That's a cousin over there, and he's another cousin. And that man there, well, he's another cousin. The exhibition is called Trainspotting but there's more cousin-spotting than train-spotting going on at an opening in the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar.
The photographs of trains and railways, which are on display, have been chosen from the world-famous Lawrence Collection. William Mervyn Lawrence left a total of 40,000 images behind, all chronicling Irish life around the turn of the century. Tonight, some of his descendants have come along to enjoy the launch and sip a glass of wine.
Dermott Coyle, a retired engineer and part-time genealogist, points to members of his own extended family, some of them descended from Lawrence. His great granduncle was William Mervyn Lawrence. He points to James Coyle - another cousin, though not connected to the Lawrence side of the family. "We're putting the Lawrence family tree together," says the former engineer who, at 82 years old, has 21 grandchildren.
Turning again, he points with an air of mystery to Randall Giddings. "He's the last of the Giddings," he says. "He's a cousin. His great grandmother was a Lawrence."
Giddings, a retired grocer from Clontarf, mentions his son, Brian, in Bray, who is truly the last for now. As to himself: "We've a fair number of years behind us," he says, whispering that he's 81. He decides to let the world know his age in spite of a warning look from his youthful-looking wife, Maureen Giddings, who remains quiet on the subject of her own age.
Others spotted at the opening, which was officially performed by Mary O'Rourke, the Minister for Public Enterprise, include two members of the Irish Railway Record Society - Tim Moriarty and Paddy O'Brien. Brendan O'Donoghue, director of the National Library of Ireland, is here to officiate. And two members of the NLI staff, who want, they say, "to discourage the cult of the personality", are slow to identify themselves but after arm-twisting reveal themselves as Donall O Launaigh and John Farrell.