Pipe up now or forever hold your peace - Dublin is getting a new Speakers' Square. Nicoline Greer meets the force behind it all, Kíla musician Rossa Ó Snodaigh
As a nation, we are very good at giving out. Giving out about politicians, giving out about property prices ... giving out about anything really. Over several pints of stout, we are particularly great giver-outers. Heck, we even invented the term "give out". Rossa Ó Snodaigh, percussion and guitar player with the group Kíla, has great plans to develop these giving-out talents, to amplify the smallest voices of Ireland and turn them into a reminder of the origins of democracy in the old Greek city states. Tomorrow, Dublin will see its first Speakers' Square for 50 years.
Ó Snodaigh is passionate about the idea of a speakers' arena as part of the democratic process. "The idea came into my head from the Hyde Park Speakers' Corner and thinking about the way democracy was run in Greece. They had a big forum, people would get up and speak. If people didn't like them, they'd boo; if they agreed, they'd clap, or someone might shout up and heckle them. I just thought, 'that's bloody good democracy'."
He was also fired up to rekindle the idea after hearing his father remember Dublin's last speakers' arena, Elvery's Corner, near the GPO until the 1950s, when it seems to have petered out.
But the idea has been loitering around his head for more than a decade. In 1993, he wrote to the Office of Public Works, with a suggestion for a forum in St Stephen's Green. "Picture the scene," he wrote. "Poets, politicians, psychologists, sociologists, psychotic verbalisers, religious freaks, actors, mime artists, comedians and campaigners of all sorts, with the public watching on, haggling or debating topics, and all in a more sober situation than that of the pub."
His flamboyant proposal didn't sell it on this occasion, however. St Stephen's Green was ruled out because of an old by-law passed by the British, which says no one is allowed to speak about anything religious or political in St Stephen's Green, as it was always intended to be an oasis of calm in the middle of turbulent Dublin - in contrast to Hyde Park, which is exempt from slander laws.
When Ó Snodaigh met Gráinne Millar, head of cultural development in Temple Bar Properties, the idea began to take shape. Once Dermot McLaughlin, the new TBP chief executive, heard about it, they revved up the idea again.
Temple Bar Square was ideal, with its open space and leisurely-paced people-traffic, and the steps created a natural soapbox.
"I want it to be [a forum for] free speech, where people will want to go to listen to people," says Ó Snodaigh. "I want people to say whatever it is they damn well please, whatever it is they feel passionate about."
Chalkboards with names and topics, as well as a time-limit of 20 minutes, will keep the thing in motion. He hopes that audiences will join in and voice their reaction to the subject under discussion. "Nobody will be free from criticism. Speakers are essential but what brings the thing to life is the audience saying, 'that's a load of tosh'."
The idea of standing up and telling it like it is in the middle of a busy city and then being heckled, could rattle the nerves of the most passionate and confident orator, so Ó Snodaigh wants to have a podium for beginners as well. "I'll be just as nervous as the next person, even though I perform in front of loads of people; it's scary unless you've been doing it," he says.
Will Irish people be daring enough to declaim without Dutch courage? Ó Snodaigh believes they will. He has been in contact with NGOs, charities and politicians, and there has been lots of interest so far. And with all the giving out going on in this country, it should catch on.
Cearnóg na gCainteoirí/ Speakers' Square will take place every Sunday between noon and 4 p.m.