Three Castles Burning: a History of Dublin in Twelve Streets by Donal Fallon

Author:Donal Fallon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Island Books
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

He did succeed in closing the flash houses, whose patrons were threatened with exposure. The unfortunate women did not have reputations to lose. They simply moved elsewhere. Many solicited on O’Connell Street, between the General Post Office and the river. This constituted an invasion of middle-class territory and businessmen protested at the effect on the retail trade; respectable citizens were outraged by the scandalous tone the capital’s principal street acquired.29

The Monto survived to fight another day. Mabbot Street, a few short years later, became Corporation Street, the Corporation’s Paving Committee noting its hope that the change of name ‘will have the desirable effect of obliterating its evil reputation.’30 There was also Corporation Buildings, an enormous public housing scheme opened in the early years of the twentieth century, which had tall gates, perhaps intended to separate it and its residents from the immediate surroundings. Corporation Buildings was a tough environment in which to grow up, but one with a strong sense of community. Corporation Street is still the preferred name of many locally, who seemed somewhat perplexed by the sudden arrival of Joyce onto Google Maps.31

The eventual pressure to suppress the Monto’s brothels came from the Legion of Mary, a Catholic lay organisation founded by civil servant Frank Duff in 1921. The Legion’s proactive approach could create tension between itself and the Catholic hierarchy, but Duff was adamant on the need for action.32 Duff led a series of interventions into the Monto, later describing them in detail:

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