Riding when contraception was hard to come by in Ireland.

Depended on the part of the country you lived.

...had morals?

Well if you were a student there was always the German option.

In the 80s Germany was a thriving economy with a massive labour shortage and this was in the days before every assembly line was automated with computers and robots. So loads of summer work available.

Also, the Germans were very into sales automation even back then so there were loads of vending machines selling chocolate, coffee, peanuts.....and johnnies.

Also, for the younger generation, this was long before the euro so we used Irish punts and the Germans used DeutscheMarks. Amazingly, if very stupidly, the 1DM coin was exactly the same size and weight of the old Irish 5p piece. But the DM was worth between 30 and 34p depending on market fluctuations at the time. So every June, Irish banks had to be sure to stock up on a few gazillion 5ps as they just knew grubby students would be coming in to get a fiver or tenners worth of such coins in advance of heading off to Germany for the summer. So they could phone home to their mammies, like. (Pre mobile phone days)

Worked a treat. A year's supply of Johnnies (about a packet in my case) for a few p. Just had to make sure you used them by the sell-by date.

EE we had it tough when I were a lad!!

Throwing them into slavery?

Living on the border it was never an issue. Just pop into the local northern pharmacy and ride like hell.

How romantic

I don't know if they're romantic. See for yourself - https://www.condomjungle.com/naturalamb/ - bit pricy though

Morals did exist back then and had nothing to do with religion. Fair do's to those that followed them. Usually single and aware. This is a topic I can completely relate to as I became sexually active in 1987 and used a condom from a friends parents bedroom drawer. Most likely those condoms were got on prescription as they were married. If we fast forward into the early 90s, lots of girls as in teenagers had access to the pill once their parents consented to it. The pill was widely accessible back then. Of course lots of girls were tricked into the act by lads that didn't give a fook with BS like, "I'll pull out". Yeah right. Most likely a case of no communication from parents that had experienced religious oppression and were comfortable ignoring the reality. Quite simply they weren't told anything about the options that local doctors would happily prescribe. Even the morning after pill was available in Well Women Centres.

I came of age during a time where the availability of contraception crossed over from prescription to condom machines in pub toilets. Now we can buy them in our local petrol station and rightly so. However from my perspective the late 80s to the early 90s, was no excuse either if parental guidance/support was offered. These days couples still have unplanned pregnacies despite the widespread contraceptive options. I guess it may be down to a still existent situation of absolute carelessness and ignorance. No excuse these days but hey it still happens.

Billy describes it best....

......if you couldn't get your hands on Cling film in an emergency :-)

when I was in college my girlfriend at the time went to get the pill. The nurse in the college told her "you know he doesn't love you" and tried to talk her out of getting the pill and to save her virginity that was 1993. Nurse should have been fired, can you imagine what she would have said to a pregnant student?

I worked in student bar in Dublin in 1993 and we gave out free condoms. It was so weird to go from it been hard to get them to giving them away for free. My Mam freaked out when she found johnny wrappers in my pockets from work. People used to blow the up like balloons at the time so general bar rubbish was condom wrappers. She gave a big lecture about sex before marriage to her 19 year old son who who lost his virginity at 15. A family friend was one of the people who sold condoms in Virgin and she hooked me up. If I had no condoms I would have gotten somebody pregnant. Having condoms was quite helpful when nobody else had them

Likewise I *came* of age in the early 90s when sanity was beginning to prevail.

I heard that in the 80s, if you wanted the ride without a free trip to Holles Street, if just after you had blown your batter into her, you whispered 'just kidding' in her ear, it was foolproof.

I remember the sex talks from peers in school and it was shocking how ignorant some were. Luckily most of the truly ignorant had no chance of getting near a girl at that age. Teenage boys can be particularly gross when playing up for others. Some of the "stories" from guys were funny and physically impossible. There was some sex education in school but my parents had gone through it all. I remember when the religion teacher brought in books aimed at teens about sex education. He left them on the table and then walked out of the room. He was not allowed teach it apparently so this was his work around.

its a batter consistency youd want to see a doctor