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Child Item

The 70's and 80's in Ireland

Kermit.de.frog

What was it like in the 1980's in Ireland?

I have seen pictures, video and my god it looked like a depressing place. :eek:

Grey, delapidated, hopeless.

What was it like? How did you get by without internets, wheelie bins, toilets...?

Would you go back if you could??

*Might as well throw in the 70's too for people of that vintage.

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Filmer Paradise

ToddyDoody wrote: »

I guess I meant when was sex socially acceptable to be overtly visible in Catholic Ireland.

Up to the '70s when a couple got married they were usually in their early '20s.

If they were married more than a year or two without having kids, the Parish Priest might be calling to the door wondering why they weren't doing 'Gods work'.

Imagine that happening now.:eek:

4ensic15

Sex in ireland began in 1962, the year the Late late show started.

ToddyDoody

Filmer Paradise wrote: »

Been around forever Buddy. That's why there's Billions of us around.

I was born at the end of the '60s. Sex in Ireland was alive & well back then. Families of 10 plus were common enough at the time.

Anyway, one thing I remember from the '70s/'80s was the way our Dads wore suits to any occasion.

Most Dads back then weren't desk monkeys. They worked in 'real man jobs' that involved manual work.

Nonetheless, they wore suits a lot. Mass every Sunday, family visits, all funerals, anything where there wasn't a danger of getting dirty.

I hardly ever wear one, maybe half a dozen times a year.

Clothes are cheaper now I suppose & there's an awful lot of smart/casual gear on offer now that our Dads just couldn't afford or know about back then.

50 years ago it was either old worn out working clothes or a suit.

I guess I meant when was sex socially acceptable to be overtly visible in Catholic Ireland.

Filmer Paradise

ToddyDoody wrote: »

When did sex become mainstream?

Been around forever Buddy. That's why there's Billions of us around.

I was born at the end of the '60s. Sex in Ireland was alive & well back then. Families of 10 plus were common enough at the time.

Anyway, one thing I remember from the '70s/'80s was the way our Dads wore suits to any occasion.

Most Dads back then weren't desk monkeys. They worked in 'real man jobs' that involved manual work.

Nonetheless, they wore suits a lot. Mass every Sunday, family visits, field days, all funerals, anything where there wasn't a danger of getting dirty.

I hardly ever wear one, maybe half a dozen times a year.

Clothes are cheaper now I suppose & there's an awful lot of smart/casual gear on offer now that our Dads just couldn't afford or know about back then.

50 years ago it was either old worn out working clothes or a suit.

ToddyDoody

freshpopcorn wrote: »

When Charlie Haughey met Terry Keane!

And that was a saucy affair.

Was that before or after Ben Dunne got caught coked up with the hooker?

freshpopcorn

ToddyDoody wrote: »

When did sex become mainstream?

When Charlie Haughey met Terry Keane!

4ensic15

JupiterKid wrote: »

necessities like food on the table or a second pair of shoes.

.

A second pair of shoes? People were lucky to have shoes at all.

ToddyDoody

When did sex become mainstream?

[Deleted User]

yesto24 wrote: »

I could be wrong, but wasn't there something about not reporting suicides as it was found that reporting them as suicides led to an increase in suicides.
Pretty sure personal tragedy doesn't go on the death certificate.

So on the one hand you have Darkness Into Light which has the aim of "raising awareness" and on the other, people who want to cover up suicide and sweep it under the carpet. A bit of a contradiction, no?

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Would you expect the local station master to make a judgement on the spot as to the cause of a particular death?

Not necessarily - however it would be nice if the facts could be reported not some bullsh*t euphemisms.

[Deleted User]

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Not much changed then.
Every suicide on Irish Rail's lines is disgracefully described as a "personal tragedy" or "incident".

Would you expect the local station master to make a judgement on the spot as to the cause of a particular death?

L1011

bullpost wrote: »

where are you getting your statistics from?

From Alcohol Ireland website :
"Alcohol consumption in Ireland almost trebled over four decades between 1960 (4.9 litres) and 2001 (14.3 litres)."

They still use 2001 figures when far newer ones exist because the consumption has fallen. When you take in to account Pioneers and women generally drinking far less to nil back in the 60s the figures are not rosy

Grandeeod

Us 70s/80s kids/teens have a much varied view of the time and that's okay. Some had a **** time and some had a nice enough time. So it wasn't all doom and gloom everywhere. Now I'm not trying to be some peace broker by any means, because you can never really solve the issues between rural Ireland, Dublin and places like Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford in relation to the time period.

Where Ireland really fell behind in a somewhat fooked up manner was infrastructure. We had a landline in a Dublin council estate in the early 80s and you had to ring the operator to connect to England. Digital exchanges were only being introduced. Took a few years to get it all going. Our road network was well below par, but little projects like the Naas bypass motorway, were big news for us. The 80s also delivered the initial DART service. Where the fook would we be today without it.

As for sport, the 80s really delivered the worst of times for Ireland. Whatever about Croke Park etc. the international sports of rugby and soccer highlighted our inabilities. While Landsdowne road built a new East stand and nearly kept up with our neighbours, some of our soccer internationals were held in diabolical conditions. In early '85 we brought Italy to Dalymount Park and it was disgraceful stuff. The pitch was worse than my back garden. The overcrowding and organisation was pure bad. An absolute clusterfook.

But all that said we managed to hold groundbreaking Eurovision Song Contests in 1982 and 1988. The Simmonscourt in the RDS gave us that and many many live concerts from major international acts. I often talk to my friends from Eastern Europe like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and compare the 80's there to the 80's in Ireland. Ireland was way ahead despite our doom and gloom perception and their soviet union restrictions. I guess the Irish adore self loathing and want to look at the recent past as being the start of any kind of past.

yesto24

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Not much changed then.
Every suicide on Irish Rail's lines is disgracefully described as a "personal tragedy" or "incident".

I could be wrong, but wasn't there something about not reporting suicides as it was found that reporting them as suicides led to an increase in suicides.
Pretty sure personal tragedy doesn't go on the death certificate.

[Deleted User]

cgcsb wrote: »

All the things you have mentioned also existed then in just as large/larger proportions but it wasn't spoken of. IF someone killed themselves back then, quite common, it was recorded as 'an accident' and not spoken of again

Not much changed then.
Every suicide on Irish Rail's lines is disgracefully described as a "personal tragedy" or "incident".

JupiterKid

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

There you have it, both your parents had pretty secure jobs, whatever about being well-paid there was always a steady income coming into the house

For a lot of people it wasn't like that, at all.

Your earlier statement "I firmly believe that most people from Dublin have better memories" is true for some, definitely wrong for many, true for most? very debatable.

Dublin in the 70s/80s had some of the worst deprivation in Western Europe. Other parts of Dublin were quite well off, of course.

Agreed. As recently as 1986 it was estimated that nearly half of all children in Ireland (according to the OECD and ESRI) lived in consistent poverty. Poverty was widespread.

So was alcoholism. Many families had to endure the misery of an alcoholic head of household with the attendant violence, dysfunctional environment, unstable employment and thus money situation and necessities like food on the table or a second pair of shoes.

There was plenty of wealth in the country in the 1980s but a lot of the well to do moved in the same circles and it was very much who you knew over what you knew. Connections and networking and old boys’ clubs prevailed and it was very difficult to break into this golden circle if you were an outsider.

Corruption was widespread. The middle class was much smaller and more insular and the culture of achieving success based on merit was only starting to emerge.

JupiterKid

freshpopcorn wrote: »

JupiterKid wrote: »

It was only about 1991 or 1992 when johnnies could be sold in pub toilet vending machines. Virgin Megastore in Dublin got into trouble for selling them around 1989 or so.

This country really was unbelievably backwards just a generation ago. We have since come a long, long way...

Sorry for asking you this JuipterKid but I thought you might know/remember.
What was it like just before they decriminlised homosexuality?
What were the debates like? Was it supported?
Don't answer if you don't want to.

The gay scene was tiny and semi-underground prior to the late 80s. But as I was only in my early teens in the late 80s I don't remember what it was like to be an Irish gay man back then. Dublin had 4 gay saunas in 1992 but only one bar: The George. Most gay guys and gals were firmly in the closet and many gay men in particular were trapped in loveless and sexless marriages.

Don’t really remember the debate just prior to decriminalisation in June 1993 by then Minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn but I do know many senior politicians in both FF and FG were staunchly opposed to it - Dermot Ahern comes to mind - and of course the church were very against decriminalistion and also divorce, contraception, women’s rights, children’s rights etc. Labour since the 1970s were in support of social change and to this day many older LGBT voters are staunch Labour supporters.

The 1990s saw huge changes in attitues, especially after decriminalization in 1993. I came out in my final year of university - 1996/97. The more tolerant environment gave me the self-confidence to make the leap.

Things in every sense were on the up. The scene was still small but growing and the Pride marches got bigger and more colourful as the 90s progressed. A lot of people came out in the 1990s and 2000s.

Ireland was growing up and becoming much more tolerant. We had a LOT of catching up to do with the rest of the West.

James Brown

Marble wash. Never liked it, never got it.

Great to look back with rose tinted glasses but it was nightmare times for a lot of people with the government turning a blind eye to a lot of things.

bullpost

cgcsb wrote: »

https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/5263/1/1255-1014_National_Alcohol_Policy.pdf

When you pick out two extreme data points yeah, conversely you could say it hasn't really changed that much. in 1978 it was about 10L per person and in 2017 it was 10.6L per person

Graph is on page 14.

I'd say, although avg consumption has remained the same, the number of out and out alcos is smaller. Less people drinking more etc. There weren't any tee totalers in 1978.

And of course alcohol being supplemented by other drugs to a much greater degree these days.

Mam of 4

Mena Mitty wrote: »

Back in the day we stepped out in nothing less than a pair of 'Dingo' jeans...they were the job, but you hoped it wouldn't rain ' cause you'd have blue legs, underwear and other 'bits' of you, from the dye.

That reminds me of dyeing clothes too !
And bleaching the jeans , geez we were ahead of the trends really

Mena Mitty

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Don't get your wranglers in a twist

Back in the day we stepped out in nothing less than a pair of 'Dingo' jeans...they were the job, but you hoped it wouldn't rain ' cause you'd have blue legs, underwear and other 'bits' of you, from the dye.

farmchoice

cgcsb wrote: »

https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/5263/1/1255-1014_National_Alcohol_Policy.pdf

When you pick out two extreme data points yeah, conversely you could say it hasn't really changed that much. in 1978 it was about 10L per person and in 2017 it was 10.6L per person

Graph is on page 14.

I'd say, although avg consumption has remained the same, the number of out and out alcos is smaller. Less people drinking more etc. There weren't any tee totalers in 1978.

small point but there were a huge number of teetotalers in 1978 as the pioneer organization was huge. Ireland always had one of the highest number of teetotalers of any country in Europe.
so much so it meant that the ave amount consumed quite dramatically under estimated the amount that drinkers were drinking.

in the 50's as many as 1 in 3 Irish people were pioneers.

cgcsb

bullpost wrote: »

where are you getting your statistics from?

From Alcohol Ireland website :
"Alcohol consumption in Ireland almost trebled over four decades between 1960 (4.9 litres) and 2001 (14.3 litres)."

https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/5263/1/1255-1014_National_Alcohol_Policy.pdf

When you pick out two extreme data points yeah, conversely you could say it hasn't really changed that much. in 1978 it was about 10L per person and in 2017 it was 10.6L per person

Graph is on page 14.

I'd say, although avg consumption has remained the same, the number of out and out alcos is smaller. Less people drinking more etc. There weren't any tee totalers in 1978.

Widdershins

90s childhood bred resourcefulness, imagination , etc but I like the accessibility and choices the internet offers. It's of massive importance for my interests and work. In the 90s I always had this feeling that something like it was coming although of course I couldn't envisage what the internet would be like .

bullpost

cgcsb wrote: »

All the things you have mentioned also existed then in just as large/larger proportions but it wasn't spoken of. IF someone killed themselves back then, quite common, it was recorded as 'an accident' and not spoken of again. Alcoholism was more common and extreme then than now.

where are you getting your statistics from?

From Alcohol Ireland website :
"Alcohol consumption in Ireland almost trebled over four decades between 1960 (4.9 litres) and 2001 (14.3 litres)."

cgcsb

conorhal wrote: »

I look around today at the levels of unhappiness, anxiety and isolation in the country. The numbers of people on anti-depressants (which seems like half the population), the number of children in need of treatment for accute psychological problems. The degree to which as a society, we are self medicating ourselves into an early grave with alcohol and drugs. The degree to which people ar killing themselves and each other in ever greater numbers, even children raping killing other children, and I don't for a second believe that things today are 'better' by any metric bar economic. Even there the hours people are working keep getting longer as their job security diminishes along with the quality time they get to spend with family.

All the things you have mentioned also existed then in just as large/larger proportions but it wasn't spoken of. IF someone killed themselves back then, quite common, it was recorded as 'an accident' and not spoken of again. Alcoholism was more common and extreme then than now.

ArnoldJRimmer

conorhal wrote: »

I look around today at the levels of unhappiness, anxiety and isolation in the country. The numbers of people on anti-depressants (which seems like half the population), the number of children in need of treatment for accute psychological problems. The degree to which as a society, we are self medicating ourselves into an early grave with alcohol and drugs. The degree to which people ar killing themselves and each other in ever greater numbers, even children raping killing other children, and I don't for a second believe that things today are 'better' by any metric bar economic. Even there the hours people are working keep getting longer as their job security diminishes along with the quality time they get to spend with family.

While I agree that things may not necessarily be better now, its worth remembering that depression and unhappiness all existed back then too, but no one talked about it. This is not a new thing, and the cause of these problems didn't just stem from the affluence we experienced as a result of the Celtic Tiger, its also because everything is more out in the open

Alcoholism in particular was as prevalent as people's budgets allowed. Murder rates are of course up, but domestic violence was probably more acceptable. Institutional abuse was only starting to die out in the 1980's, I remember the 'poor' kids in my class getting the sh!t kicked out of them by nuns.

I think both era's have their good and bad points. I can't even imagine how I would have coped with social media as a child, and with all the technological advances we've made, I don't think my childhood suffered from not having the latest and greatest gadgets, if anything its made me more resourceful as an adult

conorhal

cgcsb wrote: »

I'm not saying current times aren't sh!te, I'm saying back then was worse.

I look around today at the levels of unhappiness, anxiety and isolation in the country. The numbers of people on anti-depressants (which seems like half the population), the number of children in need of treatment for accute psychological problems. The degree to which as a society, we are self medicating ourselves into an early grave with alcohol and drugs. The degree to which people ar killing themselves and each other in ever greater numbers, even children raping killing other children, and I don't for a second believe that things today are 'better' by any metric bar economic. Even there the hours people are working keep getting longer as their job security diminishes along with the quality time they get to spend with family.

Deebles McBeebles

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Guys I asked this question a few pages back so I'll just ask again, would you rather be a kid in todays world or keep your childhood of the 80s/90s?

80s/90s without a doubt. Would not enjoy growing up in todays world.

Seanachai

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Guys I asked this question a few pages back so I'll just ask again, would you rather be a kid in todays world or keep your childhood of the 80s/90s?

Keep the 80s\90s childhood without a doubt, there's too much head noise these days.

SharpshooterTom

cgcsb wrote: »

I'm not saying current times aren't sh!te, I'm saying back then was worse.

Depends on the person, for minorities and LGBT it certainly was, but Ireland and many parts of Western Europe didn't have as many minorities. Even the UK was less than 5% non white in the 1980s, compared to 15-20% today.

Also we can pick holes in the in the 1980s, but compared to then income inequality has gotten WORSE today thanks to the legacies of Reagan and Thatcher and lots of other western countries trying to copy them since.