Things To Do: Store your seeds, seek sanctuary in Naul, accept that the parade is inescapable

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Our recommendations – no sponsored content, or adverts, just stuff we like.

Contentious Space by Rosaleen McDonagh

Over in Hodges Figgis this evening the playwright and author Rosaleen McDonagh is launching her debut novel, Contentious Spaces.

Contentious Spaces follows the lives of a group of Traveller families in Saint Rita’s and are just a week away from being evicted by the council, an action which threatens not only their homes but also their history and the stories that have shaped them. Described as unflinching and haunting, McDonagh uses the novel to grapple with identity, loyalty, shame, reliance, grief and love.

As part of the launch, McDonagh will be in the shop to speak with the activist and writer Sinéad Burke.

The event starts at 6pm today (Thursday, 12 March) and admission is free.

The Centrality of Bodies, Fiona Marron at Pallas

Also this evening, over in Pallas Projects, artist Fiona Marron is opening her new exhibition, The Centrality of Bodies.

The second exhibition in Pallas’ 2026 Artist-Initiated Projects programme, The Centrality of Bodies builds on Marron’s long-standing engagement with communications and internet infrastructure, bringing together new works that collectively address the material, social and relational underpinnings of such systems.

Marron’s work in The Centrality combines moving-image, photographic, print and sculptural elements in an installation that builds a conceptual interplay between artefacts and individuals, and observes the interactions of technologies old and new – from grinding gears to subsea fibre-optic cables.

And if you have children between the ages of four and eight, or you’re a reader within that age bracket, Marron is also running a workshop intended for your child, or you (the remarkably advanced kid with an email address and a newspaper subscription).

Inspired by the Adam Guillain children’s book The Street Beneath My Feet, the workshop looks at the networks and technologies surrounding us, and invites participants on an imaginative journey where they can construct, participate and occupy a world of their own making.

The workshop is geared towards schools, and if you are interested in bringing a class to attend, contact the gallery at outreach@pallasprojects.org.

The Centrality of Bodies launches this evening at 6pm (Thursday, 12 March) and will run until 28 March.

For more information, visit the exhibition page here.

You’re Bleedin’ Gorgeous

The inconsiderate Gregorian Calendar has decided to put St. Patrick’s Day on a Tuesday this year, and thus created a financial catastrophe. The Bank Holiday’s value has been diluted.

All of this is to say, people are going to be celebrating our patron saint’s day over the weekend.

If you’re looking for music, the Grand Social is hosting You’re Bleedin’ Gorgeous, an all-day festival on Saturday, 14 March.

Featuring 22 artists across three stages, the line-up is loaded with up-and-coming artists, including Babyrat, Telekura, Smithereens, Saint Sylvia and Wobblin Jude

The festival starts at 1pm. Entry is €10 and tickets are available here.

Sanctuary

If you’re extremely keen to escape the city this weekend however, we can send you to the Naul, because the Seamus Ennis Arts Centre is hosting a special open day to celebrate Sanctuary, a new exhibition by artist Cormac Dennis.

Launched late in February, Sanctuary brings together more than 25 of Dennis’ oil and pastel works. Exploring the natural world and spiritual growth, the works document Dennis’ personal journey along Fingal’s coast.

As part of the exhibition, Dennis will be up at the centre from 10pm to discuss this current collection.  He will then, at 11.30am and 1pm, be hosting live demonstrations in oil painting, charcoal and conté.

Amateur artists are also invited to bring one work of their own up to discuss and get feedback from Dennis during the day.

To reserve a spot, visit the event page here.

If however, you can’t make it up on Saturday, Dennis’ exhibition will be on show until 31 March. For more information, visit the centre’s website here.

Ballymun Seed Library

Over the winter, Ballymun Library set up a seed library. 

Located in the adult library’s gardening section, and decorated with an image of children playing in the flats, the seed library was filled with snowdrop, crocus and bluebell bulbs for anyone to take and plant ahead of the spring. People with a few too many seeds were invited to donate theirs for others to use.

And on Saturday at 2pm, the library is officially launching its seed library.

To mark the occasion, Polly Sams-Rowley, the eco-gardener in residence in Richmond Barracks, will be giving a talk on seed saving. Local climate action and biodiversity organisations, including Ballymun Biodiversity Action Group, Ballymun Tidy Towns, Glasnevin North Tidy Towns and The Rediscovery Centre, will also be available to provide information and advice to those attending.

The event is free. For more information, visit the Dublin City Council Libraries website here.

The Parade

As someone who spent two hours trying to walk from Tara Street to Parnell Street to eat a corn dog on St. Patrick’s Day two years ago, I have no intention of going to see the parade.

But, while on that lengthy journey, I came to the realisation that one city dweller’s obstruction is another’s entertainment. Profound, no?

Anyway, the parade starts at 12pm on Parnell Square, and will wrap up at the Cuffe Street/Kevin Street junction.

Whether you choose to see the spectacle in between those two points, or would like to use that information to ease your travels throughout the day, is up to you.

But it would be remiss of me not to mention that the parade is coming, and it cares not for your appetite.

Dublin and Art: 1950 to Today with Aoife Convery

Rathmines Library is hosting the latest in a collaborative series with the Hugh Lane Gallery, which explores the history of art in the city.

Dublin and Art is an illustrated art-talk series that is being presented as part of the Hugh Lane Gallery’s off-site Explore and Learn programme, and explores how artists have been inspired by the people and places in Dublin city from the 19th century to the present day.

For the Rathmines talk, lecturer and gallery guide Aoife Convery will be exploring the city’s art from the 1950s to today.

Admission is free, but booking is required. To reserve your spot, visit the event page here.

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Producing Strategies Podcast

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios is hosting the online launch of Producing Strategies, a new podcast series by curatorial practitioner Vaari Claffey and writer and academic Francis Halsall, exploring creative producing as a practice and form.

In conversation with creative experts, Claffey and Halsall speak with curators, film producers, editors, designers, food producers, fashion designers, and more – about how they produce and make things happen.

For more information, and to listen to the first nine episodes, visit the Temple Bar Gallery + Studios website here.

Corduff Place Report

Fingal County Council has formally launched a report presenting the findings of an in-depth community engagement process carried out with residents, local organisations, and service providers in Corduff Place throughout 2025.

This "Standard Tool Report", is available on Fingal County Council’s website here.

Bike Week Community Grant

If you have an idea to make biking better in your community, Dublin City Council is currently taking applications for its Bike Week Community Grant.

The grant is open to community groups and clubs, on-profit organizations, local cycling groups and family friendly events.

The deadline is 1 April. For more information and to apply, visit the Bike Week Community Grant website here.