March 21, 2017

Saturday November 19th last, saw a historic voyage on the Liffey, as the No.11 Liffey ferry took to the river again. Its last public service sailing occurred some 32 years ago.

As part of the DCC Dublin’s Culture Connects (which seeks to forge links with communities old and new in the inner city) the event saw eleven former dock workers take to the waves on the ferry to retrace a journey that was a familiar feature of their lives working the docks and transporting goods to keep the city and the country running.

Ex-docker Declan Byrne of the Dublin Dockers Preservation Society said: “Dublin’s Culture Connects initiative has allowed us to connect with our own culture – to remember the solidarity, and the acts of bravery and generosity. In the good times we may have fought among ourselves, but in the bad times we all stuck together. When tragedy struck a particular family the dockworkers were the first to respond. We were no angels, and we may even enjoy looking at some of our more unusual traits, but Dublin’s Culture Connects has given us the opportunity to concentrate on the positives. The trips on the Liffey ferry would never have happened without this project. We have spent six years trying to preserve our history and culture. Feeling unsupported, we were on the verge of throwing in the towel, but now through the Dublin’s Culture Connects we have been given a new lease of life.”