Not all our national treasures are in NAMA just yet

Date Published: {J}

If Ajai Chopra and his pals from the IMF had taken a wander down Shop Street or Quay Street over the Christmas, they’d have witnessed the horrific sight of the poor people of Ireland almost broken under the weight of shopping bags, desperately seeking just one drink to quench their parching thirst.

They’d have seen bags of rubbish piled high on the footpaths outside ordinary homes, overflowing with the remnants of torn X-Box wrapping and animal carcases – or turkey bones to you and me.

It may only have been an oasis in the economic wilderness, but for a week or two there, the good times almost rolled like the old days; pubs were bursting at the seams and shoppers were tearing each other’s eyes out for a cheap jumper.

Of course, nobody would seek to make light of the suffering of many more families who didn’t enjoy much of a festive season, not to mention those who have little to look forward to financially in 2012. But we often make the mistake of valuing wealth in terms of money alone – when they reality is that Ireland has more to be grateful for than just that.

There was a wonderful documentary on over the New Year entitled Other Voices NYC, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of the fantastic little festival with its roots in Dingle but which was transported to New York’s Le Poisson Rouge for two nights in October.

For those unfamiliar with Other Voices – and there cannot be many – this grew from a conversation between the Frames’ Glen Hansard and musician/broadcaster/film-maker and Keeper of the Flame Philip King to stage a small event for musicians to enjoy as much as fans….and put it on in a church in west Kerry.

What grew from that was an extraordinary musical phenomenon where the best of emerging talent mixed with household names on a stripped-back, no frills stage; this was just about the music.

So ten years on, the concept took a trip to New York and the point about all of this was that a country which produces writers like Colum McCann, Joseph O’Connor or Roddy Doyle, poets like Paul Muldoon, singers like Damien Rice or actors like Gabriel Byrne can never be considered bankrupt.

The musical contrast went from Bell X1 and Jape to Martin Hayes and Iarla Ó Lionaird – and the resultant documentary simply made you proud to be Irish.

Of course this was just a snapshot of Irish talent – raising funds as they were for Roddy Doyle’s Fighting Words Creative Writing Centre for young people in Dublin – but it showed the world that we are still something a whole lot more than an economic basket case.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.