Exploring Everyday Streets
Chapter 2:
Rituals of O’Connell Street: commemoration, display and dissent
Kate Buckley
O’Connell Street is Dublin’s pre-eminent street; ‘there is no other street in the Republic which has such an equivocal role as Ireland’s main street’ (McDonald 1998). It is a fundamental component of the urban tissue of Dublin and of Ireland. The urban landscape of O’Connell Street has made it a ritual space. It has been appropriated by both the public and the state for commemorations, protests, parades, demonstrations and funerals. It is a platform for communicating with the whole of Irish society.
About Kate Buckley
Kate Buckley lectures in visual culture at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and in history & theory of architecture at Cork Centre for Architectural Education (UCC/CCAE) at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. With a BSc (Hons) in Architecture and an MA in Design History and Material Culture, her research and teaching intersect the two, currently focusing on streets, design activism and urban dissent.