The hugely popular Dublin Zoo Wild lights have returned to light up our dark winter nights for another year.
13 spectacular zones of vibrant colour, including the biggest lantern ever displayed at Wild Lights, are a part of the new Wild Kaleidoscope theme.
Director of Dublin Zoo, Dr Christoph Schwitzer, said: “Wild Lights is one of the highlights of the year for Dublin Zoo, and this year’s theme, The Wild Kaleidoscope, celebrates the incredible diversity and beauty of colour in nature.
“For animals, colour is so much more than meets the eye – it’s a method of communication and a vital survival tool for many species around the world. Through The Wild Kaleidoscope, we want to help visitors see the world as animals do and discover how colour shapes life itself.”
TheCity visited to see what all the fuss was about.
Photo 1: When you arrive, the lake that’s normally alive with ducks is transformed, glowing with bright green lily pads and the occasional flower perched on top.
Photo 2: As you begin your journey through the zoo, clear signage guides your way, ensuring you take no wrong turns and don’t miss any of the magical light zones. A simple but helpful addition.
Photo 3: One of the first zones you’ll see is the Jurassic zone which was a clear hit with the children, as parents and guardians captured countless photos of their delighted smiles.
Photo 4: One of the attractions that made visitors pause in surprise was a snake reminiscent of Kaa from The Jungle Book. With its robotic head jerking up and down and speakers whispering eerie hisses, it wasn’t forgotten easily.
Photo 5: A highlight of the night was the series of informative signs scattered throughout the experience. They explained how animals use colour to their advantage, whether blending into their surroundings to hunt or hide, or standing out to attract partners. The signs showed just how vital colour is to many animals’ survival.
Photo 6: If you needed a pick-me-up to keep you going on the cold night, the brand-new Winter Glow village was waiting just around the corner. Hot chocolate, crêpes, and burgers were among the options on offer, though they did come at a steep price.
Photo 7: Anyone visiting the lights this year will agree that the Rainbow zone was one of the most impressive. The Rainbow Trees, among the tallest of their kind in Europe, stood out in the dark night and lived up to the billing.
Another year of chaos. Nothing new. The League of Ireland delivered yet again just like Shamrock Rovers, who stumbled over the line to get their 5th title in 6 years.
The Champions season started how it ended, with a defeat. After a slow start to the season with just the one point in three games, the south Dublin side went seven games unbeaten. That run was ended by bitter rivals Bohemians in one of the games of the season in late April.
That sore loss clearly gave them a push as they then went 11 games without defeat with 8 of those being wins. But back came Bohs to defeat them for the third time that season and end the strong run.
Another eight games unbeaten in the league which included them finally getting a win over Bohs, thrown in with a few nice cup and European qualifiers wins, set up Shamrock Rovers for a straightforward stroll to the title.
However, they made it a little bit uncomfortable on themselves with three consecutive defeats before finally securing the title with a 1-0 win over Galway United in front of their adoring fans.
The Shamrock Rovers team and backroom staff celebrate. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile.
Pat Shelly a lifelong Shamrock Rovers fan was delighted with his teams’ title win. “The lads made us sweat a bit, but we did it. We had some excellent unbeaten runs this season. Hopefully we do the double now.”
The double in question was the league and cup double. Their opponents in last weeks FAI Cup final on Sunday were Cork City. The Leesiders had a horrible league campaign ending it relegated and with an abysmal four wins in the league. They were desperate to end on a high note with a cup win and give their fans something to smile about.
However, it was not to be as Shamrock Rovers completed the double with two second half strikes from Rory Gaffney defeating a spirited Cork.
Seanie Maguire celebrates scoring Cork City’s first goal in their cup semi-final win. Photo: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Derry City and last season’s champions Shelbourne ended their seasons on a positive note securing European football for next season.
Shels who finished third will be playing in the Conference League qualifiers. Losing Damien Duff halfway through the season didn’t help but Joey O’Brien steadied the ship with a great end to the league season going six unbeaten including massive wins against Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians.
Shelbourne fan Jack Dinan was relatively happy with the season “We’re playing in the Conference league group stages and did decent in the league. A few new signings with the prize money from Europe will set us up nicely for next season.”
Derry whose last league defeat was on the 3rd of August against the league champions, finished second which confirmed Conference League football for next season. However, a Shamrock Rovers cup win upgraded them to Europa League football which is a big boost to the The Candystripes.
Bohemians’ fans were also in the unfamiliar position of supporting their arch-rivals. They were handed a Conference league qualifier spot after Rovers completed the double.
A mixed season from Bohs seen them exit the cup in the 3rd round and hang onto 4th place in the league with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Drogheda on the final day ending their run of four league games without a win.
St. Patricks Athletic won’t be playing European football next season as they finished their season with three stalemates. This, coupled with a shock semi-final exit in the cup at the hands of Cork City, meant it was a dismal end to the season for The Saints, who also said goodbye to their teenage prodigy Mason Melia as he departs for Spurs in January.
Despite finishing sixth in the league Drogheda United had an “absolutely fantastic season” according to their manager Kevin Doherty. After finishing ninth and in the relegation playoffs last season it was a more consistent year for The Drogs this time around. A loss on the final day against Bohs ended their European dream.
Drogheda manager Kevin Doherty was positive about his teams season. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
Sligo Rovers and Galway United both avoided the relegation playoffs at the expense of Waterford who played Bray Wanderers in the playoff last Friday.
Relief was the overriding emotion for Waterford fans and players as goals from Conan Noonan and Sam Glenfield broke Brays hearts again in what was their second playoff defeat in two years.
Galway avoided the dreaded play-offs after producing a performance the late Ollie Horgan would have been proud of with a hard fought 1-1 draw on the final day of the season against Waterford.
Sligo Rovers struggled with the loss of several key players, but a breakout season for 19-year-old Owen Elding helped soften the blow. Having occupied the bottom of the table for a period, seventh in the league isn’t a bad finish in hindsight for the West Coast team.
While many fans won’t be happy with their teams’ season, neutrals will all be saying one thing: More of the same next season please.
Daniel Toal is a Dublin runner who can run faster than the Luas. Kind of.
His YouTube channel Craic and Kilometres shows him take on unique challenges while exploring Ireland’s finest trail running destinations as well as doing the country’s best and worst races.
Since Toal started the channel 5 months ago, he’s amassed over 1,740 subscribers, with his videos gaining over 138k views.
Toal has been running for six years, taking it seriously the last four and more recently got into trail running about two years ago.
Speaking to TheCity, Toal said: “Ireland has such stunning landscapes and trails, and I really wanted to share that with people. Starting the channel with those POV trail races felt like the perfect way to kick things off.”
Toal remarked that he always had a “huge passion for running” and loves watching running content. However, he felt like there wasn’t much Irish running content.
“I felt like there wasn’t much Irish running content out there. That really motivated me to start my own channel and share fun races and crazy challenges in Ireland,” he said.
Toal was also inspired by popular Swedish runner Goran Winblad who he watches regularly. “My favourite running YouTuber would definitely be Goran Winblad.”
Toal’s most viral video ‘I Raced Dublin Bus to the Airport (POV)’ highlighted just how slow Irish transport can be. Toal races the number 16 bus from O’Connell Street to Dublin Airport.
“I got the idea from using that bus myself to get to the Airport. I thought to myself I’d easily beat this running! It took about an hour to drive 11.5km but it felt like an eternity. I also thought it could be a fun challenge for runners and also non-runners.” he said.
“I knew it would be a bit too easy if I didn’t have any rules.”
“So, I put a couple of rules in for myself, ‘I have to stop at all the traffic lights, slow myself down, and follow the exact route’,” he added.
In an enthralling watch Toal leads the bus at many stages, with his friend Niall on the bus watching giving us a rather amusing view of Toal trying his heart out to beat the bus to the airport.
Ultimately, after sitting at traffic lights for five to six minutes of the run, Toal arrived at Terminal 1 at 55:57, which was heartbreakingly close to the Dublin Bus arrival time of 54:10.
The video got a great reaction, with 1.5k likes and many comments praising Toal for his great effort.
Many comments exclaimed how it showcased just how bad our transport can be at times. “Really sums up the inept public infrastructure in this country,” said one viewer.
Another user said: “You can see why we really need that metro to the airport now haha, well played anyway, amazing video”, while another suggested that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary should watch the video. “Send this to Michael O’Leary when he says Dublin has adequate airport transit…”
Toal said the video had a great impact on his following. “My YouTube channel doubled last month from racing Dublin Bus. ‘The Irish Independent’ and ‘Dublin Live’ got in contact with me which also helped to boost the video.”
He agreed with many of his followers on Dublin’s transport issues. “The transport isn’t great in Dublin compared to other major European cities. I wanted to highlight that during the race to the airport with Dublin Bus.”
A week later he took on the Luas, racing from Connolly train station to Heuston train station, and to his delight comfortably won.
“I ran the lights when the roads were safe. I thought that was going to be difficult, but I ended up overtaking another Luas on the way. It was much, much easier than I thought.”
Toal doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon and he happily told me he has a few more transport challenges lined up. “I want to take on the E1 Dublin Bus from Dublin city to the airport, and I’ll also take on the dart for a few stops around the city.”
Toal’s enthusiasm is clear in all of his videos but none more than his video a few weeks ago ‘Can a Pint of Guinness Survive Croagh Patrick’.
His infectious energy is shown clearly in this video with his quick-witted responses to fellow hikers a staple of the video.
One of the first interactions shows this when a passerby exclaims “Is that a pint of Guinness fair play to ya”. Toal’s prompt response is “I swear to God it was water when I started”, which draws a laugh from the bemused lady.
Seeing all the positive reactions to Toal’s absurd but great challenge makes it a wholesome and enjoyable watch.
So, it was no surprise that when I asked Toal what his favourite video to record was, he was quick to say: “ ‘Can a Pint of Guinness survive Croagh Patrick’ was definitely my favourite to record, everybody along the way had funny reactions and was cheering me on.”
There’s a notable absence of “hate” comments under any of Daniel’s video which is a nice change to the sometimes toxic nature of social media comment sections.
When I quizzed Daniel, he agreed saying “I haven’t really paid attention, it’s been mostly positive comments.”
His channel is an example of the positivity online creators can bring to our screens.
To finish off our chat I asked Toal his favourite moment since making the channel and his response sums up the character he is. “I’ve a small channel but I love the impact it’s having, people have come up to me to say they’ve starting trail running because of the channel or it’s helped them get back to running again, so I love that I can inspire some people.”
When Jim Gavin pulled out of the presidential race, voters knew the big effect it would have on this now quite lethargic race. But which of the remaining two candidates would it impact the most?
Before Jim Gavin pulled out of the race a poll from Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks showed Gavin trailing behind Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys with just 15% of the vote.
According to Gabija Gataveckaite, Dublin correspondent at BBC News Northern Ireland, “A sizeable chunk of the 15pc will likely go mostly to Humphreys. Recent elections have shown Fianna Fáil (FF)/ Fianna Gael (FG) are extremely transfer friendly towards each other. We saw figures of around 60pc in the general election.”
Many Fianna Fail supporters may decide to stay at home come October 24th, but Gatavekaite reckons it’s hard to know. “Technically, Fianna Fail voters can – and will – still vote for Gavin as he will be on the ballot. His transfers will also still count.”
Gatavekaite also added “Fianna Fail and Fianna Gael are very transfer friendly, so it is likely some Fianna Fail voters will just vote for Fianna Gael. Some may be very annoyed with the handling of the election by the party and rebel and vote for Connolly. Some who are super anti-FG and do not agree with Connolly’s votes may stay at home.”
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll also revealed there was 31% undecided voters. With only two choices now for that 31%, things should get interesting.
“The presidential election now is very much so the establishment V the anti-establishment,” said Gatavekaite. “So, it may not be necessarily people who vote for Heather Humphreys or Catherine Connolly because they like who they are as a person but more so voting for them because they are either anti or pro establishment.”
“So people who typically vote anti FF/FG or gene pool independents may vote Catherine Connolly and people who vote for ruling parties will vote for Heather Humphreys.”
Some voters now feel disillusioned with the race. “My friends and I have honestly debated spoiling our votes,” said Aine Moore from Kildare. “We disagree on a lot of things but not on this. We seem to all have a similar opinion that there’s no real strong candidate.”
Paul Reilly 55, agrees. “It’s all very frustrating. Usually, I always have a candidate I like somewhat. This time neither of the three seem great. I’ll either stay at home or spoil my vote unfortunately.”
Andrew Kidd 35, from Louth says he’ll “still have Gavin no1 as I don’t agree with any of the other’s views”
Connolly(left) and Humphreys(right) will have to be on top form in the next debate. Credit: Rollingnews.ie
With debates still a determining factor for some of the undecided voters, Gatavekaite said the head-to-head debate could suit either. “Connolly is a very strong debater. She performed very well on The Tonight Show in the first TV debate. Humphreys was quite poor here and seemed to be quiet. She got her mojo back for The Week in Politics debate on Sunday, but Connolly also performed well here too.
“There has been little ‘mud slinging’ so far so perhaps that may ramp up on the FG side as they are aware Connolly is ahead in the polls. Connolly hasn’t criticised her opponents directly but blamed the parties in which they got nominations from or governments they were a part of instead. She is likely to stick to this strategy to maintain to push the dignified message.”
Only time will tell what effect Gavin’s decision to drop out will have on this year’s presidential election.
Hugh Lane Gallery closed its doors last Sunday at 5pm and won’t reopen to the public for another three years.
At the end of July, Dublin City Council announced that the beloved art museum would be closing to facilitate the renovation and safe removal of the gallery’s collection.
In the statement released by Dublin City Council it said that “the refurbishment will upgrade the gallery’s original 1930s wing to 21st century museum standards of security and environmental controls.”.
The statement continued saying that the renovations would “ensure the preservation of the collection for future generations and enhance the gallery’s ability to secure significant international loans.”
The cost of the refurbishment is unknown as of now, as the statement read: “The cost of the project will be determined when tender submissions have been reviewed and the contract awarded. It’s expected the tender will be issued in the coming months.”
The popular Boghanna Báistí Beaga will reopen when the refurbishment works are completed. Credit: Aidan O’Boyle
The refurbishment will also include a direct link between the gallery and the new Dublin City library that is due to be completed in 2029. This is promised to create a unique experience for tourists and locals alike.
The library will be popular once opened and Dublin City Council released a statement highlighting what the project will include: “The Dublin City Library Project (Phase 1) will deliver a new 5,500 sqm City Library at Parnell Square North. The project will include a multi-purpose conference centre, spaces to meet, read and study, a café and exhibition areas.”
All the paintings and sculptures will have to find new homes for the time being. “A number of important works will be on loan to the National Gallery of Ireland. The Hugh Lane Gallery already has works on loan to the Office of Public Works in Dublin Castle, Farmleigh House and Kilmainham Gaol Museum. The remaining collection will be stored safely in museum standard offsite facilities.”
Some of the exhibitions Hugh Lane gallery has had over the years. Credit: Aidan O’Boyle.
Most of the artwork will remain in Ireland apart from “the shared paintings from the Sir Hugh Lane Bequest in the National Gallery London. This partnership was signed in 2021 between The National Gallery London, and Hugh Lane Gallery regarding the 39 paintings in the Sir Hugh Lane Bequest, allowing the public in both the UK and Ireland to enjoy these works on a regular basis.”
The gallery’s conservation team is now “working hard to safely pack and transport the gallery’s renowned collection to museum standard storage facilities.”
Failte le Gra cafe which is situated on the ground floor inside the gallery will also close for the foreseeable future. A notice outside the entrance read “Dear guest, due to the closure of the gallery our last trading day will be the 27th of September. Thank you for all your support over the years and we hope to see you all when the gallery re-opens”.
A notice outside the entrance of Failte le Gra cafe. Credit: Aidan O’Boyle
Before the gallery closed there was 40 permanent staff members employed. Dublin City Council confirmed that all staff will retain their posts when it reopens.
They added that “A certain number of employees will remain operating core aspects of gallery functions including managing the care and conservation of the collection in offsite locations, monitoring environmental controls and daily 24hr security, organising offsite education and community projects and working on future collaborations and exhibitions.”
The remaining employees will be redeployed in other jobs throughout Dublin City Council.
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