Michael Moynihan: The number of days without sun in Dublin didn’t break any records. But it’s news?

“Old Jack there,” said the barman, “Never been to Dublin. Can you believe that?” Behan could not. Brimming with the milk of human kindness, he sidled over to Jack and introduced himself. Yes, said Jack. Never been to the capital.

Barman, drinks here! Behan proceeded to list out Dublin’s delights, the bright lights and teeming crowds, the national landmarks and low drinking dens, the city in all its multi-footed glory.

Jack nodded soberly and acknowledged he would have to visit at some point.

“When you do,” said Behan, “Look me up and I’ll show you the sights.” 

When Jack left for home Behan duly returned to the barman and told him all about his good deeds, educating the rustic and promising him a tour of Dublin.

“Fair dues to you,” said the barman. “Though I don't know if he’d learn much from O’Connell Street. Jack drove a taxi cab around the Bronx for thirty years before coming back here.” 

To give him his due, Behan told the story against himself for years afterwards, which is a good sign, but it’s a yarn that also tells you something.

Something about Dublin and its idea of itself.

I started with that yarn because of something that caught my eye recently.

Dull weather

Dublin was without sun for a few days. You may be aware of this because it became news. RTÉ covered it, as did Newstalk. The BBC aired the story, and so did some other outlets. It surfaced on social media as well, of course.

To be fair, there were quite a few days without sun.

According to Met Éireann (as reported by RTÉ News): “Overall, there have been 10 instances on record since 1941 where the number of consecutive days without sunshine exceeded 11 days, at various stations ... Dublin Airport's record for consecutive days without sunshine stands at 11 days which happened in March 1969.

“But this record has now been tied with Dublin Airport recording zero sunshine this month between Saturday February 8th and Tuesday February 18th. We finally saw some sunshine today (Wednesday February 19th), so the record will remain at 11 consecutive days.” (“We”? Anyway.) 

Your mileage may vary as to the precise newsworthiness of this period of grey skies, but if a new record has been set, it’s been set. We’re all aware of seasonal affective disorder, and the fact that one part of the country has had an unprecedented number of days without seeing the sun is of public interest.

Except for the fact that a record wasn’t set. It was equalled. So even though there were quite a few days without sun, it wasn’t unprecedented at all. In fact it was very much precedented

Wait, what’s that? There’s more?

In discussing this matter with the national broadcaster, Met Éireann did offer this pretty significant addendum: “The longest recorded stretch of consecutive days without sunshine since 1941 at a station in Ireland is 16 days. This has occurred twice, once at Belmullet, Co Mayo between September 1st 1956 to September 16th 1956 and, more recently, at Cork Airport between December 23rd 2018 and January 7th 2019.” 

A quick recap. The number of days without sun in Dublin didn’t break any record, not even the record for the number of days without sun in Dublin. It didn't even come close to the record for the number of days without sun in the country. But it’s news?

Dublin isn’t just the biggest city on the island, it’s the biggest city by far. Even if your approximation of city limits is vague, Dublin’s population still outnumbers those of Cork, Belfast, and Waterford combined. A strong focus on what affects people along the Liffey and the two canals is entirely understandable.

This attitude is found elsewhere. English people not living in London can bristle at the focus on that country’s capital; similarly, Paris tends to dominate the discourse in France.

Still, counting the number of hours the sun shines — or doesn’t shine — on Dublin?

This would be funny if it were not for a far more serious weather event that struck the country recently.

The aftermath of Storm Éowyn meant significant hardship for many people along the western seaboard, with thousands left without power and water for days at a time. There was quite an amount of grumbling about the speed with which services were restored, grumbling framed around the thesis that that restoration would have happened much faster in Dublin.

This privileging of Dublin’s significance isn’t always a case of daggers drawn. Sometimes it reveals itself in humour. When you work in an office in Dublin and someone looks for the ‘country phone book’, for instance. Or a native of the capital asks if the drive from Cork to Dublin is nine or ten hours.

Or when you’re told how long it’s been since the sun shone in Dublin, come to that.

But there are serious consequences to that myopia as well. In this column some time back I pointed out that while Cork was in need of a supervised injection centre, the official word was that a similar centre in Dublin had to open first, and its impact had to be evaluated, before a Cork equivalent could even be considered. There’s nothing funny about that, because people’s lives are at stake.

Or consider what happened last year when a government minister, while addressing the passenger cap issue in Dublin Airport, had the gall to suggest that instead of tourists flying to Dublin and motoring onwards to various locations around Ireland they could fly to Cork or Shannon and motor from those locations instead.

As Paul Hosford of this parish reported at the time, the minister was asked if that meant he believed tourists coming to Dublin should seriously consider flying into Shannon or Cork.

The word ‘seriously’ in that sentence is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Or the MetroLink mooted for Dublin Airport, which would be the third significant commuter/light rail system for Dublin in the last forty years. Cork continues to dream of its own urban light rail system, while swathes of the country, such as Donegal, don’t have trains. At all.

Or the Dublin City Taskforce, established by the government in May 2024 “to take a holistic view of the measures required to rejuvenate Dublin City Centre”, which produced a full report less than six months later with ten major recommendations to improve the capital.

Where are the task forces for other towns and cities in Ireland?

Yes, I acknowledge the irony — focusing on Dublin to complain about the focus on Dublin. Apologies. Particularly if it makes you feel a bit like old Jack at the counter in Dingle, ears ringing with the joys of the capital.