Tue 06 Jun 2007A fresh spin for a ballroom of romanceThe Ierne ballroom in Dublin is reopening tonight after a
15-year interlude. Dancers from its heyday talk to
Róisín IngleFacing the Garden of Remembrance on Dublin's Parnell Square
East, the Ierne Ballroom has been something of a wallflower since
the doors closed on its dancing days. Now the iconic venue is being
given a new lease of life by James Cafferty, who is reopening it as
Caffertys @ the Ierne, a thoroughly modern dancehall pitched at
revellers in their late 20s to 50s. The Co Sligo businessman used
to shake a leg himself at the Ierne in the ballroom's heyday, a
time when Parnell Square was the dance mecca of Ireland, and if you
had the price of admission and a mineral for any potential lady
friends, you were, says Cafferty, "on the pig's back".