A Ramble about Tallaght

The Memoirs of Andy ‘Sack’ Mulvaney Andy 'Sack' Mulvaney in 1999 (Photo: Mr. Louis Fagan) Andy Mulvaney was born in The Yard in old Balrothery, Tallaght in 1931.  He was known locally for almost 50 years as ‘Sack’ Mulvaney, not because he was one of Tallaght’s longest serving postmen, but because he was a fan of the Shamrock Rovers footballer Sackie Glenn. When not delivery post, Andy bottled beer in Molloy’s Public house and worked in a bookmakers.  When he was 48 years old he married Celine Cullen from Killinarden Hill in 1979. Born in the Yard When I was born in Balrothery there was very few houses there- four in The Yard, three or four down the lane to the Dodder and two or three up the road. That was it!  Mammy’s gang the Kinsellas lived in one house in the yard and my Daddy’s (Thomas Mulvaney) gang lived in another.  The Gallaghers lived between them.  Down Tymon lane lived Jack Lawlor before he got shot! ...

Ms Patty Lee, 1999  (Photo: Mr. Louis Fagan) Patty Lee was born in Glenasmole in March 1914.  Her mother was a Douglas from Oldbawn and her father was from Glenasmole.  She had three sisters and two brothers and although she never married, she raised seven children after two of her sisters both died young.  One of her brothers John Lee, was the poet of Bohernabreena.  Patty moved down to Firhouse at fifty years of age and took a job with Telectron in Tallaght, where she worked until she retired at 65.  Patty passed away in 2003, but is remembered fondly in Firhouse, Tallaght and Glenasmole. “I started school in Bohernabreena when I was six and a half, and left after my Confirmation when I was twelve.  There were sixteen pupils and two teachers, Miss Quinn and Mrs Carney.  They were sisters and lived in Rathfarnham, near where Sarah Curran*, Robert Emmet’s girlfriend was tortured (*perhaps, Anne Devlin, Emmet's housekeeper). ...

The Memoirs of Bill Finnegan Born in Firhouse in 1921, Bill Finnegan lived in Killakee and Colbert's Fort before settling in Maelruain's Park, Tallaght. The son of a farm labourer from Ballycullan cottages, his mother was a McNally from Old Court.  After spending ten years driving lorries for the local quarries,  Bill begun working for CIE in 1947.   Although the final tram left Tallaght in 1932, Bill at almost eighty years of age, could still remember the names of the drivers and conductors.  He played for Thomas Davis G.F.C for many years and was celebrated locally as one of the finest players to ever represent Tallaght. I was born in a little house down in The Alley, in Firhouse behind Morton's Pub.  When I was a child there was a number of little houses down The Alley, but they're all long gone now. They were built on a slope down beside the river, and if you walked straight in off the street, you would end up in the bedroom.  You had ...

Mr. Christy Keeley (Photograph- Louis Fagan) Christy Keeley was born in Swords, Co. Dublin on Holy Thursday 1930 and moved to Tallaght when he was just three months old. His father was a medical orderly in the Irish Army and was based in The Camp, on the New Lane, (Belgard Road) when he met his future wife from Jobstown.  Christy worked in Urney Chocolates from 1946 until it closed in 1980. He became the first caretaker in Old Bawn Community School. “When I was a young fella I knew everyone in Tallaght by name and they all knew you. The population of Tallaght was only three hundred and sixty and sure it's 86,000 now! Everyone had a nick-name at that time, everyone.  Mine was Corporal Christy, because my father was in the army. They used to say "Keeley has a feast-day named after him- Corporal Christy".  Everyone had a nick name. There was ‘The Bull Moran' and 'The Bull Carroll', 'Duck-Egg Finnegan'. 'Ducks Watkins', 'Hoppy O...

The Memoirs of Esther McCabe Esther McCabe (Photo: Mr. Louis Fagan) Esther McCabe was born in Inchicore in March 1921 and moved to Tallaght in 1945, having married a local man. She had nine children, eight sons and a daughter, and lived in a small cottage at 'The Four Roads' in Killinarden, before moving down to Tallaght village (Newtown). “I met Daniel McCabe from Tallaght in 1942 at a ceili in the Mansion house that had been organised by the Fenian Scouts. Now, because he was in the Fenian Scouts and his father was in the IRA, we were tailed everywhere we went for the first few years up until the time we got married. Firhouse was full of rebels and Tallaght was a hotbed for the IRA then. When my husband was only a baby in the cot, the soldiers came and raided his house six or seven times. They'd pull the mattress, baby and all from off the cot, searching for weapons and guns.   My father-in-law was on the run up in the mountains for over fif...