Deirdre Conroy

Writer, Historian, Journalist

Ireland

Award-winning travel journalist (best newcomer of 2014), I write book reviews and opinion on politics, environment, architecture, art and general chaos. I'm mother to two male millennials. I specialize in conservation reports for historic buildings , check out www.deirdreconroy.com and I'm a law graduate of the Honorable Society of King's Inns, Dublin. Articles: Irish Independent, Irish Times, Sunday Independent, Apollo, Irish Arts Review

Deirdre Conroy

Writer, Historian, Journalist

Ireland

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Choking the cause of this mass migration is vital... otherwise thousands more will die
It is almost five years since the first terrorised families escaped Syria and crossed the Turkish border. I was in Istanbul recently and saw that the Syrian refugees seeking alms differentiated themselves with a handwritten label in English, stating their origin. Our Turkish tour guide informed us that the official number of Syrian people taking refuge in Turkey is one million; the reality, she said, is more like four million.
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Let the Carrickmines tragedy be the spur for treating Travellers with real humanity
A planning enforcement officer called to my house a few years ago to inspect my back garden. I had been reported for contravening the planning code and I would have to remove the offending construction or face legal action. The offence? My climbing roses were supported on a trellis that was two inches higher than that permitted for a rear garden boundary.
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Andorra, T'estimo!
The souvenir-sized state offers more than affordable ski breaks. Andorra is a budget spree - if you don't mind dining in the same hotel for a week, your room, meals, flight and transfer could be as little as €100 per day. Ski hire and passes are also much cheaper than more chic Alpine resorts. If you've got kids in tow, or are a beginner wondering if you'll take to the sport, this could be the cheapest way to try it out.
Books: Be careful what you wish for...
Would the world be a better place if it was run by women? I would hazard a guess there would be fewer wars. Mothers are not inclined willingly to send their sons to battlefield as cannon fodder. The concept of a harmonious all-female society was explored in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's novel of 1915, Herland, a utopian tale where women are strong, caring and reproduce by parthenogenesis.
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If McNamara is to be allowed to build again, let him sort out Longboat Quay first
The Edwardian house on Ailesbury Road, in Ireland's most expensive quarter, was not grand enough. So the new owner demolished it and built a 16,000 sq ft monument to his success, complete with basement swimming pool beneath a transparent ballroom floor. The detail, the finish, the gadgets - the compliance with building standards - were not found wanting.
Powerscourt Hotel: A short break in Ireland's newest Hotel of the Year
Deirdre Conroy checks in to Powerscourt, just crowned the AA's Hotel of the year for 2015/16. Every icon has to start somewhere, and Powerscourt Hotel - this week named the AA's Hotel of the Year for 2015/16 - shares the sublime Wicklow landscape in which Richard Wingfield, 3rd Viscount Powerscourt, built his Palladian mansion, Powerscourt House.
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For five years, let's give this all-female Dream Cabinet a go
The next general election will be like none before. For the first time, 30pc of the major (shrinking) parties' candidates must be female or they will face a financial penalty. Ireland is 83rd in the world ranking of women's representation in 190 parliaments, alongside North and South Korea. Contrary to the old chestnut that this will produce tokenistic females, there are robust, fearless women taking their first steps into the gladiatorial arena, not giving a fig for the patriarchal parties.
Books: Homeland and away
Long before the Bible there have been stories of exile and distance, of migrants seeking refuge from the cruelty of despots and mankind. The relative distance of memory is a shifting element in the short story form. There is no beginning, middle and end. Long and short-term memory mesh and unspool.
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We can't allow defence budget to vanish into thin air
As soon as he sold the national airline, Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe launched a hefty national aviation policy. The first of its kind. Essentially, it pledged that Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports shall remain in national ownership. Nothing new there then. Over the weekend, a 25-year plan was mooted by Dublin Airport Authority to develop a 70-acre site into a new 'Airport City', though no planning permission or funding is yet in place.
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With Hynde-sight, Chrissie should think before she puts her heels in it
It is hardly worth buying Chrissie Hynde's autobiography now that the most controversial lines have been quoted in a newspaper interview. Hynde, at 63, still likes to rock an androgynous look, with waistcoat, man's tie, and bits of chain and knuckledusters for embellishment. Her trademark heavily-kohl-lined eyes beneath a long, choppy fringe diffuse the feminine.
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Panic stations over Passive Houses seems a terrible waste of energy
President Michael D Higgins told the international conference on climate change recently that it would take “moral courage to swim against the tide to change our models of economics and development” and that there was a “need for candour about change and the obstacles that were in its path”. Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has expressly demanded that two local authorities delete all references to Passive House building standards in their 2016-2021 development plans.
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Wrecking ball: tearing down this eyesore a healthy start
The clue to our ailing health service is just around the corner. On Hawkins Street, Dublin 2, to be precise. The people behind the grindingly slow €14bn public health service are shored up in Dublin's Ugliest Building. At least there is some succour in its proximity to the best pint in Dublin. But workplace contentment aside, the good news is that Hawkins House is to be demolished.
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The foreigners who are destroying the Wild Atlantic Way
It was a Dutch explorer, Philipp von Siebold, who first introduced the problem that would cost Europe hundreds of millions of euro. He returned to the Netherlands with his samples from the slopes of a Japanese volcano in 1847 and then posted a cutting to Kew Gardens in 1850. The rest is geography.
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What nurse in their right mind would want to come home?
I am writing this from my hospital bed where I am acutely grateful and relieved when a nurse appears. Actually, I don't even know if they are nurses, as everyone has a different outfit and exotic name. A very cool nurse-man, a bit like Kanye West, took my temperature last night. Historically, the qualities and standards set by the social reformer Florence Nightingale established the nursing profession as a noble and caring one.
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Rainbow literature's bright and bold legacy
Iconic movie: Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', the 1961 Hollywood movie based on Truman Capote's novel of the same title. Ireland's recent resounding affirmation of same-sex marriage energised a young electorate into political activism. Many first-time voters did not even know that homosexuality had been a crime until relatively recently.
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Restricting access to the capital will not solve traffic chaos
Somebody down in the bunkers of Dublin has a crystal ball. It appears that in the future there will be balmy days and sunshine aplenty to go with the radical Dublin City Centre Transport Study. Besides good weather, you will need good shoes and possibly a facility for several languages. The objective is to 'provide an attractive environment for pedestrians that facilitates and encourages social interaction'.

About

Deirdre Conroy

Literary Review

Travel Writing

News Analysis

Art Criticism

Architectural Review

Sailing

Skiing

Life is full of surprises, some you don't recognise as a good thing - quite the opposite. The twists and turns of my career have brought me from the corporate world to establishing my own design business. Adding a degree in English and History of Art and Architecture, a masters in Palladian architecture and another masters in urban and building conservation between 1994 and 2005. I think my two sons have survived it.

As an architectural historian, I write conservation reports for planning applications on historic buildings.

As a journalist, I contribute opinion and reviews to national newspapers.

I've written my first novel and recently returned to study. This time it's law and who knows where that will lead.

Through all of this what has become clear is a love of travel, analysis and writing.

Now, back to business... Commissions welcome.