Dublin City Council launches new version of History On Your Doorstep

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Ray McAdam, today launched the eighth edition of History on Your Doorstep at a reception in City Hall.

The annual free publication features seven engaging chapters that explore Dublin’s history through fresh and personal perspectives.

Written by Dublin City Council’s Historians in Residence, along with guest author and food historian Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, the new volume spans topics from religion and politics to food, fashion, and family memory.

Highlights include:

• Moira Mahon, a centenarian whose life reflects both political engagement and personal wisdom. Born in 1924, she tells Historian Elizabeth Kehoe: “Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe.” Her story is one of quiet strength, fairness, and dignity — an extraordinary life told with grace.
• Yitzhak Herzog, Ireland’s first Chief Rabbi, who became Chief Rabbi of Palestine, and later of the new state of Israel (Cormac Moore).
• Manners, modernity and morality in 1920s Dublin, through readers’ letters to the Evening Herald (Katie Blackwood).
• Liam O’Flaherty, literary firebrand and activist, including his 1922 occupation of the Rotunda Concert Hall (Mary Muldowney).
• Coddle, Dublin’s most divisive dish, explored in a rich Irish-language chapter (Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire).
• Grangegorman’s complex past, now made accessible through a new children’s walking tour (Dervilia Roche).
• Flanagan’s Fields, and the legacy of 19th-century market gardener Michael Flanagan (Catherine Scuffil).

Speaking at the launch, the Lord Mayor said “Dubliners have a deep interest in the story of their city — in the people, places, and events that shaped it. This book brings those stories directly into the hands of our citizens. Our Historians in Residence make history local, accessible, and relevant, and the public response has been exceptional. Initiatives like this help ensure that Dublin’s rich and diverse history remains alive in our communities.”

Renowned poet and playwright Paula Meehan, guest speaker at the launch, remarked, “History on Your Doorstep is an exciting, visionary project of Dublin City Council which lets professional Historians loose in the microcosm of local communities and archives. Their scrutiny of the lived experience of our city and its citizens, past and present, is illuminating and informative. They bring a welcome complication to our evolving sense of the past.”

History on Your Doorstep, Volume 8 is available free of charge at all Dublin City Libraries branches and online from Borrowbox at https://dublin.borrowbox.com/product/LLC_7365077/title/history-on-your-doorstep-volume-8.