On Sunday nights, ‘The George’ on Dublin’s George’s Street hosts a drag queen evening. Shirley Temple Bar, of telebingo fame, MCs the spectacle. The bingo is followed by a drag-fest, where wannabe drag queens get put through their paces. This might not be everyone’s idea of a night on the tiles, but research from the US indicates that shows like these are crucial to the economic fortunes of the nation.
In the US, those cities with flourishing gay scenes are also the ones with the highest income per head, the most highly paid employees, the most creative industries and the best environmental record. They are also the type of place which polls reveal are heavily weighted behind Obama. The reason is very simple. The types of cities that tolerate a gay scene are also likely to tolerate other sorts of outsiders, non-conformists and free-thinkers. In his book on “creative cities”, Richard Florida suggests that these are the type of urban, literate workers who give a city a dynamic edge. In a globalised world, where cities are driven by services and the entertainment industry, the lifestyle a city can provide becomes part of the economic, as well as cultural, armoury. In short, drag queens are now firmly part of Ireland’s comparative advantage.
For cities to attract creative people, they need to have a cultural and environmental, as well as economic, vision. This means all the agencies that run the city subscribe to an idea of what the city should look like, not next year, but in fifty years’ time. Great cities need to be looked after — they need care and love if they are to prosper.
A successful city is like a well-tended garden. The gardener spends time and energy thinking about what to plant, what will flourish, what will allow others enough light to blossom and how the entire ecosystem works. It doesn’t happen overnight, but via a process of trial and error that takes years to perfect. The gardener will be cautious about introducing new strains that may overshadow existing flowers. He is always weighing up, assessing and imagining what fits where.
If there is no overall plan for the city, it, like an untended garden, will grow wildly, before giving way to weeds that will ultimately strangle it.
The economic energy of Dublin is amazing because for years in Ireland, political and economic debate has focussed on relocating industry and financial opportunities from Dublin to the regions. The rationale being that people and money accumulate in the city at the expense of rural Ireland and so, it is incumbent on the elected representatives from “the country” to make sure some of the goodies are divvied up more equally. Dublin has been portrayed, unfairly, as a long shadow which blights and darkens the countryside. In fact, the opposite is the case. Dublin, and big cities in all countries, are the dynamos of the national economy. Without the heat generated from cities, there would be no such thing as a national economy.
Why do cities, rather than the countryside, generate wealth? Why do cities generate inventions and why is economic history not the history of countries, but the history of cities?
Given the “pathological regionalism” which dictates Irish economic debate, these questions are worth considering. If you look around the world, you see that cities generate innovations. Most inventions, even those which ultimately increased the yields in agriculture, were made in cities. Since the Middle Ages, cities fostered an economic dynamic usually based on trying to make stuff in the city which previously had to be imported. Back then, for a city to grow economically strong, it had to achieve two things.
first, the city had to produce nails, hammers and tools of all sorts, so that it could wean itself off imports and, thus, dependency. Second, it had to excel at something so that it could export and generate currency to sustain itself.
By being an economic dynamo, traditional industrial cities created a demand for food that, in turn, sustained the countryside around it. So this history of modern Europe and the US from the Hanseatic League and the first Puritan settlers, right up to the end of the Cold War, is the history of cities. Countries such as Switzerland and the regions of Northern Italy and Southern Germany achieved this diverse patchwork of trading cities and towns each with their own specialities and skills. Even today, these places are at the forefront of highly profitable business, usually still in the hands of family firms. Similarly, Japan, in the second half of the 20th century, operated the same type of economic model, based largely, again, on family firms.
Ireland never developed like this and, instead, we have sought to attract foreign capital by making it cheap, by giving it a tax break. This has worked spectacularly well and, at the moment, Ireland is a significant cog in the global economy’s supply chain.
But herein lies our vulnerability. We are part of a global supply chain and, as such, are a supply region. As long as we can supply part of the manufacturing process at a competitive cost, we are fine, but what happens when, not if, that changes?
Here is where the drag queens come in. In the coming years, it is not our ability to import capital that will dictate the success of Ireland, but our ability to retain and attract creative people. Brain power will be at a premium and the city that can produce the lifestyle to attract the best brains will win. And, if Dublin wins, Ireland wins too.
That lifestyle involves blending architecture, infrastructure and culture together. The battle is not between Dublin and Cork or Limerick but between Dublin and Amsterdam, Antwerp, San Francisco, Boston, Berlin and Paris.
The Dublin experience has to be something memorable. We have to create a city that talented people will want to move to and that talented locals will want to remain in. Part of this package will be an increased tolerance on the one hand, while preserving that which makes Dublin unique on the other.
Without care and affection this won’t happen. Is it time for a directly elected mayor with full executive powers? Certainly.
The buck has to stop somewhere, and a powerful Mayor of Dublin might just be the solution.
Yes, it can only have been a pre April Fools day essay!
David, Dublin doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to a suitable location for top designers – look at LG Electronics – the Korean Electronics giant. They set up their European Design Centre here in the early nineties – it closed down some years ago and moved to Milan, but is now moving to London. It’ll take more than Shirley Temple Bar to create the necessary environment for high end design.
http://www.dexigner.com/product/news-g12209.html
I agree with a lot of what you say David and I just thought I’d add my own perspective on it. First, I am from Dublin but don’t live there anymore. Mainly because I don’t want too (there only so much culture can do when you are stuck on the M50 for an hour or so) and because its so bloody expensive. The garden has truely been let grow out of control and not just recently. Seond, I have noticed an “attitude” to Dublin among non Dubs, from both city and country alike. Apart from the “all Dubs have their… Read more »
“Fact of the matter is Dublin is financially subsidizing most of the rest of the country. Get over it. You may crib and moan about your crappy infrastructure but given its population Dublin is worse served that almost anywhere else in the country” This is nonsense. In general people in Cities earn more than outside cities, and so pay more tax. Tax for re-distributary purposes is obviously, therefore, going to flow out, not in. Secondly tax for common nationwide services like health, will be – of a matter of course – distributed from large centres of population to smaller. To… Read more »
So what are you suggesting David, we need more gay pubs? We need places for straight guys to go too like a Stringfellows but that was forbidden. I think you are clinching at straws to be honest.
During the 80s and for much of the 90s, Galway had what you are describing, an edge. A hum which could be heard as far away as Australia. But the city politico’s strangled the thing with a level of wishful thinking and a hankering for the old days which was criminal. The filling of the hotel on Eyre Sq was vastly more important than filling the rest of the town with trade. Where the remembrance of the likes of Bing and the largess scattered or the glory days when the Kylemore was filled with a family was the goal. In… Read more »
David, There is a lot of truth to what you are saying here. Where you find a thriving gay scene you also normally find a whole host of creative industry. However, I just don’t agree that Dublin is that kind of city. I lived there for a few years and I visit the city nearly every year and it just does not have the buzz of a Berlin or a Barcelona (or even a Duesseldorf). Dublin is great if you like drinking and particularly if you are single. It also does have a lively cultural scene but no more than… Read more »
I would think the West of Ire hasn’t got a fair deal. In fact given the Celtic Tiger has now been shot the West will remain largely underfunded. Take the railway that has been closed since the 50’s running down from Sligo to Limerick. That would have soaked up a lot of public funds to get it up and running. Yet the taxpayer funded the construction costs of the the Luas which were huge. I think there is a severe imbalance here and also short-sighted. Anyone with half a dram of sense can see that the Eastern seaboard is now… Read more »
Have a look at http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1151 for an interesting knocking on the head of a few of Florida’s ideas. An alternative approach to stimulating creativity has been to relocate cutting-edge centres from cities to more rural locations (Silicon Valley/Glen, Cambridge, etc.). Why not set up something similar in a nice town like Drogheda or Sligo? And there’s nothing like a bit of adversity for stimulating the creative. Not that that’s on the cards. Last but not least, creativity should be taught in all schools. E. Paul Torrance has written much on this, especially in relation to testing; then there’s the examples… Read more »
Thankfully rural Ireland is a much bigger (and better) place than The West.
Schools now scan for kids showing some brightness and creativity and are offered to test for a summer program for brainiacs. Guess what – the parents get the bill for the extra program and it runs into the thousands ! Lots of bright kids won’t be attending that program. I noticed while driving by a school the other night a group of sporty kids training. A huge tract of land has been dedicated to them sliding in the rain after a muddy ball plus massive floodlights at huge expense illuminated the whole field. Charge to parents for sporty kids: NADA… Read more »
“In the US, those cities with flourishing gay scenes are also the ones with the highest income per head, the most highly paid employees, the most creative industries and the best environmental record. They are also the type of place which polls reveal are heavily weighted behind Obama. The reason is very simple. The types of cities that tolerate a gay scene are also likely to tolerate other sorts of outsiders, non-conformists and free-thinkers.” being gay in today’s society you are hardly an outsider, but very much an insider, supporting obama you are not an ousider but very much an… Read more »
Aha! That explains it: ‘Bertie cuts make-up bill to €22,000’ http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bertie-cuts-makeup-bill-to-836422000-1321962.html So the bulk of the money goes on wigs and gowns so ‘Bertie’ can mysteriously morph into ‘Shirley Temple Bar’? Ireland really has become the epicentre of tolerance when the Taoiseach can lead a ‘secret life’ in full view of the populace and everyone, including DMcW, is discreet enough to only ‘hint’ at it now and again. However, it appears that Bertie is finding it increasingly difficult to separate ‘fantasy’ from ‘reality’! “However, Mr Broughan said that Mr Ahern appeared to be wearing the make-up “morning, noon and night”… Read more »
M
AndrewGmooney, I do get out and from what I see we should copy New York. What I mean is for the cops to get tough with yobos. I saw on the news that the Garda Commissioner wants a law so that all premises selling booze will require a cctv installed outside(to do their job for them).
How about more Guards on the beat when it’s dark. We might attract a better sort into the city if they feel safer.
Hello there John Q.Public I was only jestin with you! More Garda on the streets? Well, they have those dinky NYPD-style uniforms which look cool, but just like the U.K: I’ve seen the ‘forces of law and order’ being openly disrespected on Dublin streets in the few days I’ve been here. I also read about them requesting to be allowed to carry covert guns, mace/pepper-spray and so on. It’s a good job I’m not staying in Finglas on this trip like I did in the 60s, or was it Ballyfermot? Anyways: I hear there’s a curfew in place. No buses… Read more »
Interesting discussion… Having lived in and around Dublin or most of my 31 years so far, I would say that post-celtic tiger Dublin has improved in many respects. It is more cosmopolitan , thats for sure, but I have always found Dublin to be lacking that special something which all the truly great cities of the world seem to ooze naturally. There is a certain x-factor which cities like Barcelona, Berlin, New York, Paris etc have that Dublin does not. I’m not quite sure what it is missing, but I am always aware that though I like Dublin and appreciate… Read more »
Look at all Amsterdam has to offer: prostitution, soft drugs, sex shops, brown cafes etc. Everything you hear about the place is ‘liberal this’ and ‘liberal that’ and ‘tolerance’. But you will find that the Dutch on the whole are no more or less open-minded or tolerant than anybody else. RB, the next generation will learn from the present generation, how to get blotto and violent. The few hundred thousand foreigners we have here don’t add to the ‘x factor’ you talk about either. I fear for the future of European cities as they become more and more Islamised. You… Read more »
You say ‘The people make the city’, true but what have we got? Well, firstly.. we have a fairly well educated generation coming up who will have learned to be tolerant of other cultures and lifestyles and having grown up being exposed to the influx of various nationalities etc , hopefully, they will be a lot more open to change and diversity. And of course we have the Irish character itself which they will inherit to some degree. An Irish character with unique cultural history and identity. John , I think you misunderstood the point i was making , also… Read more »
RB Yea, fair point. We are tolerant but we should be careful not go down the route that Germany took and the UK. I heard that if you are a muslim man living in Germany, you can now practice polygamony legally. So where will it all end in a country where it is illegal to fly a swastika yet you can treat women like cattle by suppressing them (only if you are a muslim of course!-christians need not apply!). The appeasement process is a disgrace. And RB, radical factions ARE a problem in the UK. Remember 7/7? You work with… Read more »
Hey John Yes I do remember 7/7 , and yes it was linked to radical islamist fundamentalists , and without getting into a political debate here, it possibly wouldn’t have happened if England had not been occupying Islamic territory. (ie Iraq and Afghanistan) I don’t think Ireland has much to fear from “islamization”( as you put it). Muslims are largely a peaceful community. People are very quick to tar everyone with the same brush. Which is ironic , particularly since we , as Irish people, went through a similar situation with Britain not too long ago. We were occupied too.… Read more »
“I do wish that the media in Ireland would draw more attention to the gap between rich and poor in Ireland though” Most of the liberal media talk of nothing else. In any case relative to the actual rich we are all poor. Learn some statistics. ” I think it is arrogant of any society to call itself “civilized” or a “success” when a large number of its citizens live on the street or remain in relative poverty.” Now how would we end “relative poverty”? Since most young people ( broadly defined as under 35-40) have little or no net… Read more »
Investors don’t buy a pint for the froth.
RB, good on you for bringing that up, poverty is never discussed here. I wish David would make a program on it and explore life in Darndale, Jobstown and Ballymun. Instead all we get in the media is how to look after crooked Nigerians and so on. Let’s look after our own first, focus in on some possible solutions, after all who cares about Shirley Temple Bar and crap like that?
“RB, good on you for bringing that up, poverty is never discussed here.”
Seriously, you guys are not living in the same country, or the same planet as me. From the moment the celtic tiger came into the being the D4 liberal could talk about nothing else but “relative poverty” ( which really meant the median worker was pulling ahead, and we cant have that, now can we?)
Pull ahead all you want. Why would it bother us?
Hi John Public and RB, fair points about poverty. But as both of you know this is a tricky area. Also as a man who has never experienced real poverty either absolute or relative for anything other than a short while, I am not sure that I can write about grinding poverty with any real credibility or experience. I have been criticised for writing about the middle classes – but a scribber can only write about what he knows. Otherwise, you join the legions of hypocrites who pretent to empathise, while living in a totally lifestyle. However, the story of… Read more »
Thanks for the response David..
I do understand that if you haven’t experienced poverty then it wouldn’t make sense for you to identify with it therefore writing about it wouldn’t make much sense for you personally ..
But..
What about Rent allowance discrimination?
I understand that you possibly haven’t experienced it, but at any one time it affects over 60, 000 people who have to rely on it and hundreds of thousands more who may have to ..
http://radiscriminaton.wordpress.com/
I think you could do a good article about this David…
:)
More sanctimonious slef righteous self-important D4 gibberish rb. There are very real reasons why landlords can, and should, “discriminate” against certain categories of tenants ( which is their right given the property is theirs) .If you create a law in which private landlords cannot chose who they rent to, then they may as well not have ownership. Why have interviews for tenants, if the law forces you to always give the property to certain types of renter? I am in the rental sector, by the way, and I realise that you’re philosophy is typical of the self content bourgeois: if… Read more »
Bryan, “I suggest a property tax, a tax on inheritance,” you have a problem if you think that us 50+ are going to subsidise your generation again – we had to survive the eighties with punitive taxes so that your generation could get an education and wouldn’t have to emigrate as we had to do in our youth. Your generation just wants it all and they want it now – go and jump – we had to have a 40% deposit to get a mortgage and that wasn’t easy when half your income went in tax. At last we’ve got… Read more »
mmmn…..let’s try to keep on topic, not that I usually do…I’m on my last night in Dublin, got the runs, so I’ll be brief. Well, briefer than usual….briefer than ‘coldblow’.LOL! My Dad thought he had left a ‘pure’ Ireland to suffer under the Babylon that was Birmingham in the 1950s-00’s. Putting aside that his idealised ‘pay/pray/obey’ vision of Ireland was odious nonsense, it was always factually incorrect. There’s always been a giddy range of inverts, perverts, maniacs and the like in Dublin, it’s just that now they can cavort without being hassled. And no: I’m not just talking about the… Read more »
Ed, my man. I have not taken a loan in my life so so much for “easy money”. Also I doubt you had to “emigrate”. The poorer part of Ireland had to emigrate, but they clearly are not in Ireland now and are not beneficiaries of the vast transfer of wealth from the young to your generation. You in fact benefitted from them emigrating ( I imagine , Ed, you had a nice comfy job in the civil service?). The subsidy is from the young to the old. Not only will my generation not have a pension as we continue… Read more »
Hello Bryan Well.. First I would like to say, I am not a “D4 head”, Nor am I of any “class” , I have lived in two council areas, I have lived in private housing estates, I have rented and I have been on rent allowance at one time and I have also lived abroad, In France. I am currently lucky to be staying in a friends flat in Dublin while i go about trying to get back to college as a mature student. I am hoping to get a place on a masters course this October in Trinity. I… Read more »
An interesting situation i’ve observed is a family who live in my block of apts who are in a ‘social’ apt. They are the rowdiest bunch and it is normal to see cars visiting them rev-ving their engines outside. They completely p*** off everyone in the dev/t and have no shame about it. I seriously question the political system that favours the so-called poor and the very rich while squeezing everyone else for taxes. The rich ‘liberals’ are another laugh. When the dept of justice attempted to locate an asylum centre in D4 the rich liberals while ‘all in favour’… Read more »
Look, David – get with the program! It is well known that Hillary Clinton gets the gay vote in the US. She is a strong, independent, successful female who has been beaten down, talked down, lied to and cheated on! The press must be sick of writing her political obituary at this stage. She is the closest thing to a gay icon that the US Political establishment has! Obama gets the left-leaning, latte-drinking, pseudo-intellectual white liberals and of course……the black vote! That’s primarily why he is carrying the urban areas. I’m not saying your article is wrong, but any gay… Read more »
I dread the thought of either candidate winning. Spot and Barney have better credentials and would be more suited to the job. Better looking than Chelsea too!
“I seriously question the political system that favours the so-called poor and the very rich while squeezing everyone else for taxes” Do you seriously think that the system favours the poor of Ireland in any way? That’s absurd.. Whatever about favouring the rich, the poor of this country have never been properly supported or even counted as equal citizens.. The real problems of Ireland stem from greed.. We have a political system which is corrupt .. The government in collusion with vested interests from property developers have created the property bubble and credit crisis.. Do some research on Fianna Fail… Read more »
I agree with a lot of what you say RB but the sad fact of the matter is that we get the Government we deserve. Its a democracy and whether we like it or not, and I don’t, the people endorsed the current shower and renewed their mandate. Irish people may themselves be inherently greedy or something? but I believe the character of the Government reflects the character of the people. I don’t believe that an FG/Labour/Green alliance would have been hugely different but we needed a change to shake the system up a bit. Irish people are inherently conservative,… Read more »
Eugene, I’m glad that you agree with me that money flows outward from Dublin. As for your argument about who pays more tax for the services they receive, the man in Ballina or Dublin both earning 50k,……,well it is completely misleading since although Dublin has more amenities it also has very much more population to serve, 1mill+ vs 10+. Therefore the man in Ballina is arguably getting more bang for his tax buck, so to speak, despite no Luas and no Pheonix park, etc. Your argument about centralisation has merit. Its been like that since the founding of the state… Read more »
Well, it is nice to see that you see things as they too. I would have to slightly disagree though , I don’t think people get the government that they “deserve” at all. A lot of people voted for the greens this time round in the hope that they would bring some balance to the Fianna Fail corporatocracy but they sold out their voters and more or less assimilated into the Fianna Fail ideology. I understand that the Greens had to take what they could to get into power, but there are a lot of disgruntled people out there who… Read more »
rb you are a good example of how Ireland’s ruling class – which is not Fianna Fail – fools itself. “but there was also a substantial ammount of people who voted green in opposition to the Fianna Fail mindset and a lot of them feel very let down.. ”
The Green party represents the richest people in Ireland. In general in Ireland (and everywhere) the rich can afford to support carbon taxes, large scale immigration and liberal policies on crime because the effect of these ideologies is borne by the poor(er). Liberalism is a proxy displlay of wealth.
And you Bryan are a good example of presumptuousness .. As i told you before, I do not belong to any class.. And if i do it is certainly not a “ruling class”.. The green party does not represent the richest people in Ireland , what are you talking about? ..There is a liberal element to it of course, and i’m sure that does attract some from the middle to upper classes, but i can assure you the people I now personally who voted for the greens are far from rich , as a matter of fact two of them… Read more »
Fair enough RB, but one thing i would take issue with is not voting. There’s no point being ‘political’ without voting. A few votes swung a good many seats. Remember Fianna Fáil actually lost 2 seats, if they had lost a 2/3 more then it could easily been game on. Flynn in Mayo got in by the skin of her teeth as did a couple of other FF/ind FF. I have no problem with the greens being in government. They have already made an impact, look at the recent mandatory guidelines for apartment size, in a way its revolutionary stuff.… Read more »
Yeah, I take your point.. The reason why I didn’t vote was because none of the candidates inspired me to.. There’s no point voting if you only half believe in the party or candidate.. But yeah, you are right and I am glad the Greens got in, it will take time for them to develop their agendas and polices, i just hope that they keep their integrity.. I’m so disillusioned with Ireland at the moment, which is a shame because it could be such a great place to live if it wasn’t for all this rampant greed and materialism.. And… Read more »
Evening all. Good debate. The big question, scanning the global financial markets tonight, is where is this whole thing (US and Irish economy/finance/banking) is going to end? God only knows. RB, Just one point on the Greens; following the 2002 election, the politics department in TCD did a study on who votes for whom and indeed they did find that the Greens were the richest voters in the land and guess who was supported by the second richest? The socialist Labour Party! While FF the party of the developers and tax cuts gets the lions share of the poorest voters!… Read more »
David,
I was very surprised by your statement “Only in Ireland” about how the rich support the Green Party and Labor.
In America (especially NYC) we have anointed these people with the appelation “limousine liberals.” I suspect that it may be a world-wide phenomenon.
Hypocrisy Reigns!
Dan
P.S. I agree with your judgement that the comments are “invaluable.”
David, the problem with the Labour Party in Ireland is that it doesn’t actually resonate with the poorer/working class voter. Is it any wonder when one of the recent leaders is a decent, but B/rock College educated architect, not exactly Joxer from the docks. FF mops up this vote and will do so until these voters realise that FF is not the republican party but the ‘publican and builder’ party.
I have but one line for you:
“Cork: the fillet of Munster”
Rob, a stereotye for you ……………. the Labour Party in Ireland represents the ‘defined benefit’ workforce in Ireland… They are based in Liberty hall, share space with the unions, the vast majority of whose members are drawn from semi state and public sector workers. Labours membership is drawn from the same pool, they are indeed “not exactly joxers from the docks”, their constituency are those people typically over fifty who have done very well as a byproduct of the boom (houses paid off, maybe even a holiday apt, defined benefit pensions, big pay increases from benchmarking). They are already solidly… Read more »
Hi again David, I semi agree with eugene. Its not a case of whether we should have a city like a Dublin or not, as it has been proven over the years that cities and concentration of resources/people/etc does have advantages, and of course disadvantages. Governments need to mitigate against the forces that naturally occur in this ‘all roads lead to Rome’ effect to maximise efficiency, productivity, attractiveness, etc. There are no perfect cities, nor counrty idylls, but there are cities that perform better than others and are clearly better to live in. Dublin has more than its fair share… Read more »