Dublin!

June 10, 2019

Only a 2 hour drive south of Downpatrick there is a country called the Republic of Ireland and a small town you may have heard of, it is called Dublin. This city that is the topic of some of my favorite irish songs lived up to every expectation I had.

Our first stop in “Dublin’s fair city” was the Leinster House which is the home to the government of the Republic of Ireland. The wonderful tour guide showed us into the public gallery of the assembly chamber where he explained the symbolism and history of the house. The chamber we were sitting in was originally part of a school which made me realize that no lecture halls in my university could ever compare. The whole structure of the irish legislature is called Oireachtas. Interestingly enough ‘Oireachtas’ is also what we called the regional championship in Irish Dance. After a bit of digging, the only connection I can make between the two is that ‘Oireachtas’ can be interpreted as meaning and assembly or gathering and in irish dance it is one of the largest gatherings for the year.

Another fascinating tidbit of information from the tour is that a grand hallway was built especially for President Kennedy to walk down during a visit because his bad back could prevent him from climbing the stairs. The punchline of that tidbit was that he ended up taking the stairs so now they are left with a beautiful hallway-turned-gallery.

Following our trip to Oireachtas we strolled up and down Grafton st.. Dublin is such a vibrant city and it is on the top of my “cities to return to” list.

Eventually we ended up at Iveagh (pronounced Ivy) House which is home to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Ireland. To say that I was excited would be a massive understatement. This is equivalent to our Department of State and we were blessed to not only receive an extensive tour of the building but to also sit down and chat with policy workers and analysts for the department. Six department workers sat with us and explained the different aspects of Irish foregin affairs they focus on, from Irish-American relations to reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland. For them these large scale issues are broken down into the day to day decisions and statements that the department makes. Everything is carefully calculated and all possible outcomes of trade deals or no deals are determined before action is taken.

Our final stop in Dublin was quite a special treat. Our Canadian ambassador’s aunt and uncle who are based in Dublin invited us over for a 5-star, home cooked meal. I am immensely grateful to them for opening their home for our large group and for sharing stories of growing up in Ireland.