The 70's and 80's in Ireland

NasserShammaz · 18-09-2018 12:57pm

Every second kid didn't have ADHD ,maybe because parents were parents not consumed with being your kids friends, and those kids that were brats were just that and got a slipknot induged

the purple tin · 18-09-2018 1:01pm

If you wanted good weather the following day, for a holy communion or a match or something, you put the Child of Prague statue in the front garden overnight. I haven't seen that in ages.
Also in Dublinthere was a serious amount of chickens around. Even in the inner city; nearly everyone who had a small garden or yard out the back would keep a few hens for the eggs.

eviltimeban · 18-09-2018 1:50pm

This was the 80s version of handheld gaming:

(I played this game for hours. Hours!!)

W123-80's · 18-09-2018 1:55pm

** Murphy's Micro Quism **
The very end, when one contestant got to sit in the driver's seat of a brand new Ford Orion. Simply answer 5 questions and the car was theirs. A brand new car.
Half the time the poor ****ers got a question wrong and had to get back out of the car and go home with a box of biscuits and a toaster.

Sal Butamol · 18-09-2018 1:58pm

ADHD hadn't been invented yet so some kids were just bold (bad parenting) instead of the cop out excuse pop a pill solution that is the norm these days. Will be interesting to see how these children hooked on pharmaceuticals end up as adults.

bpmurray · 18-09-2018 2:02pm

A pint of Guinness was 16p in 1973.
Dufflecoats and clogs were the fashion sins of the 70's. Levis, Wranglers and Doc Martens were the closest you got to brand names.
Outside the cities, it was difficult to find live music that wasn't Showband or Country & Western. There were a few trad-rock bands plying their trade around then. Boomtown Rats, Rory Gallagher and Horslips were pretty big.
Unemployment was nuts: only two from my leaving cert year stayed in Ireland - we all emigrated either then or after graduating from University. There were pretty much no summer or part-time jobs - students had to go abroad to try to earn some money for the following year.
It was just as difficult to buy a house then as now - not much has changed in that area. Mortgages were from the Building Societies who had really tough qualification rules.
Contraception was illegal. Mary Robinson started here political career bringing condoms on the train from Belfast, to have them confiscated by customs.
Many people used hitch-hiking as their primary mode of transport.
Women wore headscarves, and black shawls were common - not unlike the Muslim dress of today.
Price disparities between the North and South meant that people went North to buy Irish butter. Christmas Butter was sold at a fraction of the normal price, in order to reduce the EU Butter Mountain.
TV: Bosco, Wanderly Wagon, The Riordans, Hall's Pictorial Weekly and Quicksilver.

Count Down · 18-09-2018 2:03pm

Wibbs wrote: »

For all that and speaking as someone who has been flyfishing since I wasn't far from being a toddler, rivers outside towns and cities were in better health in the 70's and 80's. The fly life was more diverse. Nowadays it's less so in many places, even though rivers may look cleaner. Fish farms in estuaries have also hit migratory fish like salmon and seatrout hard, very hard in some river systems. And so many think them a "green" solution.

R

Remember all the fish kills and the state of Loughs Sheelin and Derravarragh?
Fly rods were mainly hollow glass, and no such thing as fluorocarbon leaders.
Waders were mostly rubber, and waterproof jackets were either oilskin or waxed cotton, no breathable materials.
Yes, fly life seems to have suffered, especially the Mayfly.
If you flyfished for pike or sea fish you'd be laughed at!:o

bpmurray · 18-09-2018 2:07pm

Pod123 wrote: »

Car reg made no sense and hard to work out what year it was.

Nope, it was quite clear. Each county had a 2-letter code , e.g. LI for Westmeath, ZM and IM for Galway. All Irish number plates (including the North) had either a Z or an I to differentiate them from GB plates. The year was the extra letter before the county code. And the year could also be determined by whether the letters or the numbers were first on the plate.

eviltimeban · 18-09-2018 2:16pm

bpmurray wrote: »

Nope, it was quite clear. Each county had a 2-letter code , e.g. LI for Westmeath, ZM and IM for Galway. All Irish number plates (including the North) had either a Z or an I to differentiate them from GB plates. The year was the extra letter before the county code. And the year could also be determined by whether the letters or the numbers were first on the plate.

Point proven.

bullpost · 18-09-2018 2:21pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWUferyKCww

BBFAN · 18-09-2018 4:02pm

I've a terrible memory and this thread is brilliant, reminding me of so many things.

Anyone else remember Hammer House of Horrors?? A different horror movie every Saturday night, brilliant.

Hotblack Desiato · 18-09-2018 4:05pm

bpmurray wrote: »

Nope, it was quite clear. Each county had a 2-letter code , e.g. LI for Westmeath, ZM and IM for Galway. All Irish number plates (including the North) had either a Z or an I to differentiate them from GB plates. The year was the extra letter before the county code. And the year could also be determined by whether the letters or the numbers were first on the plate.

There was no correlation between the first letter of 3 and the year, the letter only changed when all the numbers were used up. Same for switching from letters before numbers to numbers before letters, each county changed over when its allocation was used up. By the mid 80s Dublin was running out of regs so they found some unused county codes, e.g. SI, and assigned them to Dublin which kept things going long enough for the new system to be introduced in 1986. Some combinations were unused e.g. TIT, but I believe HIV plates were issued before anyone realised it might not have been a great idea.

18-09-2018 4:18pm

BBFAN wrote: »

I've a terrible memory and this thread is brilliant, reminding me of so many things.

Anyone else remember Hammer House of Horrors?? A different horror movie every Saturday night, brilliant.

aye yeah, my oul lad would let us watch it because it was pretty shyte then one week every kid on the road was watching Salems lot and he wouldn't let us watch!! we were Pariahs next day playing High the rope and red rover...ah they didn't see salems lot they'd say!!

who's laughing now...who's laughing nowwwwwww!!!

I digress!! yea it was good.

BBFAN · 18-09-2018 4:29pm

rusty cole wrote: »

aye yeah, my oul lad would let us watch it because it was pretty shyte then one week every kid on the road was watching Salems lot and he wouldn't let us watch!! we were Pariahs next day playing High the rope and red rover...ah they didn't see salems lot they'd say!!

who's laughing now...who's laughing nowwwwwww!!!

I digress!! yea it was good.

I remember one where the blood was pouring from the walls.

:D

Edgware · 18-09-2018 4:40pm

Glynnis Barber in Dempsey and Makepeace. Wooar!

sunbeam · 18-09-2018 4:42pm

In addition to their headscarves, women of my mother's generation often wore nylon overalls/housecoats, usually in hideous floral prints. You can see Hyacinth Bucket wearing one in some of the episodes of Keeping Up Appearances.

One of my distant American relatives actually thought they were some kind of a national costume.

ohnonotgmail · 18-09-2018 4:42pm

Edgware wrote: »

Glynnis Barber in Dempsey and Makepeace. Wooar!

she still looks really good.

freddie1970 · 18-09-2018 4:43pm

BBFAN wrote: »

I've a terrible memory and this thread is brilliant, reminding me of so many things.

Anyone else remember Hammer House of Horrors?? A different horror movie every Saturday night, brilliant.

i used to love them ...peter cushing

Ipso · 18-09-2018 4:45pm

BBFAN wrote: »

I've a terrible memory and this thread is brilliant, reminding me of so many things.

Anyone else remember Hammer House of Horrors?? A different horror movie every Saturday night, brilliant.

Prince of Darkness was my favourite.

jmayo · 18-09-2018 4:49pm

The millennials can't afford mortgages thread and the summation from some young wans that those in 80s and 70s had it easy because accommodation was cheaper has prompted me to post this.

When people bought houses or "flats" back in 70s or 80s they usually moved in with hand me downs and the basics.
They didn't run to Harvey Norman, Meadows & Byrne, Ez Living, DFS to buy a load of stuff right away.
There wasn't even an Ikea in Ireland and the most they ended up going for was Bargaintown.

And then check out the tax rates and the interest rates on mortgages in the 1970s and 1980s.

Most people working here didn't do or have any of the following:

go on any weekend breaks throughout Europe
there were no stag weekends to Barca or even Newcastle
usually didn't go on foreign holidays
a couple had one car if they had a car
the only ones with BMWs or Mercs were solicitors, accountants and fairly large business owners
the only new cars were Ford, Toyota, VW and the horrible Ladas or Skoda
there were no mobile phones that were to be replaced every other year they was no such thing as broadband
there was no internet to speak of to look up the weather in God knows where
to research school or college projects you went to a library
they didn't have tv subscription services with multiple channels 24 hours a day
didn't go out to dinner, unless you count eating at a takeway or something like a Macaris or Caffolas.

And these were the lucky ones that didn't have to fooking leave the country to find a job.
And when you left you didn't drop home every year, you didn't get to facetime with the folks back home, you didn't get to email or whatsapp them.
Hell they mightn't even have a phone to talk to them, so it was a handwritten letter in the post.

And people didn't go for a gap year to explore South East Asia and Australia. They went for fooking good, but they told themselves they would be back after a few years and they made some money to get a start at home.

When you got your leaving cert results you went on the p**s in the local town or area for the night, not off to Magaluf for a week.
Of course that was assuming your weren't over in London already working.

If you went to college parking wasn't an issue because very very few students had a car, they made do with bicycles.

I thought the music was good and the fashion after the flair era wasn't too bad.
The food wasn't great, the thought police that was the catholic church and it's lickspittles could try and grind you down if you were bothered, the media availability was shyte but you know what life was a bit simpler and some fooker couldn't plague you 24 hours 7 days a week over a device that is now meant to be carried at all times.

Kids lives were definitely better I think and even if you were bullied by some pr**cks at school or down the road, your home was safe and an escape from it.
Nowadays the bullies can haunt someones every waking minute through social media.

Oh and there was no social media where amadans could find a platform to utter shyte and brag what a life they had.

Claw Hammer · 18-09-2018 4:55pm

orangerhyme wrote: »

http://www.drugs.ie/resourcesfiles/research/2007/3863-4118.pdf

Read the above link. It doesn't quite settle the argument but it certainly suggests alcohol consumption has increased dramatically since the 80's.

" Alcohol consumption per adult increased from 9.8 litres of pure alcohol in 1987 to a
high of 14.3 litres in 2001, a 46% increase. The period of the most rapid change was from
the mid 1990s to 2001."

I honestly think young women drank far less back then.
Also people married younger so drank less. Also less disposable income.
Im sure theres many other factors at play.

There were a lot more total abstainers at that time as well.

ohnonotgmail · 18-09-2018 4:56pm

orangerhyme wrote: »

http://www.drugs.ie/resourcesfiles/research/2007/3863-4118.pdf

Read the above link. It doesn't quite settle the argument but it certainly suggests alcohol consumption has increased dramatically since the 80's.

" Alcohol consumption per adult increased from 9.8 litres of pure alcohol in 1987 to a
high of 14.3 litres in 2001, a 46% increase. The period of the most rapid change was from
the mid 1990s to 2001."

I honestly think young women drank far less back then.
Also people married younger so drank less. Also less disposable income.
Im sure theres many other factors at play.

and has since dropped back down.

Pod123 · 18-09-2018 5:02pm

The late late show had a quiz it wouldbe to send the answer in on a post card.no texting in the answer.
The same show carried a lot of weight with it.

Deusexmachina · 18-09-2018 5:17pm

Born in the 60's so remember all the 70s and 80s really well.

Bad stuff:

- The church/state thing was as bad as you can possibly imagine and then even worse than that. We lived in fear.
- The food was, in general, shyte. We were mostly all skinny as a result. Dinner was endured rather than enjoyed.
- Dentists were horrifying places. Pain and blood was expected (and delivered)
- Telly was (mostly) appalling. RTE was dismal beyond belief (search for 'Mart and Market' or 'The Riordans' on Youtube)
- Showers were an unheard of luxury. We bathed once a week. We all must have been a bit smelly but nobody noticed really
- Cars broke down. All the time. Everyone's Dad knew how to service his own car (if he had one)
- We were beaten by teachers with leather straps, thick metal rulers and bamboo sticks (even when only aged 7 or 8). The complete absolute bastards.

Good Stuff:
- People were (in general) kinder and there was a certain innocence that was genuinely nice
- Kids of all ages played outside all day long with not a care in the world. We ran, jumped and skipped and were free.
- The Dublin band and music scene was great
- Discos, slow sets....oh joy!
- Old people were treated with respect (getting there myself now)
- Christmas was totally magical (even if you only got a second hand bike with scratches and a wobbly wheel (1976)
- Mam's stayed at home and Dads went to work and nobody was particularly bothered about that. It usually worked out really well.

I sometimes get a bit teary eyed thinking about the freedom I felt just hopping off a 19 bus and heading into the city for a night out in the early 1980's. It was my time, I suppose. Life has never really been the same for me since.

Hotblack Desiato · 18-09-2018 5:34pm

jmayo wrote: »

the only new cars were Ford, Toyota, VW and the horrible Ladas or Skoda

You forgot the sh!te Fiats that were all over the place. The retired next door neighbour bought a new 127 at the end of the 70s, he only drove it locally, gearbox went after a couple of years and after another couple it was riddled with rust. People bought them because they were cheaper but they were cheaper for a reason.

mariaalice · 18-09-2018 5:40pm

one of my sisters has a funny story from the 1980s she was in college and her and her friends were stunned to discover that a student their age actually owned his own car to them that was the definition of mega-rich, both she and my brother went to work in Germany for the summers lots of students did.

Masala · 18-09-2018 5:47pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

You forgot the sh!te Fiats that were all over the place. The retired next door neighbour bought a new 127 at the end of the 70s, he only drove it locally, gearbox went after a couple of years and after another couple it was riddled with rust. People bought them because they were cheaper but they were cheaper for a reason.

and you forgot Renault... Renault 5 for the poor... Renault 18 for the rich. I cant remember the other numbers in between. God-damn UGLY cars.

Masala · 18-09-2018 5:48pm

mariaalice wrote: »

one of my sisters has a funny story from the 1980s she was in college and her and her friends were stunned to discover that a student their age actually owned his own car to them that was the definition of mega-rich, both she and my brother went to work in Germany for the summers lots of students did.

aaaahhhhh memories...Talkirken camp site in Munich. All we were good for was working in McDonalds as we hadn't a word of German. Talk about lack or preparation.

James Brown · 18-09-2018 6:22pm

We'd an economy built on construction, which led to a recession when that collapsed. And fair play, the 1980's was the last time we made that mistake.

Condoms were illegal, because...church ...something something....
AIDS was all the rage for some reason and everyone wanted a Kerry baby.

You were often reminded not to forget your shovel if you wanted to go to work because Sally O'Brien would look at you funny.

There was a nation wide movement to free a Nipper.

Jimmy Saville was the king of TV, not sure what happened to him.

Most of all we had Charles J. Haughey buying private Islands, helicopter companies, tailor made shirts, knocking boots with floosies, while telling us to tighten our belts.

Grand stuff.

James Brown · 18-09-2018 6:25pm

Deusexmachina wrote: »

....
I sometimes get a bit teary eyed thinking about the freedom I felt just hopping off a 19 bus and heading into the city for a night out in the early 1980's. It was my time, I suppose. Life has never really been the same for me since.

Sargent Peppers was it?

Big Nasty · 18-09-2018 6:41pm

Murphy's Micro Quizm

18-09-2018 6:42pm

I lived in flats in town and the sense of community was amazing in the late 70s anyway cos then we moved to the country...green green fields of fionn glass.. finglas..

the 80's were brilliant, quite a bit of the oul wife beating going on I will say.
winter nights started lighting bangers then went on to making slides with bottles of water, trying to break dance on a big lump of cardboard. All the kids on the road agreed on the cool christmas gift de jour!! roller skates, bikes, astro wars, donkey kong, He-man figures and annuals..member annuals?? beezer, dandy, 2000ad?? girls world for the ladeeeez!!! thursday top of the pops was a huge deal!!!

you were marched into the paddys parade with a wad of dying moss on yer jacket that would choke a donkey, but if we were good, me oud lad bought us all a super spit!!, it was inch thick orange over a pound of ice cream back then!! or maybe that's cos I was small!!

easter was cool, one egg each cos me oul lad was on the dole..twas gone before mass FFS! but it marked the dry warmer weather so off came the school shoes and down to quinnsworth or pennys for sizzlers or wings! (great for walking in the river later in the summer once relegated to river wear)

summers were hot, days were in skerries, rainbow rapids, bray, clara lara. evenings on a road with the child count per house hitting 5!! yes 5 kids!!
were spent playing rounders, tennis, hide and seek and of course catch and feel!! wayda gonna do eh!!

downside, lotta domestic violence that I remember, not a horrendous amount but I do recall it, that said...twas much better than now! but hey, I was a kid and therefore not responsible for 5 other kids, I'm sure me oul lad has his take on it! involuntary euthanasia maybe :-)

Grayson · 18-09-2018 6:57pm

Masala wrote: »

and you forgot Renault... Renault 5 for the poor... Renault 18 for the rich. I cant remember the other numbers in between. God-damn UGLY cars.

We had a Renault 4 and then got a fiat ritmo. The ritmo was a piece of crap.

oceanman · 18-09-2018 7:00pm

people think we are better off now...and maybe in some ways we are. but just look at the very high suicide rates we have now, mostly among young people, that we didn't have back in the day.

lazygal · 18-09-2018 7:02pm

oceanman wrote: »

people think we are better off now...and maybe in some ways we are. but just look at the very high suicide rates we have now, mostly among young people, that we didn't have back in the day.

Suicides were hushed up as something else for many years. At least now people say a person died by suicide instead of feeling like they have to hide what happened.

jmayo · 18-09-2018 7:06pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

You forgot the sh!te Fiats that were all over the place. The retired next door neighbour bought a new 127 at the end of the 70s, he only drove it locally, gearbox went after a couple of years and after another couple it was riddled with rust. People bought them because they were cheaper but they were cheaper for a reason.

Ehh stop reminding me.
A fooking 128 that would never ever start.

Matt Barrett wrote: »

We'd an economy built on construction, which led to a recession when that collapsed. And fair play, the 1980's was the last time we made that mistake.

Condoms were illegal, because...church ...something something....
AIDS was all the rage for some reason and everyone wanted a Kerry baby.

You were often reminded not to forget your shovel if you wanted to go to work because Sally O'Brien would look at you funny.

There was a nation wide movement to free a Nipper.

Jimmy Saville was the king of TV, not sure what happened to him.

Most of all we had Charles J. Haughey buying private Islands, helicopter companies, tailor made shirts, knocking boots with floosies, while telling us to tighten our belts.

Grand stuff.

And you forgot about Big Ed loving Mona, the floosey.

Grayson wrote: »

We had a Renault 4 and then got a fiat ritmo. The ritmo was a piece of crap.

Ahh jaysus the 4 with the gear knob on the dash and a window you could barely squeez out a finger.
How the French with such a much warmer climate ever dreamt up such a constricted sweat box as a car is beyond me. :eek:

The Ritmo, another forgettable offering from Turin.

How Fiat are still in business and ended up being one of the biggest agri and construction machine manufacturers on the planet is a mystery worth studying.

18-09-2018 7:12pm

oceanman wrote: »

people think we are better off now...and maybe in some ways we are. but just look at the very high suicide rates we have now, mostly among young people, that we didn't have back in the day.

if the 80's were indeed so bad and there was less suicides, what does that say about people of today? weaker? more easily disillusioned? far to high expectations of themselves? if as some say, things are so much better, what's fueling the suicide on mass??? ahem the internet! social media!

so as you say they're mostly young people, does that mean the 80's young people were made of more? like how the WW2 generation were made of shocking hard stuff?? if that's the case would it be safe to say they deserve the snowflake badge then? im not stirring, I'm generally interested.

James Brown · 18-09-2018 8:21pm

...mind a person on a reasonable wage could buy a house.

oceanman · 18-09-2018 8:42pm

Matt Barrett wrote: »

...mind a person on a reasonable wage could buy a house.

indeed...where it takes a couple now on a reasonable wage to buy one!

angel eyes 2012 · 18-09-2018 8:47pm

sunbeam wrote: »

In addition to their headscarves, women of my mother's generation often wore nylon overalls/housecoats, usually in hideous floral prints. You can see Hyacinth Bucket wearing one in some of the episodes of Keeping Up Appearances.

One of my distant American relatives actually thought they were some kind of a national costume.

My granny and her sister wore those nylon housecoats and they wore the headscarves when they went outside, usually in the winter just for added warmth. I don't think there were religious connotations. That same granny loved watching Sons and Daughters (I remember the theme tune) and Live at Three.

Grandeeod · 18-09-2018 8:54pm

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

My granny and her sister wore those nylon housecoats and they wore the headscarves when they went outside, usually in the winter just for added warmth. I don't think there were religious connotations. That same granny loved watching Sons and Daughters (I remember the theme tune) and Live at Three.

Ah Live at Three and Thelma Mansfield. A teen lads fantasy Cougar of the 80s.:D

whitey1 · 18-09-2018 9:30pm

A girl never got pregnant...some fella got a girl “in trouble”

Your parents hounded you to go to mass because they were worried about what the neighbors would say if you didn’t go

It was acceptable to use words like t1nk€r and the “N word”

Priests were held in the highest esteem and were not to be questioned never mind criticized

Couples did not shack up before marriage and unmarried couples didn’t vacation together

Grandeeod · 18-09-2018 9:54pm

If this thread has achieved anything beyond nostalgia, it has exposed the massive differences between 70s/80s Dublin and the rest of the country during the same time period. A different set of differences exist today. That's not right.

dxhound2005 · 18-09-2018 9:57pm

A different set of differences. Venn diagrams were all the rage back in the day. I think some of those sets might intersect. If I knew what they were.

Mirafiori · 18-09-2018 10:06pm

Grayson wrote: »

We had a Renault 4 and then got a fiat ritmo. The ritmo was a piece of crap.

The Ritmo. The car that couldn't wait for the 80s!

BBFAN · 18-09-2018 10:21pm

rusty cole wrote:

if the 80's were indeed so bad and there was less suicides, what does that say about people of today? weaker? more easily disillusioned? far to high expectations of themselves? if as some say, things are so much better, what's fueling the suicide on mass??? ahem the internet! social media!

You've hit the nail on the head with the word "expectations". Back in the 80's yeah life was **** but everyone around us was suffering the same.

What I mean by that is yes there was rich and poor but the two worlds didn't really collide. The poor didn't have to look at what the rich had 24/7.

The Crowman · 18-09-2018 10:25pm

Big Nasty wrote: »

Murphy's Micro Quizm

The video game section was the best.

Itssoeasy · 18-09-2018 10:49pm

After reading this thread and being as I was born in 1985 so my childhood(at least the bits I remember well) was the nineties. I decided to go and watch both the RTÉ archives on ther website and a YouTube channel which has loads of clips of Irish tv from the 1980s and has the ads.

Anyway my point is it tallies up with what people were saying of how different the country was then to now.

Itssoeasy · 18-09-2018 10:50pm

After reading this thread and being as I was born in 1985 so my childhood(at least the bits I remember well) was the nineties. I decided to go and watch both the RTÉ archives on ther website and a YouTube channel which has loads of clips of Irish tv from the 1980s and has the ads.

Anyway my point is it tallies up with what people were saying of how different the country was then to now.

AndrewJRenko · 18-09-2018 11:06pm

Grandeeod wrote: »

And Radio Nova even had its own Nightclub - Nova Park. Bob Galico, the newsreader with his American Twang.:D

What ever happened to that place? Does the building still exist? Presumably every 2nd driver coming out of the place was half-cut at the time.

The 70's and 80's in Ireland

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