1]

There's no secret. Look at old newsreel footage going back to the beginning of cinematography. Until quite recently, any street scene you see, there are always masses of people out on the street talking to each other. You never see that anymore, we're all so atomized. It's perfectly possible today to live in complete isolation. You can work from home, have your food delivered, entertain yourself with Netflix or computer games. You don't need to leave your house for anything. Talking to others, interacting with them, dealing with neighbours, they're all acquired skills. You have to learn them and practice them. In the past, people NEEDED each other. They HAD to deal with one another. It's not that people back then were more intelligent, it's just that, by necessity, they knew how to speak to each other.

[@adamc4972]

This was pre entitlement culture era. Look at the people being happy for having moved into a home with no electricity and gas?, today, the DCC would be murdered for not planting a particular type of flower in the back garden.

[@Tricia46431]

Loved this, my parents moved back here from the U.K around 1966 and were given a similar house in Coolock and we all loved it!!!:) Thanks for the memories.

[@geraldneary1948]

Thanks Trisha for the truth.

[@simonyip5978]

Dunn's Row look like what I imagine Irish villages looked like, I didn't expect to see them in Dublin in the 1960's. They look almost like shanty built houses with homemade doors and windows etc. Good video. I remember the literally hundreds of rows of back to back streets called slums in Leeds as a kid but those houses look like something from the 1700's.

[@thedarkhugheshughes2640]

Tough times and even tougher people

[@simonyip5978]

The Georgian houses would probably be some of the most desirable houses in Dublin today. But the row of one storey, two roomed (?) ramshackle cottages look so out of place in the middle of a western European capital city, they literally look like Victorian slums or modern shanty town dwellings in place last India or Haiti.

[@henrysmommy7]

That baby climbed out of that pram like a champ.

[@patdoyle3686]

Great video interview reporter was John o Donoghue for rte

[@christysirishallotment1269]

Nice to see york street back in the day.. I grew up here and I was the last generation to move out. Its crazy there saying it was condemned in the 60s. My family wasn't moved out until the 90s. And it was bad. Drug abuse was rampant and the general condition of the building was terrible, rats the size of house cats...

[@brigidward5397]

L

[@elizabethbyrne8734]

Isn't it very telling to hear these poor women addressing the TV reporter as 'Sir': the ordinary working class people were always led to believe the more educated people were their 'betters', i.e., Catholic clergy, RTE, educators, medical professionals etc...

[@elizabethbyrne8734]

Your own comment is very telling! And Yes, I deem everyone to be equal. I would never call anybody a scrounger: a person drawing benefit is not automatically a scrounger, as you put it: they may have lost their job through no fault of their own. And by the way, a person who is fortunate enough to be from a privileged background, with the wherewithal to finance years of study is in no way superior to anyone else!

[@davidcoocoo287]

+ELIZABETH BYRNE here here.well said my dear

[@elizabethbyrne8734]

David Cooney My dear????

[@davidcoocoo287]

+ELIZABETH BYRNE just a turn of phrase, no harm intended

[@elizabethbyrne8734]

Thanks. Glad you liked my original comment...

[@feow33]

Landlords always blaming the tennants..... nothing to do with them wanting their rents but doing sweet fa regarding repairs that would have cost them.

[@eamonmartin852]

I always thought the expression "like you know" was modern but I was wrong .

[@VickersV]

Nothing has changed

[@pauldunneska]

Reporter John O'Donoghue pronounces it like McKinley road when in fact it's Mckelvey road in Finglas.

[@dorriegurr2064]

im the little sister off Martha long and she has all you fooled her owl one was the robber marther long is the robber that posh voice is fooling you all that Martha long is a robber you are noing notting im the baby of that Martha shes not what shes asyeing so follow this word you muat be thick yo believe that rubbish

[@TheIrishBosnian]

We still have the housing issue.

[@sitluxetluxfuit4481]

What are you talking about we ? You are not from Ireland.

[@bubbasmoleyay9799]

It's 2019 and their kids and grandkids are now living in hotels waiting for housing but according to Niall Boylan on 4fm they are lazy chancers who should take houses in different counties away from their families

[@bid84]

Waiting for housing says it all, save up like the rest of us for a house. I don’t live where I’d like too but I have a roof over my head.

[@rachelmoran2205]

@@bid84 Save up a deposit for a house when the cost of housing has escalated crazily far beyond most peoples income capacity while the government ignores the crisis they're created and ploughs on jam packing every unit of the nations housing with grifters from across the round green earth? Have you looked out your own front door in the last thirty years??!

[@kitabwalli]

James Connelly was right.

[@daithi007]

14:46 What a nice kid! If a kid like him walked through Summerhill Parade today, he'd be mugged! He also sounds decent, how has that area gotten worse and the kids so feral?

[@Paul5520]

Dave pretty ignorant comment from you. Nope I doubt he’d be mugged and furthermore ‘sounding decent’ is an arbitrary subjective concept🤮

[@daithi007]

@@Paul5520 I know Scummerhill Parade like the back of my hand, and I'm aware of the level of criminality, unlike your goodself. Everyone in Fitzgibbon station was run off their feet.

[@jacobtaylor4258]

jesus christ, 11 kids, it's not a house you need, it's a mansion.

[@happydaze7976]

Jacob Taylor the church did not allow contraception and the government agreed. Thus lots of families where large.

[@bighands69]

That poor women that was not getting a house but was still ordered out because there was only her and her husband.

[@paulcunningham9081]

It is terrible to see the squalor and poverty in this video and this was not so long ago. People are all so much better off now. I know there is still homelessness and poverty still which shouldn't be happening at all now but things are still much better now. Dublin was a very depressing place in the 60's and many people still lived in places that today you wouldn't keep pigs in.

[@23Dawnay]

@@paulcunningham9081 really? I lived without heat for six years and NO ONE wanted to know. Only partially got sorted as when boiler went in all the rads downstairs don't work. The gas fitter felt so bad about my situation he worked for free. I then got a part time job and because its not enough to live on still got part of my social welfare. Until two weeks ago they told me cos I work four hours a day for four days a week they are classing it as full time. Can't get Family Income Supplement as I work in a school, closed during summer. I'm now working and living on fuck all and stressed out more than ever.

[@gerardjames9971]

@@23Dawnay I feel I have to reply just to let you know that I hope everything will get better for you soon. Contact your local TD and city councillors - they have to make representation on your behalf and you have a genuine case. Best of luck

[@stephencorbally3944]

it was a diffent time in 69 for the buildings in the nth inner city them times. especialy for the porverty times in dublin. I was born in sheriff st. in my mam's ; mam. my nana's flat . and da. oh and my granddad joe. in sheriff st. then we ended up @ A pls called. Gloster Diamond. now Gloster pls. but i remenber my das mam. my other nana. miss mary corbally. oh yes. she wrote a small book on the Area, and about the hardship people went through in the rat infested hell wholes of the building. anyway. i also in 1979. age 9 @ the time. got to see. pope john paul. he maid the sign of the cross the me. my da larro corbally and my uncle wag dixson. and me cusin. wags son paul age 5. sitting on the roof of gloster diamond house. lol. it was the only way we got a great look @ the pontiff. it was Magical. he really bless us. and at the time the building widows were blocked up for demolition work. & on every widow. i never forget wot the folk wrote. in big. wellcome pope john paul 2nd. i remember. at 9. now im 44. but they where all good people at them times. not alot of that good will anymore. but sometime great days i remember . most good. any1 remember. blonie & carmal. those where the days. stephen corbally. 0851066193. Thank for reading on.

[@gloriahanes6490]

A saying in America, "the squeaky wheel gets the most grease" making others aware of the situation by protesting is in itself an act of bravery and extreme courage on the part of the people. Housing is still a problem with so many homeless people all over the world without a roof over their head or food in their belly. Many homes are still boarded up and inhabitable all across America since the Great Recession of 2007-2014. The conditions have improved very little and part-time positions are plentiful with no health insurance benefits. The middle class is gone and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

[@1042firegirl]

Gloria Hanes the Irish State was only 15 years old at this time. America's issues are non comparable given they've had almost 300 years to try and sort them out...and it still hasn't.

[@gloriahanes6490]

@@1042firegirl ...You have a point.

[@user-cy4vw1qj9m]

This is bad

[@jamesgray516]

Has anyone got any photos of Taaffes Place, up to Cremin's Chemist on Ballybough Road? There was a wall with a hole in it, where a toss school was held on Sundays...

[@BlanceDevereaux]

Hard to see so clearly but they all seem very well dressed.

[@liamkeyes2260]

+BlancheDevereaux HI BLanche, My mother was a DEvereaux from Enniscorthy.

[@BlanceDevereaux]

Interesting! Been to Enniscorthy many times. Wexford is a pretty county with lots of sunshine - rare in Ireland! My name is an homage to a particular Golden Girl!

[@neoncole8538]

People need to know their true history, of their past, and leave denial behind, no man is superior then another unless he's beguiling

[@ikm64]

Yes, the ideals of the republic were on full display in these family homes...Yes, they may have changed the flags in Dublin castle but they never bothered to change the sheets...the poor were left poor....just the landlords changed.

[@curlyyasmin181]

Their coats are nicer than I can afford and I’m an engineer in 2019

[@kalista95]

I want to say 1983, seems about right. 74 Galtimore Drive was a terrible place. No bathroom and the toilet outside. No heating apart from a fireplace. And a long way from the shops. And that was a good place to go.

[@donnascollard394]

Oh my god to think the way some people had to live and I bet the government were still lining their pockets in those days some things never change

[@geraldneary1948]

You're boring troll.

[@elizabethkelly1646]

poor old mrs mulligan wonder were she went

[@pauldunneska]

Elizabeth Kelly six foot under Irish soil.

[@taraalan1131]

Why the Public School accent for this programme? It doesn’t seem suitable.

[@elizabethconnolly8958]

i was born in that crap the people where great the places was condemned long before that since before the war its was slums notjing changed

[@seancassidy4812]

the presenters voice reminds me of that mad mike hoare out of the congo.

[@mariekatherine5238]

11 children in one bedroom?

[@patdonnelly9392]

can you imagine the bathroom situation?

[@mariekatherine5238]

@@patdonnelly9392 The “bathroom” was a single flush toilet in an outdoor shed attached to the back of the building. Washing was done either by carrying water inside from an outdoor spigot or some buildings had indoor spigots in a tin tub in the hall of each or every other floor. Either way, the water had to be heated on the coal grate fire or used as is. Many neighborhoods had public bathhouses before the war, that were never reopened or rebuilt, replaced by buildings with other uses. Sanitary conditions after WWII were actually worse than those of the mid to late 1800s up through WWI. Nonetheless, at least two to three generations survived and even thrived despite these deplorable slums.

[@diane9247]

A rough neighborhood. I wonder If they all found places to live.

[@chrisclark1761]

3:15

[@soulvaccination8679]

And blacks complain in America

[@kimboclarke8905]

Hello nan love kim❤️

[@fergal746]

Familiar shit

[@CradaOC]

55 years later and fuck all has changed in fact its worse now continuous failure of FF/FG govts

[@ingenuity168]

The devastating effect if a religion that forbids contraception.

[@sandybeach1758]

That's not fair, some people getting free council housing, when others have to pay for it.

[@MancstaSam]

ummm i think you will find that they ALL paid rent to live there so effectively they weren't just "GIVEN" the houses..an all too common misconception from the chattering middle classes!

[@bighands69]

They paid rent but were still given a house to live in and others were not and just had to live on what they earned. That is the way welfare states work.

[@daithi007]

@@bighands69 Exactly! And the rent they paid was a pittance. Then, instead of these people getting off their back side, they were then allowed to buy the tax payers property at incredibly favourable prices. The beginning of a welfare state. The beginning of shitholes like Crumlin and Finglas

[@Paul5520]

Sandy Beach it’s called affordable housing. It has many benefits to society. Don’t be so bitter my dear

[@daithi007]

@@Paul5520 i agree with you, social housing does have many benefits, but the benefits are biased in the favour of those who contribute the least tax. Social housing should be gifted for a maximum of five years, after that it should be given to the next needy family.

[@dorriegurr2064]

Martha long why do you visit your moter are ya still going back to ballymun if ya hate her so much why are you going back

[@honeyfungus4774]

All that white privilege.