Oliver Callan

4 weeks ago | independent.ie | Oliver Callan

Oliver Callan: Balbriggan is booming – let’s just hope it doesn’t start getting notions like KinsaleThe north Co Dublin town is undergoing a quiet renaissance – other places should watch and learnFianna Fáil senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee at The Pocket Park on Bridge Street, Balbriggan. Photo: Mark CondrenHave you heard about how rough Balbriggan is? The story goes that during the boom it became a “dumping ground” for social housing and has dived and bombed ever since.

1 month ago | independent.ie | Oliver Callan

In our cultural history, the garden is something that went with the big house. It’s all ladies with parasols strolling gravelled paths between too-perfect rosy flower beds to tell their mothers that they’re marrying the gouty eejit from over the hill because he’s the next Earl of Bastardshire. Secretly, I think we associate gardening with a British, posh weakness. The feminine order of it might have even spooked a nascent nation.

1 month ago | independent.ie | Oliver Callan

The biggest threat to the place comes from those doing it down, suggesting it’s unsafeCarrickmacross is one of several country towns known to locals as Carrick – or CMX for funky shorthand. It has gone through various eras: Plantation, Troubles, crash and resurgence. If you believe the talk of the town in 2025, it has been “destroyed by foreigners” these days. Isolated incidents blamed on immigrants make hysterical claims of a local crimewave feel true, or even truth-adjacent.

2 months ago | rte.ie | Jane Casey |Pat Kenny |Oliver Callan

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Mar 12, 2025 | rte.ie | Oliver Callan

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