You don't need to be from the Irish capital to be a member of The Dubliners - but apparently you do need a beard. [...] As an entertainment and music journalist, I have been lucky enough to have seen many performers over the years. In the mid 1960s, however, one of the first groups I remember seeing was a rather hairy bunch of men known as The Dubliners. They must have made quite an impression on me for I have subsequently seen them again and again … in fact, 60 times to be exact. Unlike other groups of the day, they were accessible, down to earth, without airs or graces - the kind of people you could easily bump into in the pub. So it was no big surprise that when they recently spoke to 24/7, the chosen venue was Belfast's Crown Bar. It may sound surreal to share a snug with five world-famous musicians whom I normally watch from a seat in a concert hall, but really nothing could have felt more natural or comfortable. Like having a drink with old friends, the conversation and craic flowed as easily as a pint of stout in the hands of a thirsty man when Barney McKenna, John Sheahan, Sean Cannon, Eamonn Campbell and Patsy Watchorn got into their stride. [...] With little coaxing they played their hearts out in a spontaneous session, Barney McKenna leading the chorus in a rousing version of South Australia. After 44 years on the road, with a few line-up changes along the way, it may not be "too late to stop now", to quote original banjo player McKenna, but according to long-time member, fiddler John Sheahan, "it's certainly too late to start again!" So, what has been the secret of their longevity?