Mount Street Club

The Mount Street Club was a charity in Ireland for the unemployed of Dublin. Its premises were at 81–82 Lower Mount Street, allotments beside the railway line at Sydney Parade and Merrion, and a farm in Clondalkin. Men as members could earn ‘tallies’ which they could exchange for food, clothing, fuel or furniture on a barter or time-banking system. It was founded in 1934 by James Hardress de Warenne Waller and Philip Somerville-Large. Members produced or obtained food, clothing, and furniture. Lessons in making and repairing works were given, and applied to items donated to the club. The clubhouse had leisure facilities, a kitchen and dining-room for 100, workshops, washing facilities, and a barbershop. The club was most successful during The Emergency of the Second World War, when it had 6,000 members. In 1939, Seanad Éireann debated a motion that the Land Commission should donate farmland to the club to alleviate food shortages in the city. By the 1970s its core functions had been superseded by the Department of Social Welfare. The work of the Mount Street Club evolved over the years, and in the 1970s and 1980s it supported start-up businesses and set up training schemes for the unemployed. In the 1990s it was involved in regenerating the Grand Canal Dock. The club's property was sold in 2006 and it was incorporated as a charitable trust, the Mount Street Club Trust in 2007. It continues to work on projects that give support to those suffering from the effects of unemployment in the Greater Dublin Area.