Few people would identify Jim Larkin with one of Dublin's most salubrious suburbs but, as an unveiling ceremony in Ballsbridge revealed yesterday, he was a "Dublin 4" resident from 1935 until his death in 1947. The house, at 41 Wellington Road, has been beautifully restored and the room where Larkin is thought to have spent his last years is now a large tiled bathroom.
The Lord Mayor, Fianna Fail's Mr John Stafford, said after unveiling the plaque to the socialist, trade unionist and intellectual, that he was surprised Larkin had opted to live on the south side. "But, as a Dubliner and Lord Mayor, I am delighted to be here."
The Larkin family were tenants at Wellington Road and a fellow tenant, Mr John de Courcy Ireland, reminisced yesterday about the political debates in the kitchen of the house and Larkin disappearing into his "attic" each night with an armful of books.
Despite the renovations, he said: "I find it an extraordinarily emotional moment to be in this house, where the inspiration of my life began." The funeral was "a day I will never forget. There were snowflakes over everything. Heaven itself was weeping at the death of the greatest man of his age", said Mr Donal Nevin, former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Mr Jim Larkin, a grandson, had homelier memories of being sent out into the garden "to harvest victoria plums, gooseberries and apples. To be honest, I ate most of them myself".
The SIPTU general secretary, Mr Billy Attley, whose union organised the tribute, thanked the owners for allowing the plaque to be erected on the house. The householders were delighted at the opportunity to pay tribute to Larkin.