Daily Life HistoryA library of ordinary lives

Daily life in Dublin during the 1960s

An overview of household routines in a changing Irish capital, with experiences differing by income, neighbourhood and stage of the decade.

Dublin in the 1960s combined older urban habits with uneven modernization. Life in an inner-city tenement differed from life in a corporation house or private suburban home, while secure wages widened access to education, transport and consumer goods. Television and household appliances became more visible as the decade progressed, but their arrival did not transform every household at once. Family networks, careful budgeting and the possibility of emigration shaped many lives. The routines described here illustrate these differences rather than a single experience shared by all Dubliners.

Housing and Living Spaces

Housing ranged from overcrowded inner-city tenements to suburban corporation houses, private semidetached homes, bedsits, flats over shops and the new Ballymun blocks. A historical account in the Metro North Environmental Impact Statement places Ballymun's first tenants between August and December 1966. In older districts such as the north inner city, the Liberties, Ringsend and parts of the south city, families could occupy subdivided Georgian or Victorian houses where one room served several purposes. Shared toilets, damp walls, worn stairs, poor heating and limited privacy marked the worst housing. Close neighbours might exchange news or lend tools, a pram or a spare bed, but such support should not be assumed for every household.

Corporation housing in Crumlin, Cabra, Drimnagh, Ballyfermot, Artane, Coolock and other suburban districts offered many working families more space, gardens and indoor sanitation. Separate kitchens, parlours and bedrooms could make sleeping, washing and cooking easier, while a shed or garden provided space for household work. Comfort still depended on income, location and maintenance. Fuel needed storage, draughts needed attention, and gardens took work to develop into places for vegetables, flowers, paths or a washing line.

Interiors mixed older furniture with new purchases: kitchen tables and dressers, armchairs, lino, wardrobes and sideboards, alongside holy pictures and family photographs. Storage for clothes, schoolbooks, tools and food remained a practical concern. Moving to a larger home could ease crowding without ending the labour of keeping it comfortable.

Food and Daily Meals

Meals drew on staples such as tea, bread, butter, milk, potatoes, porridge and eggs, with bacon, sausages, mince, liver, fish, vegetables, soups, stews, tinned goods and baked puddings according to means. A cooked dinner might combine potatoes, meat or fish and vegetables; breakfast and supper could be simpler, with a fried meal when wages allowed. Friday fish mattered in Catholic households that observed the practice. Fish and chips offered another hot meal, while Italian-run chip shops, bakeries, dairies, butchers, greengrocers and corner shops shaped local food choices.

Limited cold storage encouraged frequent purchases in small amounts. Milk could be delivered, bread bought locally, and meat selected according to price, family size and the day of the week. Supermarkets and self-service shops began to change habits, alongside established arrangements such as grocers' credit, familiar butchers and conversation in queues. Women were commonly expected to plan, buy, cook and clean, although the division of work varied between households. Soups, cheaper cuts, bread puddings and reused leftovers helped stretch wages.

School and work shaped meal times. Children might eat at home, bring sandwiches or receive food through school provision. Claire Carney's historical study describes Dublin school meals of milk with a bun or sandwich in the 1965–1973 period; access depended on provision at individual schools. Workers used canteens, cafes, pubs, tea rooms or packed lunches. Pubs featured in some men's social and work networks, rather than serving chiefly as places for family meals. A Sunday gathering might bring a roast, boiled bacon or a more generous stew when the household budget allowed.

Work and Labor

Employment included dock labour, brewing, printing, transport, construction, public service, teaching, nursing, banking, clerical and shop work, domestic service, hotels, food processing, laundries, tailoring, manufacturing and repair trades. Guinness at St James's Gate, the port, transport services, hospitals, schools, department stores, offices and building sites drew workers from across the city and suburbs. Apprenticeships offered routes into carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, printing, mechanics and metalwork. Wages varied sharply; steady employment could help a household buy appliances, keep children in school longer or move to better housing.

The working day often began on foot, by bicycle or on a Dublin bus. Trams were gone, and private cars remained beyond many families. Buses linked suburban estates with workplaces and schools. Extra shifts and informal paid work could supplement wages: repairs, decorating, unloading goods, sewing, cleaning, laundry and childminding. Cooking, cleaning, child care, budgeting and care for older relatives also sustained paid employment, whether or not this household labour brought an income.

Women worked in shops, offices, hospitals, schools, factories, laundries, hotels and domestic service, but marriage could restrict their employment. The Civil Service marriage bar required women covered by it to leave on marriage during this decade; a later Oireachtas report records its removal in 1973. That rule should not be treated as a description of every employer or every married woman's experience. Young women and men also considered emigration, particularly to Britain through family contacts and transport links. Letters, parcels, visits and remittances connected Dublin households with London, Birmingham, Manchester and other destinations. Secondary schooling, commercial training, typing, bookkeeping, technical colleges and apprenticeships shaped prospects, while the need for wages could bring education to an early end.

Social Structure

Class, housing, religion, education, gender, occupation and family reputation influenced social position. Secure professional or white-collar employment could provide more savings, schooling choices and consumer goods. Households on limited or uncertain wages might depend more on relatives, local credit, parish contacts and practical mutual aid, though access to these supports varied. Poverty could affect clothing, health and the length of schooling. Clean steps, polished shoes, church dress, punctual rent and orderly children expressed ideals of respectability; they were expectations and social judgements, not reliable measures of a family's circumstances.

Catholic institutions influenced everyday life through schools, parishes, sacraments, youth groups, charity and moral teaching. Sunday Mass, Lent, Easter, First Communion, Confirmation and Christmas could shape family calendars, but institutional influence does not establish how consistently individuals observed religious practices. Parish and neighbourhood connections overlapped for some residents. Family size and living arrangements varied: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and godparents might help with child care, errands and advice without necessarily sharing a home. Breadwinning was commonly presented as a man's responsibility and domestic management as a woman's, including when she earned wages. These expectations did not describe every household's actual division of work.

Leisure included children's football in streets, yards, school grounds and suburban fields, alongside cinemas, dance halls, parish socials, bingo, football grounds, GAA matches, pubs, libraries, seaside trips and visits to relatives. Television could reshape evenings with news, drama, sport and music, including British broadcasts where reception allowed. Records, fashion, showbands and magazines widened young people's interests, particularly when wages or relatives abroad made them accessible. Neighbourhood familiarity could bring help and opportunity, but also gossip and scrutiny. Address, accent, school, occupation, clothing and church participation could influence how others judged a family.

Tools and Technology

Everyday technology combined established equipment with newer consumer goods. Buses, bicycles, handcarts, delivery vans and trains moved people and goods; gas mains, electricity and street lamps supported urban routines. Private telephones depended on cost and availability, so letters, workplace calls, public phone boxes and a neighbour's telephone could carry messages. Offices used typewriters, carbon paper, filing cabinets, adding machines, ledgers, rubber stamps and switchboards. Shops relied on scales, tills, handwritten accounts, delivery books, paper bags and string.

Homes used coal fires, ranges or gas cookers, kettles, enamel pots, irons, sewing machines, washboards and mangles, with washing machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners where means allowed. A washing machine could reduce domestic labour, but handwashing and drying clothes on lines or racks continued. Radios, clocks and record players shared space with increasingly visible televisions. Telefís Éireann began broadcasting on 31 December 1961, as documented by RTÉ Archives. Some households shared viewing with neighbours; the launch date alone does not establish how quickly ownership spread.

Maintaining possessions stretched household resources. Painting and papering, mending chairs, repainting furniture, stretching curtains, changing fuses, repairing radios and patching bicycle tyres kept homes and equipment usable. Fires needed setting and clearing. Clothing repairs included darning, letting down hems, relining coats, turning collars, saving buttons and resoling shoes. A sewing kit, coal bucket, shopping bag, bus timetable, school satchel and savings book could be as useful as a newer appliance, along with knowing someone able to repair it.

Clothing and Materials

Clothing reflected weather, work, school, ideas of respectability and changing fashion. Men's wardrobes could include suits, sports jackets, shirts, ties, pullovers, overcoats, caps, work jackets, boots and uniforms according to occupation and occasion. Women's clothing included dresses, skirts, blouses, cardigans, coats, scarves, aprons, stockings and practical shoes, with gloves for formal occasions. Children wore uniforms where required, jumpers, coats, short trousers, dresses and hand-knitted garments. Households that kept separate Sunday or church clothes could reserve them for those occasions, while everyday clothing needed to withstand wear and washing.

Wool, cotton, tweed, linen, rayon, nylon, leather, rubber, acrylic yarn and other synthetic blends appeared in clothing. Ready-made garments coexisted with home sewing, knitting, alteration and hand-me-downs, particularly where several children shared a limited clothing budget. Some teenagers and young adults adopted shorter skirts, brighter shirts, narrow trousers and new hairstyles for dance halls and other social occasions. Parents, schools, employers and parish expectations could constrain these choices. Raincoats, wool coats, scarves and sturdy shoes answered practical needs in Dublin's damp climate, while clothing also signalled age, income, work and contact with styles from Britain, Europe and television.

Dublin's changing housing and uneven access to wages, education and consumer goods produced different experiences of the 1960s. Older habits and new expectations coexisted, with each household adapting within its own resources and obligations.

Evidence and scope

The sources below support specific claims about Ballymun's first occupancy, the television launch, the Civil Service marriage bar and school meals. They do not establish the prevalence of the other routines described. Claims about family size, religious observance, the division of household work and neighbourhood support still need evidence specific to place and period before stronger generalizations can be made.

Related pages

Sources for specific claims