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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.

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hot buttered scones

riclad wrote: »

People complained about rock and roll, violent movies, videogames. TV, influencing teens to behave badly, now its
social media.
The 90s were the last time rents were low,after 2000 house price went up rapidly, rents went up, now we have a housing crisis
homeless people living in tents
People come here to work in shops hotels cafes
Immigration is part of a successful economy
People did not know it but the 90s were an optimistic time
before a decade of rapid change
before Ireland became a modern economy with Google Facebook opening offices here

I got married in late 99 and then came home for Christmas. We had a look around estate agents and spotted houses in the estate behind my parents for £65,000. We didn't really have anything tying us to where we were living, so we moved home. After a few months the £65000 houses were now £85,000 and out of our reach. In a few months more, when we had managed to scrap a deposit together the houses were now tipping over €100k. And the rules at time were 2.5 times the largest wage plus one time the smallest wage. It took us years to get sorted, yet only 2 or 3 years earlier we'd have been sorted in a few months. It's all down to timing really, which is unfortunate

Dyr

Merlin44 wrote: »

Mid 90s was the time start of mobile phones, ecstasy house music , everyone friendly, going out with a set amount of money and been happy with that.

House was the in thing long before the mid 90s

Dyr

riclad wrote: »

P
homeless people living in tents
People come here to work in shops hotels cafes
Immigration is part of a successful economy

People living in tents must be part of successful economy too so.

Rothko

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Ah the good old days. White and Catholic. No fecking one world government. Fewer foreigners. Is that the vibe I'm picking up?

Dumbest post I've seen in a long time.

hot buttered scones

Andrewf20 wrote: »

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.

This is absolutely one of the main reasons for housing price rises. It was the goal of the FF government to get more women into the workplace and as far as I remember it was done under the guise of trying to be a more equal society with at least equality of opportunity for both men and women. This was McCreevy's baby - tax individualisation and all that jazz. Whether the effect on property prices was an unintended consequence or by design I don't know (i.e. it's not a bug, it's a feature)

hot buttered scones

fryup wrote: »

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

Your experience of the period may not reflect the experience of others

hot buttered scones

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.

It's about being able to have the choice. Neither outcome is particularly bad, but only if done by choice.

Flinty997

RandomViewer wrote: »

You had to be a named driver on a policy to get a quote and then the price would be unreal, heard of people asked 2k for insurance when wages were around 150quid a week

I had a renewal one year of 3k on a Honda. I stopped buying sporty cars at that point and switched to the cheapest thing I could run.

TenLeftFingers

90s are a nice memory for me personally. Things were looking up compared to the 80s especially.

I wouldn't think of it as "real Ireland" though. We were so anglicised at that point that when I'd visit a Gaeltacht area I felt like a foreigner due to the language, mannerisms and general vibe being so different. Looking back, if I had to point out a real Ireland that would probably be it.

Flinty997

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Your experience of the period may not reflect the experience of others

In fairness it's wasn't the multicultural coffee shop modern culture of today. There was a big difference between the 80s and 90s in Dublin though.

hot buttered scones

Flinty997 wrote: »

In fairness it's wasn't the multicultural coffee shop modern culture of today. There was a big difference between the 80s and 90s in Dublin though.

Dublin was it's own beast, if you know what I mean. I found it to be a very alien place in some ways, but familiar in others when I first moved there in the 90s. Lived there from 94 to 99 and by 99 I felt like the atmosphere had changed - everything started feeling a bit more hurried, a bit more hostile and leery. I loved it when I first moved up but couldn't wait to get out of it in the end. There were big changes in Dublin between the 80s and 90s. The rest of the country was slower to catch up I think, and the gap between Dublin and everywhere else felt like it was getting bigger all the time

RandomViewer

Flinty997 wrote: »

I had a renewal one year of 3k on a Honda. I stopped buying sporty cars at that point and switched to the cheapest thing I could run.

Lots of people running around in Fiesta/Micra/ Renault 5 petrol vans

Danno

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Who do you reckon is paying for your future pensions in part?

If you think ten lads from wherever packed into a 3-bed semi-d are paying enough taxes to fund our pensions then you're truly deluded.

The vast majority of these are on min-wage jobs and are slogging it out here to save up enough to buy a €24k semi-d on the outskirts of some city abroad you've probably never heard of.

SEPT 23 1989

It was the sweet spot

Money was starting to roll in but things were still cheap

And if course Ecstasy which liberated and opened the minds of the youth but that has seemed to disappear in their own children

Paradise lost

[Deleted User]

An Australian friend of mine remembers visiting Ireland during the late 80s early 90s. I brought him to Glendalough two years ago when he came to visit. He could not get over how much cleaner it was. When he visited in the late 80s early 90s the place was awash with plastic bags and most scenic spots and towns were filthy. In some respects we are much better today than years ago. We just complain more today.

whisky_galore

Belparkgarden wrote: »

An Australian friend of mine remembers visiting Ireland during the late 80s early 90s. I brought him to Glendalough two years ago when he came to visit. He could not get over how much cleaner it was. When he visited in the late 80s early 90s the place was awash with plastic bags and most scenic spots and towns were filthy. In some respects we are much better today than years ago. We just complain more today.

Or its pointed out more and compared with places in Europe and beyond outside of the Irish centric bubble.

We still have a lot of lazy cünts still stuck in the dark ages who would shíte on their own doorstep.

Danno

Belparkgarden wrote: »

An Australian friend of mine remembers visiting Ireland during the late 80s early 90s. I brought him to Glendalough two years ago when he came to visit. He could not get over how much cleaner it was. When he visited in the late 80s early 90s the place was awash with plastic bags and most scenic spots and towns were filthy. In some respects we are much better today than years ago. We just complain more today.

I can agree with this, there is more of a social onus on people now to have their lot clean and tidy. I think cheap power-washers were the key!

RandomViewer

Belparkgarden wrote: »

An Australian friend of mine remembers visiting Ireland during the late 80s early 90s. I brought him to Glendalough two years ago when he came to visit. He could not get over how much cleaner it was. When he visited in the late 80s early 90s the place was awash with plastic bags and most scenic spots and towns were filthy. In some respects we are much better today than years ago. We just complain more today.

Scrap cars and dumping would have been issues, Port Bridge in Letterkenny used to have an unofficial halting site with about 100 cars piled high,

dd973

Green Dublin buses and the Harp Bar on O'Connell Bridge.

Purple is a Fruit

I turned 12 in 1990. It was a time of change - you could sense it. But that was Europe-wide also. And in Britain with Thatcher stepping down late 1990. N.I. peace talks were ever so slowly gaining ground too.

It was an optimistic time I felt - Italia '90 being a good representation of it. Less young folk needed to emigrate. The church's grip on society was loosening (the Casey revelation in 1992 being a major catalyst, then the floodgates opened).

Of course this was all very gradual though.

Jim2007

Giblet wrote: »

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

You forgot the 13% unemployment and most of us leaving the country.... with all its faults it’s still a far better place today.

Purple is a Fruit

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Ah the good old days. White and Catholic. No fecking one world government. Fewer foreigners. Is that the vibe I'm picking up?

Nope, because only YOU brought the above up. Reading what you want into something is not the same as it actually being. "One world government" - wha? And "white"? Oh the humanity!

ineedeuro wrote: »

The problem with ireland was as soon as internet etc came into our lives we decided we wanted to be American. Not the good parts of American culture but the sh*t parts
You have a load of lads going around now trying to recreate what they see in the films over drugs. All copying what is on tv
Gangs who are trying to replicate again what they see in the US,
People just acting like d**is because it’s their right, freedom of speech blah blah blah
Clowns who think it’s cool to insult the Garda.... or as they call them the “ppoooollliicceee”

For a nation we really have a huge IQ problem across the board

You get those clowns everywhere. IQ problems? Crikey.

jk23

I find myself thinking like this as I get older in regards to everything now...Films, sport, nights out and life in general all seemed better.

There has to be some rose tinted glasses on for sure. The biggest change is social media. Whether it's a good thing I really don't know...

Purple is a Fruit

Yes, thinking things seemed better in the past - that's standard stuff.

But there hasn't been anything like social media since... I dunno, the Industrial Revolution?

And much as I love aspects of social media, the toxicity is a bloody difficult one.

That said though, there are also things I prefer now to back then.

jk23

Purple is a Fruit wrote: »

Yes, thinking things seemed better in the past - that's standard stuff.

But there hasn't been anything like social media since... I dunno, the Industrial Revolution?

And much as I love aspects of social media, the toxicity is a bloody difficult one.

That said though, there are also things I prefer now to back then.

I am with you there, I preferred not knowing everything about people's lives and I know I can be off it or ignore it to some degree.

But then you get people showing you photos or talking constantly about what is going on with Facebook or Instagram. Then you have online banking or WhatsApp groups that kind of trap you that way too.

Das Reich

Before arriving in Ireland 15 years ago I used to think my country was very americanized. Ireland was long gone and unfortunately many other countries are becoming similar losing their language and culture.

Strumms

The only thing I preferred about Ireland then was that we had a better football team and better music shops.

whisky_galore

Das Reich wrote: »

Before arriving in Ireland 15 years ago I used to think my country was very americanized. Ireland was long gone and unfortunately many other countries are becoming similar losing their language and culture.

What culture?
The living in thatched cottages and riding a donkey to Mass culture? Because nobody wants to do that anymore, the country isn't a theme park for tourists.

The GAA are doing better than most sporting organisations and the language is being propped up artificially because nobody wants to speak that either. And you can't cajole or force people to speak Irish if they have no use for it.

The J Stands for Jay

Danno wrote: »

If you think ten lads from wherever packed into a 3-bed semi-d are paying enough taxes to fund our pensions then you're truly deluded.

The vast majority of these are on min-wage jobs and are slogging it out here to save up enough to buy a €24k semi-d on the outskirts of some city abroad you've probably never heard of.

If you think anyone paying taxes now is funding pensions in the future, you're seriously deluded. Those 10 lads are paying taxes that are going straight back out into the bank accounts of pensioners.

Pawwed Rig

Strumms wrote: »

The only thing I preferred about Ireland then was that we had a better football team and better music shops.

The highlights of my visit to the city centre were visiting Virgin Megastore and HMV before going to Freebird records to search for something I could afford.
That experience cannot be recreated on a phone.