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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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A POPULAR Limerick pub book whose authors raised money for a charity close to their hearts has won them the well-deserved title of Limerick Persons of the Month.
Dr Paul O’Brien and William Banks wrote Taprooms, Taverns & Alehouses: Limerick City Pubs, ca.1850 - 2024.
A true labour of love, it took the pair over three years to complete it and once published, the funds they raised from sales led to donating nearly €60,000 to Down Syndrome Limerick.
Upon receiving the award in the Clayton Hotel, Limerick city, William said: “We’re shocked.
“It was a great surprise when we got the call, but we did it [the book] for a reason and Down Syndrome Limerick is a very good charity. We’re delighted.”
READ ALSO: Funding boost for Limerick playground as sensory equipment gets green light
Explaining about the book itself, William continued by saying it was “a pandemic project”.
“It took around three years of research. In the process, we interviewed three or four dozen publicans, so we have records and an oral history to go by.”
Paul added: “We decided to partner with Down Syndrome Limerick, as my late aunt Rita was a Down Syndrome person and she passed away a number of years ago, I was very close to her.
“She lived with us at home in west Clare and it was a natural choice for us to pick Down Syndrome Limerick. They are a wonderful organisation. We were delighted to donate nearly €60k to them in funding that we raised from the book to the charity.”
Out of 2,000 copies of Taprooms, Taverns & Alehouses: Limerick City Pubs, ca.1850 - 2024, only around 200 are left, proving popular with retailers and avid readers alike.
Historian and lecturer at Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Dr Paul O’Brien joined forces with friend and co-author William, who said that during the Lockdown him and his father Eddie, reminisced about visiting pubs.
“We took out a bit of paper and listed all the pubs we could remember in Limerick,” he said.
“We ticked off all the pubs we were in. When we did that, we realised between us we were in 95% of them.”
William and Paul will proceed to the Limerick Person of the Year ceremony, where the coveted award will be presented to one of the 12 Person of the Month recipients.
Limerick Person of the Month is sponsored by the Limerick Leader, Southern Media and the Clayton Hotel.
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