The Save Moore Street campaign has just received support from an unexpected quarter with the launch of “Moore Street –The Story of Dublin’s Market District,” the first book ever written about Dublin’s beloved market.

Published by Mercier Press with a foreword by RTE broadcaster, Joe Duffy, the book will be launched by its author Barry Kennerk on Moore Street. He will be assisted by representatives of the Save Moore Street campaign and legendary songwriter Pete St. John, whose accomplishments include “Rosie up on Moore Street” and “The Fields of Athenry”.

The book charts the story of the market over its 300-year history. It is illustrated with over 120 photographs – many of which have never seen the light of day. Using forgotten archival material, it tells the story of the entire market area that used to exist where the Ilac Centre is now.

“It was here that the redoubtable Biddy Mulligan was dreamt up, where the leaders of the 1916 Rising made their last stand and where businessman Bill Cullen learnt his trade. Yet for all that, the street was once just part of a much larger market - home to a myriad of second-hand clothes dealers, furniture brokers, poulterers, rabbit sellers, butchers and vegetable traders, all plying their trade in the narrow lanes and alleys,” states the book sleeve.

However, just like the second hand shoe and clothes sellers of Cole’s Lane, today’s traders work under the shadow of a proposed shopping centre development.

With regard to the book, spokesman for the Save Moore Street campaign Patrick Cooney said, “I have always seen the traders as unpaid ambassadors for the city. Don’t close the market: extend it.

“It’s about forcing a change, not just in the future of planning, conservation and retail but in the cultural and social life of the country. The battle for Moore Street is really the battle for Ireland.”
 
“Moore Street - Dublin's Market District” recounts the history of the entire market area, charting its growth and development since the eighteenth century - the real 'heart of the rowel,’ as well as detailed research on the area.

The book will be officially launched on Moore Street, at 11am, on Tuesday, 23rd October. It is available to buy at Amazon.com.