Excerpts from an interview with Eilish de Barra about the informal economy of Cork's Northside. For this interview's catalogue entry click here

Excerpt 1: About Pawnshops, their symbolism and their necessary role when men were put on slackage for a week.

Excerpt 2: Occasionally the pawnshop would lend back a suit for no money to be paid off the week after.

Excerpt 3: Buy very cheap things from pawnshops, if you were thrifty and things weren't redeemed.

Excerpt 4: Thoughts and wise words on improvement from poverty times.

Excerpt 5: About the first money lenders being jews and then how the Irish learnt the skills very fast.

Excerpt 6: Narrative about pride and money and being ashamed of being seen going to the pawnshop.

Excerpt 7: Narrative about how you could give your docket to someone to go and redeem your article if you didn't have the money and then get the article off that person at a later date.

Excerpt 8: Dickie glue, the nickname of the Jewish moneylender and how women were very good at managing money because they didn't drink or smoke.

Excerpt 9: Views about changes in values about owing money and how some pawnshop would also lend money if you had a guarantor

Excerpt 10: About the cheap cost of food in the'old days'.

Excerpt 11: How people were very proud, honest and loyal and would have all their debts paid by their sons when they died and the 'dead' money would come in because of the belief that you wouldn't go to your God if you had a debt.

Excerpt 12: About pride in not owing money and the changes in value (1996); there is more robbery by the pen than there is by the poor.