Q. Can I help with tracing your Dublin ancestors?
A. No, but I can pass it on to someone who may be able to - free of charge.

Q. Will I do your homework?
A. No, but I may be able to help if you've got a question which interests me.

Q. Why is North County Dublin not covered in the same detail as the rest of the city and county?
A. I haven't been able to find out of copyright material which deals with some parts of the west and north county.

Q. What is the meaning of the three burning castles on the Dublin flag?
A. Beats the hell out of me. This is a frequent question - it is also one I can't answer. Bristol? Signal? There is no agreement. I can send you the known details if you're curious.

Q. I asked you a question and you haven't replied. Why?
A. I try to reply to every Email I get. Sometimes it take a couple of days to put the information together. But, sometimes (particularly if your Email address is where you work) some servers refuse to accept Email from me. I don't know why, but there it is! Try sending from your personal Email address instead.

Q. Why is there nothing detailed about events in the Four Courts at the start of the Civil War?
A. Little or nothing seems to have been written about it. I'm still looking.

Q. Why do some books refer to places as being in Great Britain or the United Kingdom when everyone knows that Ireland is a Republic?
A. Oddly, this is a far more frequent question than I would have thought. The answer is that the books I have reproduced were printed before Irish Independence. To update the reference would be an historical nonsense.

Q. Why is there an anti-Republican/Nationalist bias in some of the books?
A. For much the same reason as the last answer. Many of the authors, including Ball, were pro-Union with Britain. Irish Nationalists, on the other hand, weren't writing histories of Dublin - they had other things to be doing. It should be noted that all of the authors share a common nostalgia for the older revolutionaries - Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmet etc.

Q. I find some of the references insulting. Why have they been left in?
A. That's political correctness for you. Terms which would have been in common use back then are no longer acceptable today. Whenever I have added anything to the original text it is clearly marked [ ... KF] In a very few instances I have added material or a link which visitors may find useful - these are also clearly indicated. Please remember that only those articles which I have "signed" (General Section) are written by me.

Q. Why are there so few original photographs used?
A. They take up a lot of space, the quality is often not great, text takes far less time to complete. There are, however, several hundred illustrations spread across the site. I do intend to spend more time working on photographs.

Q. What's the best way to scan text?
A. Get someone else to do it!
Seriously, if the book is thick photocopy it first. Most smaller books will scan perfectly well on a cheap scanner (mine, a Dexxa, cost �50 - about 60 Euros). Use the highest resolution you can, I use 580dpi. Always save your work every 10 pages or so, there's nothing worse than having to repeat the scans.

Q. What modern books about Dublin should I read?
A. I'll take modern to read "not out of copyright." I'm not putting these in any order (but I'm a fan of anything by Peter Pearson, Pat Liddy and Christiaan Corlett - how clear an indication do you want?). The newer ones should be available widely, for the older ones (some of which have been republished) I'd recommend Abebooks.com.

Apologies for those I've left out - let me know and, assuming that A. I've got it, and B. I've read it and liked it, I'll include it.

"The Heart of Dublin: Resurgence of an Historic City" by Peter Pearson, O'Brien Press, published in 2000.

"Dublin 1660-1860" by Maurice Craig, London: Cresset Press, 1952.

"Dublin; A Celebration," by Pat Liddy, Dublin Corporation 2000.

"Antiquities of Rathdown," by Christiaan Corlett, Wordwell Ltd., 1999.

"Encyclopaedia of Dublin," by Douglas Bennett, Gill and McMillan, 1991.

"The Liffey in Dublin," by J. W. De Courcy, 1966.

"Dublin Under the Georges," by Constantina Maxwell. London: George Harrap, 1946.

"Dublin; A Study In Environment," by John Harvey, B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1949.

Any issue of the "Dublin Historical Record," published by the Old Dublin Society.

"1916 Rebellion Handbook," Mourne River Press, 1998.

On the lighter side, "The Dalkey Archive," by Flann O'Brien. In fact, just about anything written by the best Dublin author not to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Q. Can I buy anything on this site?
A. No. I work in a selling environment (though I don't sell) and this is my hobby, so there is nothing to buy, nothing to pay.

Q. Do you change anything in the books?
Yes - and no! Whenever I find an obvious spelling error (rare enough!) I correct it. Where there is any doubt I leave it stand. Harris's "History and Antiquities of the City of Dublin" (1765) is the only exception - I took the liberty of changing the spelling and "ff's" to make it readable. Again, where there was any doubt I left it stand. By and large, when you come across an obvious mistake it is my fault - I haven't got the best eyesight in the world and sometimes I miss the obvious!

I also have a problem with Appendices - they're all included (well nearly all, Gilbert's Latin stuff is still hanging out there) but probably not hyperlinked back to the chapter. I tend to keep scanning new books and don't spend enough time putting the final touches.

Q. Can I use the material on your site?
Yes. Most of it is out of copyright. Please be careful though, some people have written articles for the site and these belong to them. If in doubt, ask!

Q. Should I visit Dublin?
A. Don't ask me! Come and find out for yourself. We're no better and no worse than people everywhere else. Do not expect leprechauns and pigs in the parlour. Do expect a city that is changing fast and may, in fact, largely resemble where you have just come from. There's plenty to see and, even though I now live in deepest, darkest Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) and work above a shopping centre in Santry (north Dublin), I still enjoy dropping into town every few weeks.

Q. What about the footnotes - I can't help but notice that you've been remiss with Mr. F. E. Ball's most excellent volumes?
A. OK, you've got me bang to rights. When I started off (early 1999) I took a fairly cavalier attitude to them. I'm in the process of adding them

Q. Good grief! I've spotted a whopping mistake. What should I do?
Let me know, particularly if you can provide extra information. My email address is kfinlay@indigo.ie

Q. I've got sometime you might be interested in - a book, photograph, a memory, what should I do?
A. In the words of my three-and-a-bit nephew, James Burns, "Sharing is good!"

Ken Finlay, June 2002.