Free speech and weather dazzle the crowds

With the help of summer skies more redolent of the Roman Forum than London's Hyde Park, Dublin's first Speakers' Corner in more than 50 years proved a modest success.

Several hundred people turned up yesterday in Temple Bar Square for an afternoon of rhetoric and speechifying marginally less dazzling than the weather.

More came to listen than to talk, but once the initial shyness wore off there was a steady flow of volunteers willing to give forth from their (metaphorical) soapboxes.

Given the weather, sunglasses were the first item of kit needed by any speaker. A powerful voice also helped, especially when the ballad sessions from a nearby pub started to drown out the first speakers. Not that this posed any problem for Ciaran O'Reilly, a dreadlocked but by no means tongue-tied Catholic peace activist who boasts "nodules" on his voicebox from long years of public speaking.

Initial debate centred, predictably enough, on the war in Iraq and the visit of the US President, but widened as separate spots were established. Artist Robert Ballagh pleaded for visual artists to be given a share of the profits when their works are sold on, while playwright Donal O'Kelly introduced an anti-war ditty by the Shannon Colleens.

Nearby, poets plied their wares to an audience of tourists, smokers, rugby fans and other passers-by. A planned discussion on Roy Keane failed to take off, possibly because Munster eyes were fixed on Lansdowne Road.

By and large, members of Dáil Éireann were conspicuous by their absence, but the likes of Richard Boyd Barrett of the Socialist Workers' Movement or Sinn Féin's Daithí Doolan can hardly be said to be strangers to political debate.

Local business people welcomed the venture. Cian Murphy, who sells books from a stall in the square, was happy because it was "good for business. Plus it keeps me entertained - well, some of it."

For the creator of Cearnóg na gCainteoirí, musician Rossa Ó Snodaigh, it was a dream come true. "There are voices out there that aren't being listened to. People might have a different opinion if they heard the other side. Now they have the chance."

Mr Ó Snodaigh hopes that more mainstream politicians will show the gift of their gab on the square, particularly as June's election and referendum campaigns get underway.

While his brother Aengus is a Sinn Féin TD, Rossa says he has no political affiliations.

"I hope the parties aren't shy about showing their faces before the public who voted them in. After all, people are always saying the only time you see them is when they knock on your door every four years."

Speakers' Corner continues every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.