There's no tradition in Ireland as organised as the Scottish Hogmany for New Year's Eve. The whole panoply of 'first foot', arriving with a lump of coal, the toasting to 'Auld Lang Syne', simply doesn't exist. There isn't even a particular place where people gather at midnight to see in the New Year. There's no celebration organised the way the St. Patrick's Festival is organised. But despite that, it's a time for festivity no doubt, a time for revelry and rowdiness, a time for drinking and a time for great craic.
For the Irish this isn't a holiday that's best enjoyed in some carefully pre-arranged manner, but rather a opportunity to let chance take its course and to go with the flow. It's almost a Zen Buddhist attitude to flux. You simply let it happen. Obviously you give random chance a kick-start by voracious consumption of alcohol - but the point oddly enough isn't to get insensibly drunk, but rather to unleash the power of random chance and be there when it creates the interesting happening.

Let me simplify that philosophical meander by describing the process in plainer English. If you're not at some party already, then you go on a city centre pub crawl. As the evening wears on people become drunker throughout the city, giving rise to the belief that everyone you meet is deeply fascinating, you begin to believe that you yourself are intensely interesting, and that the city is perhaps the friendliest place on the planet. Such, then, is the effect of alcohol when combined with festivity.

Now clearly a pub crawl has to be centred on somewhere. No one has the constitution to try all of Dublin's pubs on the same night, so let's divide the city into sections. Suppose you're staying somewhere near Grafton Street, the major shopping street in the city. There are excellent hotels in this area, The Shelbourne, The Merrion, The Westbury and The Fitzwilliam. All these hotels will do their best to keep their residents inside on New Year's Eve, they'd prefer your money was spent there. But the intrepid visitor will shun these blandishments and set foot on the pavements of thewider city beyond the concierge's desk.

So let's take as our starting place for the Grafton Street Pub Crawl the monumental arch at the corner of St. Stephen's Green that faces the top of Grafton Street. This is a monument that commemorates the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that fought with the British against German hegemony in World War I. This huge group of people has been largely written out of Irish history, replaced by a far smaller group of hundreds that took part in the Easter Rising. You can still find Dubliners that will refer to this monument as 'Traitors' Arch'.

From here you walk down Grafton Street, a gentle stroll, as the fall of the land is with you. After a little walk, some fifty yards, you'll find Neary's Pub in on your left, often described as one of Dublin's 'literary' pubs where the occasional actor from the nearby Gaiety Theatre drinks. A scoop or two here, then onwards downhill another fifty yards or so to the next block, where in on the left again you'll come to McDaid's. Another scoop here, soak up the atmosphere, and then across the road to Bruxelles, a buzzy pub filled with young people.

When you're done here, look across Grafton Street and you 'll see South Anne Street running at a right angle to it. Stroll down here and on your left you'll find Kehoe's, another city centre favourite. By now you'll be fighting your way towards the bar to get a drink, but nil desperandum, once you've had one here you're ready to move on to Duke Street. Kehoe's is on the corner of Anne Street and a laneway called Lemon Street. Now walk down that laneway until you reach Duke Street, a stumble of maybe 150 yards. Almost right in front of you, you'll see The Bailey, one of Dublin's best-known pubs and roughly opposite it is Davy Byrne's, another Dublin tradition. Now when you're done with these two you need to find Dawson Street. Concentrate. Find your right hand. Clear the mind. If you're falling out of the Bailey, turn left, if you're falling out of Davy Byrne's, turn right. Walk till you meet a 'T' junction. That's Dawson Street, so now turn right.

Walk up Dawson Street as best you can, there are railings there to help you. You'll cross Anne Street again, and then after a little bit, you'll find Cafe en Seine on your right. You won't miss it, no matter how drunk you are, it's huge. It's vast and very beautiful inside. Soak up the feeling of bonhomie here, engage in conversation with everyone, because you've only one stop left to make and you mightn't get in at all. Just up the road from Cafe en Seine is the Dawson Lounge, the smallest pub in Dublin. Watch out for it - it's on the same side as Cafe en Seine, but it's only a doorway leading downstairs to the smallest, friendliest, daintiest little munchkin bar that Dublin can offer you. If you make it out of here and turn right you're almost back where you started, right on Stephen's Green just some fifty yards from the starting point.

Before you get any drunker away from home, it's probably time to make you way homewards. If you're staying in The Merrion make your way now to its Cellar Bar with whatever group of people that has no attached itself to you for further drinks and craic. If you're staying in the Shelbourne now's the time to get snuggled into the Horseshoe Bar, if you're in The Westbury go now to the Terrace Bar, and if you're in the Fitzwilliam get thee to the Inn on the Green. But wherever you go to lay your head, leave yourself open to whatever the fates have in store for you.

Another Pub Crawl

Now if you're staying closer to the River, in for example The Morrison (on the north side) or the Clarence (on the south side), then the area known as Temple Bar will be the centre of your New Year's Eve pub crawl. It's an area bounded by the River Liffey to the north and Dame Street to the South. It's a maze of small blocks, tiny squares and alleyways, and it's entirely pedestrian, so there's no need to worry about passing motor cars. The best way to enter it is from the east, that's to say the end nearest to O'Connell Bridge, a fairly major landmark. It's called Fleet Street and it runs the entire length of the Temple Bar area, changing its name only twice, once to Temple Bar and once to Essex Street.

Once on this strip there are countless drinking houses available to you on both sides of the road. Here's a few to watch out for as you meander through Temple Bar - the literary Oliver St. John Gogarty, the traditional Auld Dubliner, and then Eamonn Doran's all fairly close to one another. Further on you come to the Ha'Penny Bridge, The Quays, and then the eponymously named Farrington's on one side of the road, and Fitzsimon's on the other. Further on you'll come to Bob's on your left, and The Clarence Hotel on your right. You should check out their Octagon Bar, very cool, very minimalist, but probably so crowded that you'll never notice. Rest a while here, as further on, just across Parliament Street, you'll come to the Turk's Head and The Front Lounge.

But as I said right at the start of this piece, bear in mind the object is not to follow an itinerary - you follow it only until something interesting turns up. What that interesting event is, is for you to decide, but given Dublin's ethos it's a fair bet that something will turn up. Happy New Year.