4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
101-year-old Dubliner recalls her sage advice to a young Charlie Haughey
Moira Mahon's fascinating life is captured as part of the eighth edition of Dublin City Council's (DCC) annual History on your Doorstep collection of stories.
Ms Mahon was in attendance yesterday for the launch of this year's volume, collated and written by DCC's Historians in Residence.
Elizabeth Kehoe, Dublin Central's Historian in Residence for 2025, interviewed Ms Mahon and wrote the segment on her life.
An activist in Fianna Fáil her whole adult life, Ms Mahon recalls teaching a young Charles Haughey how to canvass residents at doors.
'I was 18 at that time, and we'd go off up Marino,' she said.
'I always said to him, when you go up to the door and have an interview and ask them to vote for such-and-such, when you're leaving, don't forget to close the gate.'
Ms Mahon, the eldest of six children, also has very fond memories of heading into the city with her family as a child.
'Dublin was a lovely place,' she said. 'Sometimes it'd be coming up to Easter time, and my mother would say: 'When we finish the tea, we'll walk into Dublin, into O'Connell Street'.
'We'd go up Grafton Street, and we'd look at the windows and see what the latest fashion was.'
Many other tidbits from Ms Mahon's life feature in the chapter, from her founding of a social ladies club in Coolock in the 1970s, to her father's detainment in the Ballykinlar Internment Camp because of his involvement in the War of Independence.
The centenarian, born in Rathgar, said that while it is an honour to be included in the document, she doesn't really feel like she deserves it.
'I do have a great memory. I wasn't very academic in school, but I absorb things,' she said.
Along with Ms Mahon's tale, the latest edition of History on your Doorstep also features stories on Yitzhak Herzog, the Irish Free State's first Chief Rabbi; the famous Dublin dish coddle, written as Gaeilge; and 1920s Dublin tramcar etiquette portrayed through letters written to the Evening Herald newspaper.
The full list of stories available in the volume are:
Letters to the Evening Herald debating chivalry, modern girls and tramcar etiquette in 1920s Dublin – written by Katie Blackwood
Moira Mahon's life – written by Elizabeth Kehoe
The story of Yitzhak Herzog, the first Chief Rabbi of the Irish Free State – written by Dr Cormac Moore
Liam O'Flaherty: Man of Action and Letters – written by Dr Mary Muldowney
The story of the famous Dublin dish coddle, as Gaeilge – written by Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire
The old and new at Grangegorman: Local children's perspectives – written by Dervilia Roche
Why Flanagan's Fields? – written by Catherine Scuffl
DCC's Historian in Residence programme is created by Dublin City Libraries and is delivered in partnership with Dublin City Council Culture Company.
The eighth volume of History on your Doorstep, along with earlier publications in the series, can be read in any Dublin City Council library.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
