When I was growing up there were 300 acres of derelict buildings between the two canals which ring the Liffey and define the limits of the city. Ten years of economic growth has performed cosmetic surgery on the place. But I'm not going to follow that thought here, besides, I'll be exploring it in excruciating detail in the following months.

So for now I'll report some pleasant surprises. The first is that rental prices are falling, something which I believed impossiible. After years of construction the city is now awash with apartments and the suburban sprawl goes on forever. This year 50,000 new housing units have been built, equivalent to 25% of the number sin the UK in a country with a fifteenth of the population. The rsult is that supply has now outstripped demand, leaving tenants in the happy position of being able to force landlords to reduce their rents mid-tenancy. Housing is now cheaper here than in Rome and wages and labour mobility are significantly higher. On the other hand the city is now planning on selling off up to a third of its public housing :-(( and is investing fuck all in the construction of new homes, so it's not all roses.

My other happy discovery is that finally there is the emergence of a new critical libertarian culture. This expresses itself not only in the numbers on demonstrations and health of indymedia ireland, but also in the birth of new bookshops and discussion spaces. The city centre now has two offside bibliophile havens. Red Ink shares a small store on the first floor of a building on Fownes St., above the second clothes shop Flip. They have a nice little selection of books and a fantastic array of zines, many of which are almost art objects. The people who work there (volunteers) were extremely friendly and it was really encouraging talking and sharing experinces with them. A related project is that of the Bad Books lending library located on the North Strand, where the have a "Forgotten Zine" library and about 500 volumes.

Nearby Red Ink there is Anthology Books, run by leftie feminists. The space itself is ultra-modern but vey comfortable, with an upstairs level with couches etc. where they also hold readings and discussions. The inventory is pretty strong on critical theory, globalization, gender, sexuality and literature (including sf and noir).

Both of these are commercial premises, but are no less welcome for that. Shortly before Xmas there was a second benefit organised for the drive to set up a Social Centre in Dublin. From what I'm told there is a substantial crowd around this project now and they have soem cash in the bank, so here's hoping...

Now that I've decided to spend more time back in Ireland, I'd hope to be able to give some support to these spaces. Books and resources for the much-mourned (and amply celebrated) Garden of Delight will probably end up in their hands. Otherwise I'm curious just to exchange stories and perspectives with them, understand their subjectivity and encourage generational continuity. During the period of GOD I had the enormous privelige to get to know older people who were part of the radical tradition here as far back as the early sixties. At the same time it's important that younger groups determine their own course, without being bossed or dominated by those hwo've been around the block. As Mike Davis once said to me, "freedom is the right to make your own mistakes."

Then I heard that a group of ex-Stickies (Workers Part members) who are organised mostly in North Dublin have declared themselves libertarian communists, it occurred to me that miracles do happen!

Amen to that.