As an 80s teenager who grew up in Dublin, I find this to be a rather bittersweet video. Grateful to see it again, and yet so sad that such a wonderful era is now gone. And lovely to see the inimitable Thom McGinty who was such a kind and caring man. Used to bump into him on Botanic Road a lot when he was on his way into town.

This is so nostalgic for me as I was 20 in 1986 and this is the Dublin I loved. Seeing Thom mcGinty the ‘Diceman’ again was sweet.

God I miss Dublin as it used to be. I remember popping in to The Alchemists Head every Saturday to check out the comics. Remember the smell of Hops? Better days.

Politicians on the make, with multiple homes, inflated salaries, expenses state-paid 'perks'- but buskers cannot earn?!

A totally different place today, and not a better one sadly 😥

Be kind to buskers. Not everyone is cut out to work the 9-5 treadmill of pain.

Notice how impeccably dressed the Gardai are. Compared to the loafs of 2020s

Used to love seeing the Diceman on Grafton Street as a kid. He's wink at you and you'd be laughing.

Great times..... I remember all the buskers and street acts in the video. Use to be in Grafton St most Saturdays going to freebird records and sound celler just to flik through the records. Thanks for putting this video up really enjoyed a trip down memory lane.

what a gem.. I was busking in Ireland heard so much about the diceman.. now I was able to see his work... thank you and the young Little John... oh what a gem

People seem happier, even if they are moaning about trading

A beautiful country and wonderful people, I lived in it for 6 years and I long to visit it again👍

I was in Cork in the early/mid 90s and there was a fantastic 3 piece band of kids (siblings I think) all about 11-12 years old. They were playing Beatles songs (Hofner bass and all) and they were brilliant. They had a crowd watching them on a sunny day and the atmosphere on the street was great. The guards came and ran them at the direction of a shop owner who’d called them. I heard multiple people saying they were going to go into that shop and that they now wouldn’t. I overheard a few say they’d never spend a red cent in that shop again. The fact that they were both talented and just kids that had the guards called on them annoyed people especially. The atmosphere draws people to an area. It’s incredibly shortsighted to try and get rid of buskers.

Great video of a Dublin in the rare auld times, "Appils n rdinges, Appils n rdinges" ironic that a country so clebrated for it's contribution to the Arts was still using old British bylaws to ban the public playing of music and performance on the street but it was ok to dispose of rubbish anywhere you liked on that very street. I notice how cocky the cops were back then and wore uniforms that actually fitted them unlike today where it appears that a one size fits all has been introduced.

Great video! The dreaded Grafton Street kerbs.. the amount of time I punted my toes into them..

I'm glad to see this , theres not an awful lot of social capture from this time , a video camera was not in everyone's pocket. It took effort . And now people think what they had for lunch is valuable blog material, I'm glad someone was active , the problem is to everyone then , it seems pointless, I'd argue it's very much not now , I deffo appreciate it's there to access, so a long time coming but thanks 🙂

Beautiful city ❤️

Makes me sad to see this version of Ireland i remember as a child. Dublin is full of different nationalities now, and we have lost our identity. 😢

Great video of old Dublin

Hats off to yezz for fighting for buskers, because of you their is a fabulous busking scene on Grafton & thereabouts in Dublin which is regularly filmed by Sean at "Dublin City Today" & Seamus Traynor at "Buskbeats"

no google map no internet, people looks much happier and lives in the present.

Good old Dublin a once great city I don't go to Dublin no more too many memories for me

Wow 😃 I was busker on Grafton and Henry Street... For some years, nothing change, I was arrested, have a lot of problems, junkies problems, shit gardai problems and everyday I only try do my best to everyone. And I recorded everything I will download here on my channel Thanks very much for this video give me a lot of answers...

I can't even imagine Dublin without buskers, what a ridiculous idea to criminalise musicians and artists ffs.

They arent vagrant they are musicians they have a skill and talents

really enjoyed that . yes my memory is right. clothes were awful in the 80s. ha ha. great to see some of the characters.

Holy shit! The dice man!

Thanks for video keep going 🤠 greeting from Morocco

Good times ,fond memories

I remember Busking in Cork, had no probs. I was only there a few days thou' so maybe over time the dark blues maybe have shrouded me. Pity, of all places - Ireland to ban Buskers!! Crazy.

And poor Pat Tierney selling his poems on Grafton Street and the Diceman all drinking coffee ☕️ in Bewleys famous cafe and Hector Grey selling magical goods at the Halfpenny bridge. Then in January 1996 Pat Tierney succumbed in the grounds of a Drumcondra church on his 39th birthday and he bid farewell to this beautiful but cruel world. Time doth makes ghosts of us all 🌻🎩🌻

Now the Guards stop everyone in Ireland from wondering more than 5 miles from their homes.

No one in the video had a mobile phone back then!

Loved watching this.

Big monopolies resent street traders.

I remember the smell of leather belts for sale in the Dandelion Market. The Diceman was a Saturday regular on Grafton Street ( usually up nearer the Green ). We were always kinda afraid of him. He was Other. Sad he died of AIDS. As in every high street in every country, Grafton street mainly has international chain stores. You see the same layouts and window displays in different countries. Who remembers traffic on Grafton Street ....

Even this is so far from me at that time we lived in Great USSR but as human as my Uzbek Muslim heart feels nostalgic time ....My best wishes for all human being...🙏🇺🇿🇰🇿🇰🇬

Ohh take me back plz fooking state of the city now traitors to Eire.

i wonder if that lady is still around-great explanation byb her-gardai getting it wrong AGAIN.

notuce how littered Grafton St was then-unreal

Shocked to discover Rose West busked on Grafton Street in the 80s.

A great thing back then you could do... instead of paying 22 cent for a plastic bag, just stand in the wind and hold out your hand....

The bloody rubbish everywhere.

I wish I was there at 11.20 to give those great musicians a clap

Was that Michael Martin in the back, shouting out keep your 2 meters distance,

litter all over the street look

Diceman was fab

I remember that aul one with the cross.. Used to frighten the life of me. Anyone know her name?

I was born in the 80's and now I busk in the city centre , Bray , Dun Laoghaire and my home town of Ballyfermot but I remember as a very young child seeing people in town doing street art and the buskers and street artists , Allie sherlock is probably the most famous busker in Dublin right now and Jacob Koopman...!! Mark G Ballyfermot Dublin Eíre !!

I LOVE that Bob Dylan song! Wish they'd come and serenade me. 🤭

Ah, I remember "The Dice man"

Before the great replacement began.

the grim old days of the 1980s

Great to see busking in grafton street now. Brings a great atmosphere to the city.

RIP The #Diceman what a great character sadly missed. Great video, you now need a license and audition to busk in Dublin, there were coordinated gangs (scangers) sending kids out taking the Mickey and just getting up and literally singing the same song all day, no other repertoire just to get people's money.

I can't be the only one mentally switching "busking" with "wanking" I'm 5 minutes and an interesting documentary is transformed into magnificent experience

10.45 >>> my old friend & colleague in Westbury Hotel, Martin Flood, a great GAA football player too. Great food, in the hotel Still Room end of shift 1 a.m. , eh Martin? Smoked salmon & egg sandwiches, desserts.

It's not a crime to be a survivor 😁, its a crime to be a quitter and a leech 🐛, it costs the taxpayers much more to jail 🏣a tryer than wish them well 💐😁👍

nice vid old times , fuking great the 80s dublin , ya couldnt beat it witt a sticckk

Population of the Republic of Ireland went down from approximately 4.2 million 1921 to 2.6 in 1961 the 80's and 70's generations never realised their full potential even with the small renaissance in music particularly who is writing the history of these lost generations or is it quick fast to the Digital Revolution?

I think that's me finishing off(excuse the expression)Marilyn Monroe on the street

I was in Dublin in 1986 and knew two brothers who were artists painting near the bridge...John and Dará...is this one of you guys in the video?

Loved Dublin back then.... When you weren't listening to 30 different languages as you walked along the pavements or when peopled walked along the pavements and nodded or said hello to each other instead of checking their phones every 2 or 3 minutes . Rare auld times these :)

35 years on there’s nothing on the streets!

Beautiful video

RIP the diceman.

An old English statute?! Now that IS oppression.

Excellent video, I guess the powers that be had no interest In the real lawbreakers, always hounding the suppressed making them fight against the system.

You have to admit DCC street sweepers where far more entertaining than today 7.50

No mobile 📱 or Internet cafes . 😁

There's little john nee!

is the banjo player playing never on a sunday at 14:00

When Ireland was Ireland 🇮🇪 😢.

10.46 >> Martin Savage, security guard Westbury-Mall . How's it goin' Martin?

Ireland has always had a proud tradition of the arts. We’re known abroad for our love of music and culture & tourists seem to enjoy the buskers. This is something that should be celebrated rather than vilified due to out of date foreign laws. We didn’t realise what we had back then. Nowadays Dublin is over run with scumbag junkies.

your woman on the squeeze box at the start is still about , plays in the cobblestone.. am i right ?

It was a great place to go in the summer now its like a 👾 different city pure shame.

what's the song at the end?

7.33 a young and vibrant George Galloway.. embracing socialism...

Remember John Nee in Galway.

I was 2 and happy

L0Ve

Bless

just orian..it's Dublin Ireland

Aul dublin

Its natural that Irish people or any culture love and remember seeing their town or country full of their own people its heritage but biodiversity helps when different cultures intergrate but u still see people not mixing

the buskers guild got what they asked for. Busking should always be illegal.

I remember commuting from drogheda to dublin city in 95 to work and being told daily i lived sticks lol they couldnt believe i travelled the now 30mins drive to work daily 😂

OMG THE HAIR

1986 much better

The Guards and the Black and Tans are one and the same.

just orian..yes that's him

The amount of litter on the street is a disgrace jaysus

Little John Nee?

The only criterion should be quality. None appears here and none appears now. Of all capital cities in Europe Dublin is the most squalid and it steals far too much from the rest of Ireland.

Pedantic commentary.

That lads from Antrim hi

I hate what the political parties have done to our country, multiculturalism has destroyed it, there's nothing wrong having the Chinese or Indian take away around but they've literally saturated us beyond recognition, every where I go in Dublin and elsewhere all I hear are foreign accents from God knows where

Thanks for this old gem. Does anyone know who the narrator is?

2020