Authors [ C ]
Janet Cahill,
Author of Goose Eggs & Hoover Bags and Tulips,
Chips & Mayonnaise
Janet Cahill was born in 1968 in inner city Dublin. At times a difficult place to navigate, Janet survived the pitfalls that most embraced. Despite all the odds she travelled the world, settling in North America for seventeen years. Previous occupations include waitressing, childcare and cleaning, she has now found writing an outlet for her emotions.
"I want to congratulate Janet on this remarkable book which gives a great insight into inner city Dublin life. While Janet's book is a personal memoir, it also encapsulates a strong sense of social history and she gives a vivid picture of what life was like growing up in Dublin in the mid 1970s.
"I first entered political life in this era and I remember well the mass emigration, the huge rate of unemployment, poverty and lack of investment which characterised our capital city at that time. Dublin in the Rare Auld Times, it most definitely was not. Thankfully, we have all come a long way since then.
"Though Janet's story catalogues the hard times experienced by many Dubliners, her story is also a story where her own bravery, love of life and her committed approach shine through. I particularly like her observation that "one thing we never had to fight for was the love, care, honesty and friendship we had growing up in the inner city."
That sense of community and social solidarity is something that we can learn from and should still continue to value in more prosperous times.”
Bertie Ahern, TD, Taoiseach.
Books
I Swear
“…This remarkable book gives a great insight into inner city Dublin life. ..…..It encapsulates a strong sense of social history and gives a vivid picture of what life was like growing up in Dublin in the mid 1970s” An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
Janet Cahill was born and reared in Dublin’s inner city in the 1970s, in an era when the young population was in rapid decline. In a poor community ravaged by high unemployment, drug addiction and crime, Janet's family struggled to break the cycle of death and destruction that visited nearly every family in their community.
Spurred on by what she saw happening to many of her own aunts, uncles, cousins and neighbours, Janet was determined that she would follow another path in life and escape the destiny which had befallen so many members of her community. “We could all have gone the way of so many young people growing up in the inner city but we didn’t.
Life is about the choices you make for yourself…” Janet’s choices brought her from St Joseph’s Mansions in Dublin’s inner city to Boston, to Aruba in the Carribean and now back to Dublin. Janet attributes her success and determination to the strong sense of community in the inner city and the great family she had, particularly her mother, Martha. "My mother was our inspiration.
She lost a lot of her family to drugs but she was determined that the lives of her children would be different. All around people were getting into trouble with the police. There was no help at that time for drug addicts and most of them died leaving heartbroken families to be reared by grandparents or brothers and sisters.” Throughout I Swear, Janet recounts fondly and honestly, her life growing up in the tight-knit inner city community of St Joseph’s Mansions.
The result is an extraordinary account of life in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in a poor but strong community in inner city Dublin. It is a heartwarming story of hope and inspiration amid the harsh reality of drug addiction, crime, death and the destruction of entire communities. "I hope that my story will help people of all ages and from all walks of life to see the destruction that drug addiction brings to families and communities. But most importantly I hope that this story inspires people to make a go of their lives no matter where they live.”