Stories from the Celtic Tiger Years *Mod Warning in OP PLEASE READ*

I was in college in dublin in the early 2000s and worked in club Anabel under the Burlington for about 18 months in 2004-05 (after the infamous death).
During horse show week one of those years the place was heaving and the money being spent/wasted was outrageous. Bottles of cristal were the most expensive thing on the menu at 350 a pop, and we used to rum out of them before 1am. Big pink faced middle aged lads in pink shirts dropping 200 on rounds of vodka and red bull 4-5 times a night, then getting kicked out for doing lines in the bathroom. Ladies leaving expensive bags/phones/purses/coats behind and never showing up to collect them - theybhad to get rid of the older stuff in the lost and found to make way for the new stuff coming in nightly. Lads throwing 20 quid at you to serve them next, tipping 50s on rounds of 50s, finding notes all over the floor when the place was cleared out and the lights on, madness. Used to make more on the side than the nights wage most nights.

I remember that there were multiple bottles of cristal left over and not even half finished, we (the staff) tried to sample what was left to see what €350 champagne tastes like, the bottle was promptly taken off us by the head/senior barman and poured down the sink - "this was paid for by someone who left it behind - it is not for anyone elsr to touch". This became a regular occurence where they rounded up the expensive stuff left behind and dumped it asap, to make sure noone else touched it.

Served quite the strange array of people in there, most of the Irish rugby team, Alan Kelly, Steven Reid and Brad Friedel - Blackburn had a friendly in dublin, lads went on the rip til 5am in the private bar, Olympian Cian O'Connor (tosser), and a slew of vacuous nobodies who graced the celeb pages at the time - the only one i remember is the French one who died.

Worked alongside a current radio presenter in there, he was as woke then as he is now - offering multiple opportunities to the females that the lads couldnt avail of!

PhilOssophy wrote: »

Weddings by Franc. Did anything ever symbolise the waste of the Celtic Tiger more and the sh1te people did.

I was actually at one about 5 years ago. Not one of the ones on TV.

He decked the place out in ikea lights and led strips. Then had some weird circus act on in the middle. And then at midnight they passed candles around to everone and lit them. It was absurd.

All the while Franc going around clicking his fingers at waiting staff and posing for selfies.
I asked the groom how much he charged a few years later. €20K was Francs fee. All other expenses, food, venue on top of that.

Ridiculous Irish weddings are still a legacy of Celtic Tiger. Standing outside in the fcuking cold in the middle of December trying to light lanterns to set off into the sky. I was at one a couple of years ago where the party kept getting broken up so we could watch the couples "first dance" for the fifth time - the bride had a number of songs that were special to her, apparently. All the while being warned repeatedly over the microphone not to take photos or videos, the only record of the day was to be the official "approved media". All this after she was an hour and a half late to the church. The poor fella she married would only wash himself on special occasions if he was let, I think they'll be very happy.

My wife was asked to be a bridesmaid recently. She hadnt a clue why she was being summoned for makeup at 5:30am for a wedding 8 hours later. It all made sense when she walked in, glowing in the dark like Singin Bernie Walsh. She didnt realise that all women of all hair colours and complexions need to be tangoed for the traditional Irish wedding - poor woman was mortified.

God be with the days when a wedding was judged solely on how much mash and veg was served with the dinner.

facehugger99 wrote: »

Joan of Arc?

Napoleon?

Sophie Toscan du Plantier?

Much more famous than them, according to every rag at the time.

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Seems like a good time for this:

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/dreams-die-with-death-of-katy-1.990174

John Waters' Obituary for Katy French. That's right. Before you knew him as the figurehead of Ireland's nascent nutty Alt-Right he was the designated arselicker of Fianna Fail's Celtic Tiger Ireland. A better symbol of how drastically the country has changed would be hard to find.

Some highlights:

"She was a child. She was my daughter and Eoghan's daughter and Eamon's daughter and Pat's daughter and Bertie's daughter. She was your daughter, your little sister. She was a child of Ireland in the time of its rebirth.

I am crying, writing this. How can you cry for someone you've only once said hello to? Katy was the daughter of our dreams, in the sense that it was the dreams of her people that gave birth to what is tritely called her celebrity."

"Driven by angelic recall, they plod on clay feet into the mire of three-dimensional reality. They do not know, are not conscious, that their appetites are infinitely greater than the world's capacity to satisfy them."

"She did not, other than literally, die of whatever it will say on her death certificate. She died of desire, of being utterly human.

What can I say? The dream is over."

Which seques somewhat incongruously into:

"As Pope Benedict reminds us in his new encyclical, we have no idea what we would really like. "We do not know this reality at all; even in those moments when we think we can reach out and touch it, it eludes us." All we know is that it is not what we have."

Jesus wept.

Next time hes out spouting his current sh1te somebody should take the megaphone off him and bellow this article word for word at him.

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Seems like a good time for this:

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/dreams-die-with-death-of-katy-1.990174

John Waters' Obituary for Katy French. That's right. Before you knew him as the figurehead of Ireland's nascent nutty Alt-Right he was the designated arselicker of Fianna Fail's Celtic Tiger Ireland. A better symbol of how drastically the country has changed would be hard to find.

Some highlights:

"She was a child. She was my daughter and Eoghan's daughter and Eamon's daughter and Pat's daughter and Bertie's daughter. She was your daughter, your little sister. She was a child of Ireland in the time of its rebirth.

I am crying, writing this. How can you cry for someone you've only once said hello to? Katy was the daughter of our dreams, in the sense that it was the dreams of her people that gave birth to what is tritely called her celebrity."

"Driven by angelic recall, they plod on clay feet into the mire of three-dimensional reality. They do not know, are not conscious, that their appetites are infinitely greater than the world's capacity to satisfy them."

"She did not, other than literally, die of whatever it will say on her death certificate. She died of desire, of being utterly human.

What can I say? The dream is over."

Which seques somewhat incongruously into:

"As Pope Benedict reminds us in his new encyclical, we have no idea what we would really like. "We do not know this reality at all; even in those moments when we think we can reach out and touch it, it eludes us." All we know is that it is not what we have."

Some of that article went a bit above my head tbh, but there was a warmth to John Waters' writing then. He seemed like a very decent sort of an everyman then, his decline is quite sad in my opinion.

sheepondrugs wrote:

His offices are in Lucan now at Grifeeen shopping centre. Must be a change from Baggot St or wherever.

He always had that office as a second premises.

When he left the Pembroke street office he moved to trinity street.

Not the actions of someone struggling financially.

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

Some of that article went a bit above my head tbh, but there was a warmth to John Waters' writing then. He seemed like a very decent sort of an everyman then, his decline is quite sad in my opinion.

Yeah, it's the same kind of warmth as when you piss yourself.

I remember the controversy about the German Ambassador's speech to a group of visiting German industrialists in 2007 in which he said Ireland was a "coarse place" where hospital waiting lists were chaotic and everyone drove '06 and '07 cars.

From the Irish Times:
During his address, the ambassador referred to Ireland's wealth, saying Ministers of State earn more that the German chancellor, and 20 per cent of the population were public servants.

In a reference to negotiations over hospital consultant contracts, he said doctors who were offered salaries of €200,000 a year had described the salary as "Mickey Mouse money". Mr Mitchell said last night they were the only words the ambassador said in English and that the audience laughed at the comments.

Mr Mitchell said Mr Pauls also criticised the Government's immigration policy, saying Ireland learned nothing from Germany's experiences. He told a story about attending the National Concert Hall when an announcement was made for the owner of a 93D-registered car to move it. He said no one moved as all Irish cars are '06 and '07.

He said that US visitors had stopped coming to Ireland because of the heavy traffic and that Ireland has a bleak time in the past due to the Famine and had a history "sadder than Poland". Mr Pauls said a house had sold in Clontarf for over €20 million and one could buy a skyscraper for that in Frankfurt.

While there was a lot to criticise in his speech and it wasn't what you'd expect from a diplomat, I do remember him or one of his reps getting a huge amount of support on a Marian Finucane radio show where many listeners rang in to say that he was dead right about certain parts of his speech.

John_Rambo wrote: »

He's been succeeding in failure for a long time now, he wrote a Eurovision song that came last, he was an unsuccessful Independent candidate, he refused to use email when it came out (what a pro), he supported the invasion of Iraq in the belief that there were weapons of mass destruction, opposed gay marriage, claimed there's no such thing as depression, blamed catholic clerical child abuse on gay people and was imprisoned because he didn't pay a parking fine because he felt he'd returned to his car only shortly after the grace period.

And people still employ him.

Hes a complete penisaurus

Sebastian Dangerfield wrote: »

My auld fella was one of these. He'd buy it in January, and start hinting at an upgrade over the summer. By November he'd be turning down the radio mid drive going "do you hear that? Something rattling, that's a sign it needs to be changed", then go again. He used cycle everywhere up to 1999, suddenly he was driving to the chipper across the road because he'd "to get petrol anyway".

He did switch from a Focus ("best car on the road") to an Avensis ("them Fords are $hite") in 2003 which was the most exciting thing to happen in our house for a while. The Avensis came with a free toasted sandwich maker for some reason, and himself sat outside in a rage polishing the interior of a new car while we were all inside scalding our mouths with volcanic cheese. Good times

Sure come the end of the celtic tiger youd buy a house and theyd throw in a car for free. It could only end in tears

McGaggs wrote: »

I forgot about the SSIAs. I didn't have one because I was a poor student when they started.

Me too. Jesus imagine if they had something like that now. Must have been a great time if you were doing well