My Dublin

by Eamon Keane, Radio Presenter

Outdoors You see the best of human nature on Sandymount beach. People actually stop and talk to each other, something this city is losing. There are no angles. I love being near the sea, as it drops your ego and worries pretty fast.

Drinking Ely Wine Bar is a good place to meet your mates – or indeed some politician you just had a row with on the radio! I like to have a pint outside the Schoolhouse on Northumberland Road. Kevin Arundel gives a warm welcome and you can’t beat a cool pint near the Grand Canal.

Eating Itsa4 in Sandymount. As a keen fisherman, I love their sea bass with grilled fennel and chive cream. Bass can be overcooked or over-seasoned elsewhere, but they get it just right here. I’d go there on a quiet Monday after a stroll on Sandymount beach. Silvios in Rathfarnham does a good battered cod of an evening too.

Hobbies The piano. I have my own group and we sold out the Sugar Club last October. I’m doing another gig soon. Fly fishing also keeps me sane.

Food I don’t like to food shop on moral grounds. If ever there are others who can do it for you, it is a shame to deprive them of the opportunity. Quite often I’ll cook fish I catch myself. In winter there’s a good supply of rainbow trout at the Annamoe Fishery in Wicklow.

Shopping I have the fashion sense of a warthog. I rely on my shoppers – Eimear, Niamh, Sorcha and Erica on my programme team get press-ganged for occasional shopping splurges. I have the trend-setting ability of a Louth man when it comes to clothes.

Ups and downs Ups? When you’re out in Dublin it doesn’t matter who you are as long as you get a round. A down side is seeing street kids with no proper hostel accommodation. There is an underbelly of prostitution here driven by drug and alcohol addiction – some of these kids are very young and only a few people give a shit about them.

Architecture It’s not strictly architecture but the Paddy Kavanagh piece on the Grand Canal. Paddy was a good friend of my father’s. I produced and played on a tribute album to him by Noel O’Grady. Paddy’s ‘Raglan Road’ captures the beauty of lost love reflected against the character of Dublin streets. The sculpture brings me back to that.

Sport I played a lot of soccer and rugby back in the old days. I follow Munster and Mick Galwey would be a good friend. Mick has been doing a rugby review on my show and we’ve signed him up for the World Cup.

Media On television, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show is clever. In terms of newspapers you get story gems in the likes of the Kerryman, Kilkenny People, Donegal Democrat and other regionals. For a bit of satire, The Onion is essential reading.

Heroes People who’ve taken on institutions and other bodies to fight for rights are heroes, like Alice Leahy of Trust and Marie Byrne of Aisling. And politicians who face the music in difficult times – Micheál Martin and Sean Ardagh spring to mind.

Villians I hate how controlled the whole press officer/media relationship has become. Press officers are heroes actually. They get a bollicking from the party if the politician is asked an unplanned question. Yeah, that is now the norm. Sad.

Eamon Keane presents Lunchtime, 12.30-2pm daily on NewsTalk 106