Were the early 90's the last "real" Ireland

Giblet

Just finished watching Colm Meaney's first episode of his new series, revisiting his old Barrytown movies with Roddy Doyle, and I can't help but feel an sense of working class optimism that prevailed during that period, from the late 80's to the 90's. We had just come off of Italia 90, The Commitments had opened to huge success, and we won a string of Eurovisions and capped it all off with a great showing in USA '94 leading into facing England in the RDS, Steve Collins and finishing with the Good Friday Agreement in 98. Far away from the Ghost Estates, Failed Banks, and Bertie's bets on horses. I had just finished DOOM, but yet, it was on it's way.

Is that the Ireland we all remember? Is it dead and buried, with Haughey.. in the grave.

I was only covering for the Boss.

McGinniesta

In the 90's I could get away with trying to get the skirt off any female with a heart beat.

Those days are gone.

Larbre34

Yeah the early 90s were the best Ireland.

It was the Ireland before we discovered just how many women and children had been destroyed by the Church and State just for being alive.

It was Ireland before all that pesky social and healthcare equality and high employment and great economic growth.

Good Times. My ar5e.

Ubbquittious

Yea I think so.

The last of the real madness and free-spiritedness finished in the 90's. Suing was gaining traction, the EU started strengthening it's grip, people started getting posher and more materialistic. Cultural homogenisation with the States was happening

BrianD3

I'd say we had a few good years when we in a transition period and had a mix of the old and the new. For this I'd pick out the 1995-2003 period.

The early nineties i.e. Italia 90 and The Commitments era was a quite a grim time in Ireland, unemployment was still very high and I didn't get a sense of there being a working class optimism. However by 1999, it seemed like a very different place. I wonder did the arrival of the internet change Ireland more than it changed other countries as other countries were coming from a more developed base.

NIMAN

Each era has its good and bad points.


OP, you mention all the good things that were happening in the 90s, but leave out all the bad stuff.

B2021M

BrianD3 wrote: »

I'd say we had a few good years when we in a transition period and had a mix of the old and the new. For this I'd pick out the 1995-2003 period.

The early nineties i.e. Italia 90 and The Commitments era was a quite a grim time in Ireland, unemployment was still very high and I didn't get a sense of there being a working class optimism. However by 1999, it seemed like a very different place. I wonder did the arrival of the internet change Ireland more than it changed other countries as other countries were coming from a more developed base.

Not necessarily the internet but that certainly had an effect. We modernised more quickly from, as you say, a lower base.

I do think say 1999 to 2005 was a good mix of new and old. The changes since about 2008 are massive.

Hyperbollix

Not just Ireland, but probably the last "real" everything. The mid 2000s saw the internet and social media tighten it's grip on every facet of life and while a lot of it is great, you'd have to say an awful lot of it is fúcking awful.

Our parent's used to say they lived in innocent simpler times, but those of us who grew up in the 90's certainly can say that too.

rossie1977

There was good and bad points. Not sure what you mean by real Ireland though..are we currently in fake version?

Early 90s Catholic church basically ran everything at least in rural Ireland, emigration was high and Ireland was the poorest western nation while our Taoiseach lived a life of luxury akin to tinpot dictator. Violence in Northern Ireland was still rife.

DerekC16

Italia 90 Nationalism. Bring back Xtravision.

zanador

In 1987 at age 9 I called the police because my mam and her boyfriend had moved onto knives that evening and there was blood everywhere.

Fair play to them they called out to the house before they decided it was none of their business.

riclad

I think life was alot more simple , no high rents, no housing crisis,
No gig economy, no one getting cancelled, no everyone under 30
is obsessed with social media, likes, friends they have never met,
Ireland was a modern country moving on from the power of the church.
Now people are being radicalised or else believing weird conspiracy theory's
and fake news on the internet
I think tv was better in some ways there were great programs being made on BBC 2 channel 4
Now all the good comedys seem to be made in america

I understand most people think everything was better in the old
days when they were a certain age
There was good pop music being made in the 90s
There seems to be no new bands anymore
Most new music is made on laptops
I find it hard to think of a important new band
After 2005

Strumms

My teenage years were in the ‘90s.

Public transport was piss poor, unreliable, uncomfortable, rank smelly and old.... I went to college 4 kilometers from my home and the bus service ran about every 20 minutes according to the timetable, every 35 minutes in reality...

Holidays and flying were still terribly extortionate. When I went to work in France in ‘98 I left in April, flights booked the previous September/October cost £245.

Hyperbollix

Hyperbollix wrote: »

Not just Ireland, but probably the last "real" everything. The mid 2000s saw the internet and social media tighten it's grip on every facet of life and while a lot of it is great, you'd have to say an awful lot of it is fúcking awful.

Our parent's used to say they lived in innocent simpler times, but those of us who grew up in the 90's certainly can say that too.

It's not the internet that changed everything. It's smartphones and the instant social media reaction now. The internet was different when people had to step away from the tv, go to a different room usually and spent 5 minutes connecting to the internet. Now every man and his dog has a device in their pocket that allows them global retrieve to send or receive data in 30 seconds.

rossie1977

riclad wrote: »

I think life was alot more simple , no high rents, no housing crisis,
No gig economy, no one getting cancelled , no everyone under 30
is obsessed with social media, likes, friends they have never met,
Ireland was a modern country moving on from the power of the church.

Hmm prohibition was everywhere still https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.231015

Playboy wasn't legal in Ireland until 95, exorcist movie until 98.

The Mighty Quinn

riclad wrote: »

I think life was alot more simple , no high rents, no housing crisis,
No gig economy, no one getting cancelled, no everyone under 30
is obsessed with social media, likes, friends they have never met,
Ireland was a modern country moving on from the power of the church.
Now people are being radicalised or else believing weird conspiracy theory's
and fake news on the internet
I think tv was better in some ways there were great programs being made on BBC 2 channel 4
Now all the good comedys seem to be made in america

I understand most people think everything was better in the old
days when they were a certain age
There was good pop music being made in the 90s
There seems to be no new bands anymore
Most new music is made on laptops
I find it hard to think of a important new band
After 2005

Thanks for, the post Christopher. Walken.

3DataModem

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Wanderer78

Giblet wrote:

Is that the Ireland we all remember? Is it dead and buried, with Haughey.. in the grave.

We certainly were coming off the crest of a wave, before the world went full retard regarding its ideologies, with things being so messed up right now, let's hope we re at the bottom, so the only way is up......

Wanderer78

3DataModem wrote:

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Probably the most depressing period in my life, errr emmm, no thanks

3DataModem

3DataModem wrote: »

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Everyone else is wrong but in my case the world did in fact peak in my teens. Post-Cold War and pre-9/11 was arguably the best time in history. 1990-2001.

Bobblehats

B2021M wrote: »

Not necessarily the internet but that certainly had an effect. We modernised more quickly from, as you say, a lower base.

I do think say 1999 to 2005 was a good mix of new and old. The changes since about 2008 are massive.

I am apprehensive about those times. Unbeknownst to us, whilst we were having the time of our lives seeds were being down that would profoundly and irrevocably alter the course of our very dna…forever.

riclad wrote: »

Most new music is made on laptops

With a bit of waffling over the top. A (Irish) chineseman may refer to them as raptops

Earthhorse

3DataModem wrote: »

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Right. The 90s.

Floppybits

BrianD3 wrote: »

I'd say we had a few good years when we in a transition period and had a mix of the old and the new. For this I'd pick out the 1995-2003 period.

The early nineties i.e. Italia 90 and The Commitments era was a quite a grim time in Ireland, unemployment was still very high and I didn't get a sense of there being a working class optimism. However by 1999, it seemed like a very different place. I wonder did the arrival of the internet change Ireland more than it changed other countries as other countries were coming from a more developed base.

I think what kick started everything was Ireland joining the European Single market in 1993 which made the country attractive to US companies who wanted access to Europe so they chose here. Of course they would have got some generous tax incentives for doing so and also at that time we were a low wage economy. Most people hadn't a pot to wizz in. The mid 90's to the start of 2000 were good, we were doing well, I remember Dublin was buzzing and was a great place to go out and was relatively safe. Then it was after joining the Eurozone currency that we went crazy.

The internet in the mid 90's wasn't great here, it was dial up mostly and was costly think it was around 10p or 20p per minute. Telecom Eireann were raking in the cash. How they became the mess that is EIr now I don't know, if there was ever a company that was in the right place and right time to it was that one.

The J Stands for Jay

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Everyone else is wrong but in my case the world did in fact peak in my teens. Post-Cold War and pre-9/11 was arguably the best time in history. 1990-2001.

I have read that somewhere. There was no worldwide threat/perceived threat.

fryup

take off your green tinted glasses OP, Ireland of 80's & 90's was a hole of a place, dismal kip

Hyperbollix

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not the internet that changed everything. It's smartphones and the instant social media reaction now. The internet was different when people had to step away from the tv, go to a different room usually and spent 5 minutes connecting to the internet. Now every man and his dog has a device in their pocket that allows them global retrieve to send or receive data in 30 seconds.

Yeah that's true and is what I meant to say. Ah the old days of pre 2005, when having an account on a internet forum meant you were a cutting edge, technological colossus who's finger was on the pulse of this new frontier.

Now using message boards is the modern equivalent of smoke signals!

Strumms

" im going into the front room to go on the internet "

biko

Early 2000 were "better" but sure everyone has their favourite time.

DerekC16

fryup wrote: »

take off your green tinted glasses OP, Ireland of 80's & 90's was a hole of a place, dismal kip

Not everyone sees it that way. I was born in 82. I had a very happy childhood and have fond memories of that time period in Ireland. It wasnt all doom and gloom.

murpho999

fryup wrote: »

take off your green tinted glasses OP, Ireland of 80's & 90's was a hole of a place, dismal kip

No it wasn't. I grew up in the 80s and it was a great place.

Ireland has a lot of positives and its not always about economies.

Church on Tuesday

3DataModem wrote: »

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. That's why some people look back at Ireland as some kind of third world country in the early 90s and others think is was some kind of blissful innocent utopia or a coming of age moment, Riverdance and all that :rolleyes:

No doubt the generation coming up now will think much the same when they enter into their 30s and 40s, apart from the obvious societal advancements, there really won't be all that much of a difference.

At least back then you could own a home.

Church on Tuesday

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

At least back then you could own a home.

I really think they need to do some research on the nature of capitalist societies.

How is it that when we were "poor", my dad could go to matches regularly in Croker/Lansdowne, drink a few pints in the pub at the weekend, and still pay a mortgage and a car for the family. He was on a very average salary and my mother didn't work.

If I was to try and live the same lifestyle I could never afford it.

Ubbquittious

3DataModem wrote: »

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

By the time I got to my late teens I already noticed things had been going downhill for over 10 years.



When I was very young I noticed people were more friendly and sociable. Everyone kind of crawled into their shell after we went into the 2000s. It's the atomisation of society, this was progressing aleady in the decades before I was born and has done wonders for making the world sh1ttier.



The internet ""going mainstream"" definitely had a profound effect. In the 90s the internet was like an underground subculture of nerds and a geeky hobby. You had to dial in from this beige box in the corner of the room that wouldn't be switched on every day and it ran up the phone bill.

Andrewf20

1992 felt like the tipping point. Before that was noticeably more poverty and rubbish everywhere (usually plastic bags), derelict buildings all over Dublin and mothers not employed, raising kids at home.

DerekC16

Andrewf20 wrote: »

1992 felt like the tipping point. Before that was noticeably more poverty and rubbish everywhere (usually plastic bags), derelict buildings all over Dublin and mothers not employed, raising kids at home.

Lots of women would love to be able to stay at home and raise their kids but families simply cannot afford it now. It isn't a good thing. We need people to be having more kids.

BrianD3

Ubbquittious wrote: »

The internet ""going mainstream"" definitely had a profound effect. In the 90s the internet was like an underground subculture of nerds and a geeky hobby. You had to dial in from this beige box in the corner of the room that wouldn't be switched on every day and it ran up the phone bill.

I first heard of the internet in 1992 or 1993 - a lad in school wrote an essay about it and how it would change the world. Essay was read out in class, I don't recall if he even used the terms "internet" or "world wide web" but that is what it was about. At the time, I thought it sounded like a load of bollocks and didn't give it a second thought. That lad is is now a very successful software developer and I was just slightly off with my dismissal of it

The first time I heard of someone having an internet connection at home was in 1995, a girl I knew from a rich family in South Dublin had it.

Based on this I'd say:
pre 1995 - geeks
1995-1997 - early adopters
1998 - 2005 - going mainstream and resulting in profound changes and arguably great improvements in society

BrianD3

BrianD3 wrote: »

I first heard of the internet in 1992 or 1993 - a lad in school wrote an essay about it and how it would change the world. Essay was read out in class, I don't recall if he even used the terms "internet" or "world wide web" but that is what it was about. At the time, I thought it sounded like a load of bollocks and didn't give it a second thought. That lad is is now a very successful software developer and I was just slightly off with my dismissal of it

The first time I heard of someone having an internet connection at home was in 1995, a girl I knew from a rich family in South Dublin had it.

Based on this I'd say:
pre 1995 - geeks
1995-1997 - early adopters
1998 - 2005 - going mainstream and resulting in profound changes and arguably great improvements in society

That's a very accurate summation there. We got it in 1998/99. "Wireless" i.e. WIFI became mainstream around 2007/2008 from memory

Floppybits

murpho999 wrote: »

No it wasn't. I grew up in the 80s and it was a great place.

Ireland has a lot of positives and its not always about economies.

Have to agree. I grew up in the 80's and yes the country was in bad shape in terms of employment and dereliction but as a kid it was a great place to grow up. It all depends on what age you were at that time, kids like myself would not have known the plight the country was in and it seemed every other family was in the same boat so there was no difference but if you were a young adult or Adult at that time it was a kip where the only option was either the Boat over to the UK or a plane to the USA. Euro 88 and Italia 90 did give the country a lift. It put us on the map and we were happy to admit to being Irish.

I left school in 1992 and it wasn't great then in terms of prospects but for going out it was great. There wasn't much choice for us coming out of school it was either stay on in University or do a course, get an apprenticeship or go into FAS, yes there were a load of doss course in there but there were some good ones as well. Then in 1995 things began to take off and I remember between then and 2007 people would be leaving jobs because company x was paying better than company y.

silliussoddius

I finished the leaving in 1995, I was lucky enough to have a local company where I could get a job before going to college. I think it was around that time that free third level education had been introduced which helped a lot of people go to college.
My tuppence from the time seems to be that from maybe 96 onwards there seemed to be a boom in commercial property development for a few years, then maybe from 99 onwards an IT boom that lasted a few years, somewhere in here there was a growth in office jobs due to lower tax rates and emerging educated work force, 2002/3 the residential building boom took off. It was this boom that went all bubbly and saw the nations collective head disappear up it's ass from around late 04 onwards.

Shebean

Giblet wrote: »

Just finished watching Colm Meaney's first episode of his new series, revisiting his old Barrytown movies with Roddy Doyle, and I can't help but feel an sense of working class optimism that prevailed during that period, from the late 80's to the 90's. We had just come off of Italia 90, The Commitments had opened to huge success, and we won a string of Eurovisions and capped it all off with a great showing in USA '94 leading into facing England in the RDS, Steve Collins and finishing with the Good Friday Agreement in 98. Far away from the Ghost Estates, Failed Banks, and Bertie's bets on horses. I had just finished DOOM, but yet, it was on it's way.

Is that the Ireland we all remember? Is it dead and buried, with Haughey.. in the grave.

Louis Walsh buried the Eurovision. He managed Johnny Logan and had boy bands so he took over.


Don't fret. We'll have good music and good sports people again and certainly crooked nation destroying Fianna Fail governments.

Was playing Shadow Warrior on dial up in '95

Andrewf20

DerekC16 wrote: »

Lots of women would love to be able to stay at home and raise their kids but families simply cannot afford it now. It isn't a good thing. We need people to be having more kids.

I think alot of women wanted to work as well, but then it became a case of women needing to work due to insane acceleration of housing costs. My take on it is that this was what fueled house prices rising.

B2021M

BrianD3 wrote: »

I first heard of the internet in 1992 or 1993 - a lad in school wrote an essay about it and how it would change the world. Essay was read out in class, I don't recall if he even used the terms "internet" or "world wide web" but that is what it was about. At the time, I thought it sounded like a load of bollocks and didn't give it a second thought. That lad is is now a very successful software developer and I was just slightly off with my dismissal of it

The first time I heard of someone having an internet connection at home was in 1995, a girl I knew from a rich family in South Dublin had it.

Based on this I'd say:
pre 1995 - geeks
1995-1997 - early adopters
1998 - 2005 - going mainstream and resulting in profound changes and arguably great improvements in society

Good summary.

Part of me thinks we havent seen anything yet....robotics and the 'internet of things' will be an even more dramatic change.

ILoveYourVibes

Giblet wrote: »

I can't help but feel an sense of working class optimism

I think people actually thought Ireland was doomed at the time.

Dyr

I think Tommy Tiernan said about the 80's "it was socially acceptable to do nothing" that was true right up to mid 90s, there was nothing happening. It was all kinda anarchic. You just kinda made your own amusement, knacker drinking two litres and gigs. Youth cultures were huge. The amount of total misfits and oddballs I knew back then who were never gonna do anything with themselves was huge. I don't think we really produce that many loolahs now.

Ubbquittious

Bambi wrote: »

I think Tommy Tiernan said about the 80's "it was socially acceptable to do nothing" that was true right up to mid 90s, there was nothing happening. It was all kinda anarchic. You just kinda made your own amusement, knacker drinking two litres and gigs. Youth cultures were huge. The amount of total misfits and oddballs I knew back then who were never gonna do anything with themselves was huge. I don't think we really produce that many loolahs now.

They're still around but they're all safely stored away in social housing watching netflix or playing play station and ordering every meal on Just Eat. No need to leave the house anymore

Soon there will be way more people like that. The stigma will disappear when they bring in Universal basic income. So you'll have the unemployed, the billionaires roaming across the world in their superyachts and the robots who do all the actual work.

Peter Flynt

Giblet wrote: »

a great showing in USA '94 .....

We lost 2 of the 4 matches, scoring just twice.

riclad

It,s a new world now , everyone has smartphones, theres apps and youtube,streaming tv ,games consoles.
the consoles we had in the 90s were pretty basic ,
multiplayer involved seating on a couch playing against someone else in the same room.
i think the 90s were great for irish music, we had the corrs, the commitments ,
Apart from u2 we do not seem to get any good irish pop groups that cross over into america or the uk.
a few people had the internet using slow modems before broadband became avaidable.
the internet was just for tech nerds .

Mad_maxx

BrianD3 wrote: »

I first heard of the internet in 1992 or 1993 - a lad in school wrote an essay about it and how it would change the world. Essay was read out in class, I don't recall if he even used the terms "internet" or "world wide web" but that is what it was about. At the time, I thought it sounded like a load of bollocks and didn't give it a second thought. That lad is is now a very successful software developer and I was just slightly off with my dismissal of it

The first time I heard of someone having an internet connection at home was in 1995, a girl I knew from a rich family in South Dublin had it.

Based on this I'd say:
pre 1995 - geeks
1995-1997 - early adopters
1998 - 2005 - going mainstream and resulting in profound changes and arguably great improvements in society

I didnt hear about the internet until around 1995 , I remember all the hype around Windows 95 , We didnt get the internet until early 1999 , I didnt get my first mobile phone until i was Twenty two in 1999 , granted i held out quite a while

Peter Flynt

Peter Flynt wrote: »

We lost 2 of the 4 matches, scoring just twice.

You could say that we were the only team to beat Italy in that World Cup. Brazil only beat them on penalties......in the final.

Ubbquittious

Ubbquittious wrote: »

They're still around but they're all safely stored away in social housing watching netflix or playing play station and ordering every meal on Just Eat. No need to leave the house anymore

This is very true. When I was a teenager I always remember the dread of having to walk past a group of teenagers just "hanging around" the area. You just don't really see "gangs" just hanging around any more. Everyone is distracted with some purpose or another. Probably a change for the better all things considered.