April 12, 2016

 

 

On Tuesday, April 12th, the BC High Students participating in the Dublin Spring Seminar

had loads of things to keep them busy. First, each student attended their host brother’s form

class, which is their form of a homeroom. Here, they take attendance and discuss plans for the

day. When this had concluded, we gathered in the Lecture Theatre where we received a lesson on

Irish Politics from Mr. Hogan. Right off the bat, we cleared up some common misconceptions;

we established that Ireland does have a democracy and that they do have a President. However,

Mr. Hogan explained to us that their form of president is a much less impactful role, and rather a

ceremonious one. Then, he went into detail on the various political parties in Ireland; these were

the Fine Gael party, the Sinn Fein party, the Fine Fail party, and the Labor Party. After that, Mr.

Hogan directed us in a “mock election.”  He chose five students and labeled each of them as a

different political party. He had us each fill out a random ballot choosing our five preferences,

since this is how they vote in Ireland. He then explained how the process went; if a party was

eliminated (did not receive enough votes), and a citizen had that party as their first preference,

then their second preference would be taken into account. When the election concludes, the top

158 candidates become the Daíl, Ireland’s senate. When our lesson had concluded, we presented

Mr. Hogan with a gift, and began to make our way to Croke Park for the skyline tour. Upon our

arrival, we entered one of the locker rooms and met our tour guide; he explained what we would

be doing and seeing, and gave us harnesses to wear when on the roof. After a long elevator ride,

we arrived on floor seven and made our way into the nosebleed section of Croke Park, the

highest seats. From here, the view was pretty great. However, the best views came when we trekked

 

up a flight of stairs to get on the roof. On the skywalk, although we couldn't see the field anymore,

 

the sight of the city was breathtaking. On the path, there were three different platforms for us to

 

pause at, as our tour guide pointed out a variety of monuments that were visible from that spot. A few

 

 of the spots that he pointed out were the Glasnevin Cemetery, the Aviva Stadium, and the Dublin

 

Spire. As we circled around the stadium, we even went on a platform that hovered over the field with

nothing below us! Sadly though, we eventually had to come down from the skyline and begin to

make our way back to Belvedere. However, not before making a stop down onto the field!

Although we couldn't go onto the grass, getting to stand on the same level as the players was

something special. Unfortunately, it was time for us to return back to Belvedere and our great

morning was over.

After we had returned from the Croke Park sky tour, we gathered in the canteen for lunch.

Today they had a Mexican themed lunch with smoked chicken burritos, tacos, and rice. After

enjoying our lunch and a short break we walked about two blocks to the Dublin SightSeeing bus

tour. The tour commenced with our tour guide summarizing the Garden of Remembrance; he

said it was a memorial garden dedicated to all those who gave their lives for Irish freedom. From

there we headed over to the General Post Office (GPO), the center of fighting during the

rebellion. It was shelled by a gunship called The Helga and severely damaged.

On some parts of the pillars we could still see bullet holes and artillery damage from up close.

After that we drove by the Boland Mills, an area where 100 Irish rebels were forced to surrender

to the British. Next, we went by the Trinity Tower which was a British military stronghold in

1916. They had snipers and artillery in the towers all over campus which served as the main

British army positions in Dublin. Near there we saw Dublin Castle which was the center of

British political power until 1922. The castle was home to the Dublin armed police force which

fiercely served the British. During the Easter Rising the Irish rebels failed to take the castle.

Today the castle is used for ceremonies and hosting important guests. Soon after we drove

through the Guinness brewery, founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness, and it is the largest brewery in

the country. Our tour concluded back at the Garden of Remembrance, departing the bus we thanked

 

the driver and tour guide and then walked back up to Belvedere. We then met up with our host

 

brothers and commuted home.

Tom McMorrow

Kevin Parsons