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Dublin butcher off the hook after 60 years

Ronnie Moreland worked on Camden Street since he was 15

Ronnie Moreland has retired from the butcher business on Camden Street, Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne.
Ronnie Moreland has retired from the butcher business on Camden Street, Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne.
Aine McMahon
Tue Jul 30 2013 - 01:06

A butcher who has been in business for six decades has hung up his apron.

Ronnie Moreland (74) has worked in Peter Byrne's craft butcher shop on Dublin's Camden Street since he was 15 years old. The butcher shop has been in operation since 1866 and Ronnie's father, James Moreland, took it over in the 1920s.

Moreland is passionate about Irish produce and says the recent horse meat scandal boosted business.

“The meat trade is all about trust. When the horsemeat scandal came about, business improved because people want to know where their meat comes from, which is what the local butcher is all about.

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“When I first started, business was booming for butchers – there were around 11 butcher shops between Wexford and Camden Street.

“I used to go to the cattle market on the North Circular Road, we slaughtered the cattle at the back of the shop here and worked away.”

Moreland says he has seen business change over the past 60 years “We used to do a delivery service with a messenger boy on a bike with a basket at the front.

“We delivered all up the south circular road, Lombard street and up towards Stephens Green. He would do three or four runs a day with a basket full of meat.”