Were the early 90's the last "real" Ireland

Giblet · 16-05-2021 10:37pm #1

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.

16-05-2021 10:41pm

I was only covering for the Boss.

McGinniesta · 16-05-2021 10:44pm

In the 90's I could get away with trying to get the skirt off any female with a heart beat.

Those days are gone.

Larbre34 · 16-05-2021 11:00pm

Yeah the early 90s were the best Ireland.

It was the Ireland before we discovered just how many women and children had been destroyed by the Church and State just for being alive.

It was Ireland before all that pesky social and healthcare equality and high employment and great economic growth.

Good Times. My ar5e.

Ubbquittious · 16-05-2021 11:10pm

Yea I think so.

The last of the real madness and free-spiritedness finished in the 90's. Suing was gaining traction, the EU started strengthening it's grip, people started getting posher and more materialistic. Cultural homogenisation with the States was happening

BrianD3 · 16-05-2021 11:11pm

I'd say we had a few good years when we in a transition period and had a mix of the old and the new. For this I'd pick out the 1995-2003 period.

The early nineties i.e. Italia 90 and The Commitments era was a quite a grim time in Ireland, unemployment was still very high and I didn't get a sense of there being a working class optimism. However by 1999, it seemed like a very different place. I wonder did the arrival of the internet change Ireland more than it changed other countries as other countries were coming from a more developed base.

NIMAN · 16-05-2021 11:12pm

Each era has its good and bad points.

OP, you mention all the good things that were happening in the 90s, but leave out all the bad stuff.

B2021M · 16-05-2021 11:19pm

BrianD3 wrote: »

I'd say we had a few good years when we in a transition period and had a mix of the old and the new. For this I'd pick out the 1995-2003 period.

The early nineties i.e. Italia 90 and The Commitments era was a quite a grim time in Ireland, unemployment was still very high and I didn't get a sense of there being a working class optimism. However by 1999, it seemed like a very different place. I wonder did the arrival of the internet change Ireland more than it changed other countries as other countries were coming from a more developed base.

Not necessarily the internet but that certainly had an effect. We modernised more quickly from, as you say, a lower base.

I do think say 1999 to 2005 was a good mix of new and old. The changes since about 2008 are massive.

Hyperbollix · 16-05-2021 11:40pm

Not just Ireland, but probably the last "real" everything. The mid 2000s saw the internet and social media tighten it's grip on every facet of life and while a lot of it is great, you'd have to say an awful lot of it is fúcking awful.

Our parent's used to say they lived in innocent simpler times, but those of us who grew up in the 90's certainly can say that too.

rossie1977 · 17-05-2021 12:02am

There was good and bad points. Not sure what you mean by real Ireland though..are we currently in fake version?

Early 90s Catholic church basically ran everything at least in rural Ireland, emigration was high and Ireland was the poorest western nation while our Taoiseach lived a life of luxury akin to tinpot dictator. Violence in Northern Ireland was still rife.

DerekC16 · 17-05-2021 12:03am

Italia 90 Nationalism. Bring back Xtravision.

zanador · 17-05-2021 12:57am

In 1987 at age 9 I called the police because my mam and her boyfriend had moved onto knives that evening and there was blood everywhere.

Fair play to them they called out to the house before they decided it was none of their business.

riclad · 17-05-2021 1:00am

I think life was alot more simple , no high rents, no housing crisis,
No gig economy, no one getting cancelled, no everyone under 30
is obsessed with social media, likes, friends they have never met,
Ireland was a modern country moving on from the power of the church.
Now people are being radicalised or else believing weird conspiracy theory's
and fake news on the internet
I think tv was better in some ways there were great programs being made on BBC 2 channel 4
Now all the good comedys seem to be made in america

I understand most people think everything was better in the old
days when they were a certain age
There was good pop music being made in the 90s
There seems to be no new bands anymore
Most new music is made on laptops
I find it hard to think of a important new band
After 2005

Strumms · 17-05-2021 2:00am

My teenage years were in the ‘90s.

Public transport was piss poor, unreliable, uncomfortable, rank smelly and old.... I went to college 4 kilometers from my home and the bus service ran about every 20 minutes according to the timetable, every 35 minutes in reality...

Holidays and flying were still terribly extortionate. When I went to work in France in ‘98 I left in April, flights booked the previous September/October cost £245.

17-05-2021 5:35am

Hyperbollix wrote: »

Not just Ireland, but probably the last "real" everything. The mid 2000s saw the internet and social media tighten it's grip on every facet of life and while a lot of it is great, you'd have to say an awful lot of it is fúcking awful.

Our parent's used to say they lived in innocent simpler times, but those of us who grew up in the 90's certainly can say that too.

It's not the internet that changed everything. It's smartphones and the instant social media reaction now. The internet was different when people had to step away from the tv, go to a different room usually and spent 5 minutes connecting to the internet. Now every man and his dog has a device in their pocket that allows them global retrieve to send or receive data in 30 seconds.

rossie1977 · 17-05-2021 6:39am

riclad wrote: »

I think life was alot more simple , no high rents, no housing crisis,
No gig economy, no one getting cancelled , no everyone under 30
is obsessed with social media, likes, friends they have never met,
Ireland was a modern country moving on from the power of the church.

Hmm prohibition was everywhere still https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.231015

Playboy wasn't legal in Ireland until 95, exorcist movie until 98.

The Mighty Quinn · 17-05-2021 6:48am

riclad wrote: »

I think life was alot more simple , no high rents, no housing crisis,
No gig economy, no one getting cancelled, no everyone under 30
is obsessed with social media, likes, friends they have never met,
Ireland was a modern country moving on from the power of the church.
Now people are being radicalised or else believing weird conspiracy theory's
and fake news on the internet
I think tv was better in some ways there were great programs being made on BBC 2 channel 4
Now all the good comedys seem to be made in america

I understand most people think everything was better in the old
days when they were a certain age
There was good pop music being made in the 90s
There seems to be no new bands anymore
Most new music is made on laptops
I find it hard to think of a important new band
After 2005

Thanks for, the post Christopher. Walken.

3DataModem · 17-05-2021 7:06am

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Wanderer78 · 17-05-2021 7:16am

Giblet wrote:

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

We certainly were coming off the crest of a wave, before the world went full retard regarding its ideologies, with things being so messed up right now, let's hope we re at the bottom, so the only way is up......

Wanderer78 · 17-05-2021 7:18am

3DataModem wrote:

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Probably the most depressing period in my life, errr emmm, no thanks

17-05-2021 8:06am

3DataModem wrote: »

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Everyone else is wrong but in my case the world did in fact peak in my teens. Post-Cold War and pre-9/11 was arguably the best time in history. 1990-2001.

Bobblehats · 17-05-2021 10:38am

B2021M wrote: »

Not necessarily the internet but that certainly had an effect. We modernised more quickly from, as you say, a lower base.

I do think say 1999 to 2005 was a good mix of new and old. The changes since about 2008 are massive.

I am apprehensive about those times. Unbeknownst to us, whilst we were having the time of our lives seeds were being down that would profoundly and irrevocably alter the course of our very dna…forever.

riclad wrote: »

Most new music is made on laptops

With a bit of waffling over the top. A (Irish) chineseman may refer to them as raptops

Earthhorse · 17-05-2021 11:06am

3DataModem wrote: »

Sigh. Everyone thinks the world peaked when they were in their late teens and/or very early 20s.

Right. The 90s.

Floppybits · 17-05-2021 11:41am

BrianD3 wrote: »

I'd say we had a few good years when we in a transition period and had a mix of the old and the new. For this I'd pick out the 1995-2003 period.

The early nineties i.e. Italia 90 and The Commitments era was a quite a grim time in Ireland, unemployment was still very high and I didn't get a sense of there being a working class optimism. However by 1999, it seemed like a very different place. I wonder did the arrival of the internet change Ireland more than it changed other countries as other countries were coming from a more developed base.

I think what kick started everything was Ireland joining the European Single market in 1993 which made the country attractive to US companies who wanted access to Europe so they chose here. Of course they would have got some generous tax incentives for doing so and also at that time we were a low wage economy. Most people hadn't a pot to wizz in. The mid 90's to the start of 2000 were good, we were doing well, I remember Dublin was buzzing and was a great place to go out and was relatively safe. Then it was after joining the Eurozone currency that we went crazy.

The internet in the mid 90's wasn't great here, it was dial up mostly and was costly think it was around 10p or 20p per minute. Telecom Eireann were raking in the cash. How they became the mess that is EIr now I don't know, if there was ever a company that was in the right place and right time to it was that one.

The J Stands for Jay · 17-05-2021 11:56am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Everyone else is wrong but in my case the world did in fact peak in my teens. Post-Cold War and pre-9/11 was arguably the best time in history. 1990-2001.

I have read that somewhere. There was no worldwide threat/perceived threat.

fryup · 17-05-2021 12:05pm

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

Hyperbollix · 17-05-2021 12:06pm

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not the internet that changed everything. It's smartphones and the instant social media reaction now. The internet was different when people had to step away from the tv, go to a different room usually and spent 5 minutes connecting to the internet. Now every man and his dog has a device in their pocket that allows them global retrieve to send or receive data in 30 seconds.

Yeah that's true and is what I meant to say. Ah the old days of pre 2005, when having an account on a internet forum meant you were a cutting edge, technological colossus who's finger was on the pulse of this new frontier.

Now using message boards is the modern equivalent of smoke signals!

Strumms · 17-05-2021 12:40pm

" im going into the front room to go on the internet "

biko · 17-05-2021 12:42pm

Early 2000 were "better" but sure everyone has their favourite time.

DerekC16 · 17-05-2021 12:44pm

fryup wrote: »

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

Not everyone sees it that way. I was born in 82. I had a very happy childhood and have fond memories of that time period in Ireland. It wasnt all doom and gloom.

murpho999 · 17-05-2021 12:45pm

fryup wrote: »

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

No it wasn't. I grew up in the 80s and it was a great place.

Ireland has a lot of positives and its not always about economies.

Were the early 90's the last "real" Ireland

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