Croke Park. It’s not just a stadium. As Tim Carey, author of Croke Park: A History says, ‘More than perhaps any other sporting venue, Croke Park represents something that is beyond sport’. The place has always had another agenda – one that’s intimately connected with the birth and evolution of a nation. ‘It is freighted with historical significance’, says Carey, ‘from the naming of the stands after various figures associated with the GAA to the momentous historical event of Bloody Sunday. Perhaps no other stadium in the worl

Zendesk is a software as a service (SAAS) company that specialises in helping companies’ customer care operations. The company was founded in Copenhagen 10 years ago and has grown massively since then. With six products and over 100,000 customers worldwide, it has come a long way. “The initial concept was making life easier for customer support engineers,” says Colum Twomey, Zendesk Vice President. “We developed a customer support platform, a software as a service product, and that’s where we came from. Since then we’ve developed more products and addressed a broader market.” Zendesk now offers a voice channel product, chat services, data analytics pro

Wrapped from head to toe against the hostile elements, surrounded by a riot of colour which cuts a sharp contrast with the grey February day, meet the flower ladies of Grafton Street. They say the ladies are “the heart and soul of Grafton Street” and what helps save the road from becoming just another English high street. You’ll find the ladies bringing both wit and colour to the corners of Chatham, Harry and Duke Streets. Tina Kelly tells us she’s been selling flowers all her life, starting off aged 12 helping her mother when Grafton St still had two-way traffic. She has seen a lot come and go from her perch on Duke Street. Tina tells Dublin.ie that one time she even met The Duke himself. “Yeah I met John Wayne.” “Sure I met them all,” she adds. “Sean Connery… I was talking away to him, Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan, Lisa Stanfield. I met an awful lot of them. And sure Eric Clapton, well I was talking to him on the street for nearly two hours and I hadn’t a clue who he was.” A natural born story teller, you can tell Tina enjoys the banter that comes with the trade. Many of the customers are obviously regulars as there’s lots of first name usage. Sister-in-law Susanne, who mans the Harry Street corner, says “you have to enjoy talking to people.” And in case we hadn’t noticed, she adds: “Now I would be a talker!” The Kelly name is synonymous with flowers on Grafton Street going way back, Susanne says. “Now I married into the Kelly family,” she says adding that she comes from a family of boxers. My grandfather was Spike McCormick.”

Ed Giansante left Sao Paulo for Dublin in 2008 with the hope of learning English and making a new start in Ireland. He lived with a host family in a Dublin suburb and went to an English language school near Mountjoy Square. His timing was both good and bad. Ireland’s economy had hit a massive recession, and the country was facing into a period of austerity. It would be hard for a native to survive in the capital under such conditions, let alone a non-English speaker. He found work with Stratogen, an advertising agency, where he worked for 18 months. “I was making hardly any money, because of the recession, but I had a job. That was really important in so many wa

From one chair to three shops – the success of Cut & Sew Barbershop culture is on the rise in Dublin. Barbershops are becoming cultural hotspots. Places you can go not only for a haircut, but for music, design or even a whiskey. By taking the best of New York’s barbershops and adding a touch of creativity and an Irish welcome, Sean Bryan of Cut & Sew has built his business from one chair in the basement of a record shop to three stores in Dublin’s city centre. And he isn’t finished yet. Dublin.ie caught up with Sean to see what’s behind his success. Sean left school after