ROBERT BALLAGH was born in Dublin in 1943, to a lower middle class family. Although living on a secluded leafy street in one of the Capital’s grandest suburbs, Ballsbridge, the Ballaghs had little money. Not many in 1940s Ireland did. Their home in Elgin Road was a rented flat, and Robert’s father worked in the wholesale drapery trade. Nearby dwellings on Shelbourne Road had clay floors and the children living in them went about barefoot.