Dublin Tenement Life: An Oral History

This book is based on the original oral histories of the survivors of the old Dublin tenements. For nearly 150 years, the wretched, squalid, tenements of Dublin were widely judged to be the worst slums in all of Europe. By the 1930s, 6300 tenements were occupied by almost 112,000 tenants. Some districts had 800 people to the acre, up to 100 occupants in one building and 20 family members crammed into a single tiny room. It was a hard world of hunger, disease, high mortality, unemployment, heavy drinking, prostitution and gang warfare. But despite their hardships, the tenants poor enjoyed an incredibly close-knit community life in which they found great security and, indeed, happiness. As one policeman recalls from 50 years ago, they were "extraordinarily happy for people who were so savagely poor". This book captures their social life, their wit, their rousing wakes and their incredible sense of community solidarity. In their own words, the last of the tenement dwellers bear testimony to the rich human mosaic of a bygone world. Their accounts are sometimes tragic and emotionally wrenching but equally they are an inspiring chronicle of struggle and survival.