As Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries (2012 – 2022) comes to an end, the enlightened Newstalk team have drafted a list of Ireland’s “greatest moments” throughout the past 100 years. The following 20 bullet points have undoubtedly been deliberated upon for hours by a clueless boardroom of social progressivists struggling to recall Irish historical landmarks before the 1970s and arrival of Reeling in the Years.

Rural Electrification of Ireland begins – 1946

Ireland becomes a Republic – 1949

Donogh O’Malley announces Free Education – 1966

Contraceptive Train to Belfast – 1971

Ireland joins the EEC – 1973

Munster win over the All Blacks – 1978

U2 Release The Joshua Tree – 1987

Ireland elects its first female President – 1990

Ireland at Italia 90’ – 1990

Sinead O’Connor on SNL – 1992

Riverdance at the Eurovision – 1994

Seamus Heaney wins the Nobel Prize – 1995

The signing of the Good Friday Agreement – 1998

The Saipan Saga: Roy Keane V Mick McCarthy – 2002

Introduction of the Smoking Ban – 2004

Katie Taylor winning Gold at London 2012 – 2012

Marriage Equality Referendum – 2015

Repeal the 8th Referendum – 2018

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail entering government together – 2020

Garth Brooks plays 5 nights in Croke Park – 2022

Immediately standing out on this list is the overrepresentation of sporting or music events and socially progressive landmarks, including the state’s permission of abortion and gay marriage. The weighted distribution of “great moments” in Irish history on this list towards the past 30 or 40 years of social liberalisation is indicative of the ignorance and historical deracination of not only its writers, but the Irish public itself. The supposed “landmark events” on this list vary between irrelevance and the idealisation of subversive social policies. 

Juxtapose the historical significance of Ireland completing its journey out of the British Empire in 1949 with the batty women involved with the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement; there is no justifiable comparison for these historical events. The Newstalk team mistakenly suggest that the legalisation of gay marriage was one of Ireland’s greatest moments of the last century, when in fact the real achievement was that the Irish State was able to maintain sodomy as a criminal offence until only 1993 – longer than most other European nations. 

The sample size of the Newstalk’s “greatest moments” has been cherry-picked from a number of events appealing to the socially liberal left-wing stance of most people today – with a kind of plastic patriotism demonstrated through the representation of Irish victories in meaningless cultural and sporting events such as Garth Brooks concert in Croke Park this year. How could any nation take itself seriously if its claim to fame was that it had transformed itself from a traditional society in which local communities were maintained into an individualistic society that is both mundane and morally subversive?

Even a simple peruse of Irish history in this past century illuminates several markers of symbolic or national significance which are either indicative of the fidelity to Irish identity at that time, or of major political decisions which we today have experienced the consequences of. Even a paltry list as this one shown here takes greater care and consideration as to representing truly stand-out moments of Irish history in the 100 years than that of the Newstalk crew:

The Creation of the Irish Free State 

The Creation of the Irish Manuscripts Commission

Irish Diplomacy Succeeds in Establishing the Statute of Westminster 

The Battle of the Bogside

The Ratification of Bunreacht na hÉireann 

Irish Popular Support for General Franco in the Spanish Civil War 

Ireland Maintains its Status as a Neutral State

The 1981 Hunger Strikes and Death of Bobby Sands

Ireland Becomes a Republic 

Ireland hosts the 31st Eucharistic Congress 


The decade of centenaries has demonstrated the general apathy, decadence and amnesia of the Irish public, which enjoys a largely hedonistic economic lifestyle without regard for the historical foundations of their nation nor the trajectory in which it was directed throughout the 20th century. Should the Irish people and state have truly cared to honour the efforts of their predecessors far more would have been done throughout these past ten years. Fancy military parades are aesthetically important for a nation’s commemoration of its historical struggles, achievements, successes and tragedies, but they are only momentary.

To date, how many aesthetically pleasing, symbolic and quality monuments honouring Ireland’s national history have been made? The Irish government ought to concern itself with greater cultural works projects during its decade of centenaries than putting Pokémon statues outside the Dáil.

Posted by Ryan Kiersey

5 Comments

  1. Declan Hayes 20/10/2022 at 8:04 pm

    The Spanish Civil War is an interesting one. Though Christy Moore (who would put Ray Houghton’s goal against England in that list) claims he read Mick O’Riordan’s ghost written book about the non existent Connolly Column on holidays with him, the names he cites, both those he pronounces correctly and incorrectly, are listed on two pages on that book. George Nathan, the homosexual Black and Tan who was in charge of the Irish Republicans in Spain, likewise should have been in that song to keep the narrative “straight”. I’d imagine Moore’s sister, who was in Revolutionary Struggle (who shot an English civilian in Trinity College as part of the H Block process) before securing a very senior position in Sinn Fein got him to do that. Songs like Moore’s and propagandists like Manus O’Riordan who ghost wrote his da’s book, helped hijack the Spanish Civil War narrative. As is evidenced by the list (where is the GAA or Dana? or, for that matter, when PantiBliss found out he was HIV+ ), the rewriting not only continues but degenerates. Where is Bord na Mona, the Sugar Board, Irish Shipping, Marino, the foundation of the Irish Press or when “Leo” met his Canadian handler?

    Reply

  2. The ’04 Citizenship referendum was one of the few times the electorate showed some common sense . Pity, the result was overturned by our political masters .

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  3. A list of the worst developments would be:
    The creation of RTE and commercial television,
    The lack of soil utility viz afforestation and tillage of arable land,
    The abolition of technical schools and the commensurate expansion of secondary education,
    The expansion of tertiary education to non-academic students,
    The invasion from the third-world since the 1990s,
    The prohibition of the freedom to contract,
    The creation of the centrally-planned HSE,
    The State funding of NGOs

    Reply

  4. Ivaus@thetricolour 22/10/2022 at 10:51 pm

    …” and year after year their numbers get fewer, someday no one will march there at all ” as described in the song,and the band played waltzing Matilda, I see this as another attempt by the most vile and treacherous in Official Political Ireland, to totally eradicate any sense of
    Irish Pride Historically from the Globalized Plantation of Eiru.

    And sure these same cute hoor bastards would be at the top of their own
    list because they have nothing in common with a real Ireland,and that legacy will reveal itself in less than a decade. I often wonder then would the likes of Leinster House and RTEs house of horrors escape the self decapitation that they’ve so fervently promoted among the natives in their quest for progressive stupidity…one can only wish Danny Boy!

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  5. vril is not stored in the balls 24/10/2022 at 5:56 am

    look at it like this they dont know nothing about ireland except what they see on the telly, which is not much in the first place, all these libtards grow up on rte, So its any wonder they are libtarded

    the destruction of thatched houses and built heritage during celtic tiger is far more destructive than any of that globalised bullshit, especially buildings that have lasted a long time, Even since normietards are now building their own oversised usury paid for houses which they wont pay off until they are in their late 60s

    Beside all that the regime in this country has increasingly gone out of touch with most irish people, nothing irish about it, It best be removed in max 5 years

    Reply

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