The Dragon Inn since 1740

The Dragon Inn, Tallaght, since 1740
(In the time it takes for a pint to settle!)

According to the memoirs of a gardener who worked in the Archbishop’s Palace, “The Life of Nicholas Mooney, alias, Jackson”, set down in 1752, there has been a “Publick-Houfe” on the grounds of the “Archbishops Palace”, now the Dominican Priory in Tallaght Village, since at least the 1740s. In his “Neighbourhood of Dublin”, Weston St. John Joyce included a photograph of the hostelry on the current site of the Dragon Inn.  In 1900 a much older structure appears to have stood there, with a stout chimney on the Dublin end behind an outhouse, sheltering the door with a canopy supported by three thin columns.

  

“The Life of Nicholas Mooney, alias, Jackson”                     April, 23rd, 1752

 

O’Neill’s - The Convent   1859- 1959

The pub now known as The Dragon Inn was said, on the retirement of the last remaining O’Neill to have managed it in 1959, to have been in the hands of the O’Neill family since 1859. A licence had been granted to Martha Murphy in 1885.  It appears to have been bought by Mr. O’Neill as recently as 1893, although he may have bought out a related family interest in the concern at that time. While it had a seven day licence and was a bona fide house, the premises didn’t open on Sundays while in the O’Neill family. It would change hands several times, before being called The Dragon Inn in the 1960s.

Purchase of Licensed Concern in Tallaght, by Mr. O’Neill, 1893

O’Neill’s was known colloquially as “The Convent”, as indeed was the Dominican Priory itself from the 1870s right up to the 1960s.  The name of the tavern was no doubt still considered apt, when two of the O’Neill daughters became nuns and two other daughters remained unmarried.  Each in their turn the remaining sisters, Mary-Martha and Gertie O’Neill ran the establishment after their father and mother had died. Mary O’Neill, who had been widowed young, died in October 1928, at almost 80 years of age and the licence transferred to her daughter, Mary-Martha who ran the bar until her own passing in 1948.  When she died, her sister Gertrude (Gertie) took over the licence and continued to work there until she retired in 1959, ending the O’Neill’s long association with the licensed trade in Tallaght. Gertie retired to Kenilworth Park, where she passed away in 1969.  William O'Neill, a brother, had died in 1930 leaving a widow and child.  He had been a respected official of the South Dublin Union.

One September afternoon in 1912, Mary O'Neill was tending the front of her bar and grocery when a regular beggar presented looking for food.  Mrs O'Neill declined on this day to give her anything and moved to the kitchen at the back of the shop. On her return to the front she found both the beggar and 3lbs of fresh bacon had disappeared.  The beggar, Elizabeth Rogers was found later in the day by Sergeant Driscoll a mile and a half from Tallaght, carrying a basket.  On examination, the basket was found, not unexpectedly it should be said, to contain 3lbs of fresh bacon. She claimed she had bought it in Dublin City. On questioning, she said she had consumed alcohol and had no memory whatsoever of having visited O'Neill's at all that day. The accused had, since 1900 accumulated 67 previous convictions for drunkenness, glass-breaking and assaults on the police. 

When she was brought before the local magistrate she was sentenced to "three months imprisonment with hard labour".  These were tough times!

"Well, I wont take three months off you!" Said Rogers, "I'll go to another Court".   "Three Months?  You wouldn't get three months for sheep stealing"! She said.

The Convent had, on occasion over the years, seen some excitement.  In June 1913, the pub was burgled, as part of a spree of raids on licensed premises in the district.  The burglars gained entry through a down stairs window, but fled with a bottle of whisky, when disturbed by Mrs O’Neill and her daughter.  The Walker’s “Yellow House” in Rathfarnham and McGarry's in Firhouse were raided  in the same week.

On the 4th October 1922 the tavern was held-up by a number of armed men, on the same day as a number of other premises were raided in the city.  They were met by the formidable 72 year old Mary O’Neill and her daughter Gertie.  Whatever took place, the raiders fled with little more than loose change. The country was in the midst of the bitter civil war.  The O’Neill’s were cousins of the prominent Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein T.D, Austin Stack, and would be among the chief mourners at his funeral when he died in 1929.  (Mrs O’Neill’s husband was a brother of Stack’s mother). There appeared to be no connection between the raid and O’Neill’s family relations. When the case was brought to trial the O’Neill’s, perhaps shrewdly, could not identify any of the raiders.

When Gertie O’Neill retired, the establishment was put up for auction on the 7th May 1959.  The premises had been substantially upgraded in recent years and included a gents toilet, of all things.  What more could you ask for?

Leavy’s (May 1959- June 1962)

Sarah Leavy of Clonmellon, Co. Westmeath was a publican at Killallon House, Stirrupstown, Co. Meath, when she applied to transfer her publicans licence to her son James. She bought the pub formerly known as O’Neill’s, Tallaght Village, at auction on the 7th May 1959 for £5,175 and the following August applied for a transfer of the licence, formally held by Gertie O’Neill, to herself.  She would be granted the transfer but the Leavy’s tenure in Tallaght would be brief.  In February 1962 Sarah Leavy was fined £2 for selling a parcel of stout after hours, as takeaway for a local party running short, to Brendan McCarville of Old Bawn Road and George O’Keeffe of  Maelruan’s Road.  When McCarville was questioned by Garda Logan, he claimed to be in possession of “Lemonade”, but quickly admitted it was stout.  O’Keeffe claimed he was only a ‘look-out’!  McCarville and O’ Keeffe were each fined £1.  While the fine for Leavy was a modest sum, the charge itself might be indicative of already strained relations with the local Gardai. For the hundred years previous, there is little record of the O'Neill's ever having been charged with such an offence. Another reason perhaps why it had been called The Convent!  "Leavy’s of Tallaght" was promptly put up for sale and Sarah Leavy returned to her premises in The Square, Clonmellon, Delvin, Co. Westmeath in June 1962.

Gillen’s - The Dragon Inn – June 1962- 1969

On the 21st of June 1962 Leavy’s was auctioned. Edward Gillen wasn’t in the best of health when he bought the pub and renamed it The Dragon Inn.  Edward and Madge Gillen had four sons- Harry, Denis, Frank and Patrick.  Harry had become a doctor before moving to Devon in England, while Denis was a chemist.  Frank lived in Dalkey while Patrick worked in the Carrick House in Moville, Donegal. Edward Gillen had plied his trade in the Carrick House in Moville, Donegal until his mother, Marian died in 1951.  His son Patrick continued to work there. After a long illness Edward Gillen passed away on the 20th of July 1965, only three years behind the bar in “The Dragon Inn”.  His cousin Fr John Gillen, presided over his funeral held in the Dominican Priory in the village, before his remains were laid to rest in Tallaght burial ground. The following month the licence was transferred to his wife Margaret (Madge) Gillen.

Having failed to sell at auction in 1967, The Dragon Inn was put up for sale again in October 1969. It included a public bar, lounge, ladies and gentleman’s toilets (now an endangered species!), a large yard, stores etc. Accommodation included three bedrooms, a bathroom, w.c., drawing room, breakfast room and kitchenette, and  "with ample room for extension".  The site was subject to a leasehold of £40 p.a.   At auction on the 12th November 1969 the Dragon Inn was sold for £36,000.  It had changed hands for £5,175 only 10 years earlier.

Murphy's-  The Dragon Inn

On the 15th October 1970 James Murphy applied for a confirmation of transfer of an ordinary 7 day licence to The Dragon Inn.  Six weeks later, on the 2nd December 1970 An Taoiseach, Jack Lynch (FF) visited The Dragon (attracting national media attention) before being greeted by hundreds of cheering children on entering St. Maelruan’s Park. A building worker Dan Murphy, from Adare Co. Limerick, who just happened to have “popped in for a pint after work” found himself drinking with An Taoiseach.  “Meeting the Taoiseach was a great privilege for me” he said, “but it will make no difference to the way I vote. I have always voted for Fianna Fail and I always will.” 

Indeed!  Lynch was canvassing the constituency on behalf of Jim Murphy and was accompanied by P. J Burke, T.D.

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Now that that has settled...this one, is to you Christy K!

Albert Perris 

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