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Momentous events of the past 25 years

Thursday, 29 Oct 2009

by Cathal Mac Coille

Soaring unemployment, public finances in chaos, emigration rising, and pessimism widespread. There's no shortage of parallels between the state of the country now and the way things were when Morning Ireland was first broadcast on 5 November 1984. Which might be a small source of optimism as we reflect on our first quarter of a century on air. Which reminds me: in 1984 no-one would have known what you were talking about if you said you listened to Morning Ireland online.

The programme's anniversary celebrations will be marked by a special programme on Thursday 5 November, about which more later. We're also asking listeners to suggest items for a special anniversary archive of memorable moments from our first 25 years. All ideas welcome, under any heading. You don't have to restrict yourself to items that were politically significant or historic. Feel free, for example, to suggest items that were funny or sad or bizarre. Or that revealed the unmistakable style of a contributor. Or interviews you remember because they were typical of the style of great presenters like David Hanly, David Davin Power or Richard Crowley. Failing that, you might just want to hear an interview by one of the current presenting team again. Why don't you write an account of why your particular section is important to you. We'll publish that, along with the audio you've selected, on our website.

To jog your memory, here's a highly selective reminder of some of the momentous events Morning Ireland has covered in the last 25 years:

1984: Kerry Babies Tribunal established.

1985: Ireland's first heart transplant at Dublin's Mater Hospital.

1986: Ryanair starts flight operations.

1987: U2 release The Joshua Tree.

1988: 270 people killed in plane bombing over Lockerbie.

1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1990: Brian Keenan released after four years in captivity in Lebanon.

1991: The last unsuccessful 'heave' against Taoiseach Charlie Haughey.

1992: Bishop Eamon Casey resigns over an affair.

1993: Boyzone formed.

1994: First performance of Riverdance.

1995: Seamus Heaney wins Nobel Prize.

1996: Journalist Veronica Guerin murdered.

1997: IRA ceasefire.

1998: Good Friday Agreement, Omagh bombing (29 people killed).

1999: First session of Scottish Parliament since 1707.

2000: Ryan Commission established to investigate abuse in religious institutions.

2001: Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia launched.

2002: Ireland at the World Cup, Roy Keane, Mick McCarthy etc etc

2003: Invasion of Iraq.

2004: Indian Ocean tsunami kills hundreds of thousands of people.

2005: John Banville's novel The Sea wins Booker Prize.

2006: €752m Dublin Port Tunnel opens.

2007: Greens enter government for the first time.

2008: Brian Cowen takes over as Taoiseach from Bertie Ahern.

2009: Ireland beat France to qualify for World Cup (maybe)

All suggestions, please, to morningireland-AT-rte-DOT-ie.

It would help if you write ANNIVERSARY ARCHIVE in the subject line.

8 Comments

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Comments:

YTM (Tusa an fear)

Posted by Micheal Furtzman on October 29, 2009 at 02:03 PM IST #

I think one of the most memorial Morning Ireland interviews was with Gordon Wilson after the Enniskillen bomb.

Posted by Tony Minogue on October 29, 2009 at 02:12 PM IST #

Radio Eireann news-room has gone along from the time when a news-reader could not mention the word CONTRACEPTION. for the better. Chris.

Posted by Christopher Graham on October 29, 2009 at 05:11 PM IST #

i have enjoyed the show over the last 25 years. in reading the list of highlights, it always seems as if the events happened recently, but looking at the dates, a lot of time has passed. Politics and politicians are always the news for many good reasons and I think the interviews are in th emain fair and balances, but would also like to seemore coverage of other general items, e.g. issues in communities and how they are being addressed, Keep upo the good work. PH.

Posted by Peter Heffernan on October 30, 2009 at 09:19 PM IST #

Hi Aine and Cathal, Morning Ireland will be 25 years old this Tuesday and I'll be 25 years young 10 days later. Unfortunately for me I didn't discover the joys of morning Ireland until my best friend converted me when I was in my 4th year of college. In the good old days it involved me getting up at 5.5oam to get me into lecturers in St Vincent's Hospital (just down the road) where I studied to be a doctor. As my friends will attest to, I’m not a morning person so I couldn’t be listening to the meaningless drivel of the usual morning breakfast shows! When I graduated (finally), the 8am lectures were replaced with a 0645hr starts as I began working in surgery when we'd round with the professor. I took many such a slagging for my devoted loyalty to Morning Ireland. The nurses, porters, care attendants and my colleagues would slag me as I shush them for the intro music to Morning Ireland while I'd be typing away at the patient and surgery list for the day. The usual jibe was "you're not old enough to be listening to that!" which was intermingled with the regular "you're very young looking for a doctor" from my patients. My most memorable Morning Ireland moment was a very sad one. I learnt of the tragic death of a friend and colleague who died in the Air France Crash. Jane Deasy was a brilliant, outgoing, vibrant surgeon who I had the pleasure of meeting one morning in the first week of July 2008. I was beside my computer typing the patient list as usual, listening to Morning Ireland when this young lady with a brilliant white coat swept in and began searching high and low around me for a medical chart. Thinking Jane was probably a registrar I started to help and this was the beginning of our relatively short friendship. We eventually found the chart a week later. I learned of her death while I was on holidays from work. I had picked the best week of the summer and it was to coincide with the Volvo Yacht Race. I was the first up of my friends and, sitting alone at the breakfast table on a beautiful sunny morning on June 2nd, looking out onto the farm where we had rented a house. I was excited to be heading into Galway for the day’s activity when I heard Aine announce “three irish doctors were amongst the missing passengers.” Brian Jennings a moment later named introduced the piece and I sat there shocked and stunned when Jane was named as one of the passengers. A friendship which had begun in the company of Morning Ireland, had sadly ended in the same way. (I wouldn’t want to hear that news piece ever again) Well Aine, Cathal and all the team, if I don’t have the pleasure of joining ye all on Tuesday morning, here’s to another 25 years of Morning Ireland and maybe ye will let me come in 25 years time as an early 50th birthday present. ? Patrick (Waterford, but living in Bootertstown)

Posted by Patrick Kelly on November 01, 2009 at 03:32 AM IST #

congratulations on twenty five years of excellent coverage and commentary. I would like to know where David Hanley is now and what is he doing, his voice is morningireland for me.

Posted by ann hanniffy on November 01, 2009 at 07:50 PM IST #

Larry Goodman losing his temper one morning live on air and shouting out the immortal statement " theres people out there who are anti this, anti that and anti bloody everything !"

Posted by Kevin Macartan Monahan on November 02, 2009 at 02:52 PM IST #

As someone who works in public health there are many notable things that stand out over the last 25 years, eg the introduction of the smoking ban. What is most pertinent in my mind right now however was the very recent statement by Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath about one or two drinks being helpful for nervous drivers. It is not so much the inappropriateness of the statement itself but the context in which it was illicited. In a progressive nation that has the benefit of extensive research into the effects of alcohol Mattie's comments are an extreme reflection of the ingrained struggle in Irish culture between our attitudes to alcohol and the realities of what should be for the public good. Over the last 25 years economic development in Ireland has added significantly to the availability, strength and consumption of alcohol. This has in turn added to the increase in negative experiences, eg anti-social behaviour, crime, family break down, self harm, suicide, ill-health and premature death. On this 25th anniversary of Morning Ireland I am struck by the notion that we may not be rogressing as much as we'd like to think. This is more a question than a statement of fact. The real failure of any society would be to ignore what our history has shown us, so what I'm asking is what do we learn from the development and manifestation our alcohol culture over the last 25 years? More importantly what real challenges are we prepared to face and what real changes will we be strong enough accept to create a balanced and responsible position for alcohol in Ireland that protects all generations from alcohol related harms?

Posted by Eamon O'Kane on November 02, 2009 at 03:27 PM IST #

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