Brexit is bad – but nothing like the bad old days of ’94
THE disastrous outcome of the illjudged Brexit referendum brings me back to the bad old days when crossing from the Republic to Northern Ireland was a nail-biting nightmare. Hopefully it won’t come to that when Prime Minister Boris Johnson breathlessly steers the United Kingdom out of a disunited Europe. Memories of Northern Ireland in the bad old days have preoccupied me all week. Oddly enough it was Robbie Brady’s glorious late goal against Italy that brought it to mind. The last time I felt such joy and gratitude for an Irish goal was in 1994 when I was in Giants Stadium in New Jersey on June 18 when Roy Houghton put the ball in the Italian net, securing us a momentous World Cup victory.
It elicited a similar outpouring of emotion to that which followed Robbie Brady’s historic goal this week. Once again Ireland went ‘in bocca al lupo’ – into the mouth of the wolf, as the Italians say – and emerged the victor.
An Ardnacrusha of tears greeted Robbie and his fellow heroes and the only worry facing Irish fans was how to get from Lille to the Stade de Lyon ahead of today’s 2pm kick- off.
After the match back in 1994 we joined joyous fans heading for the Irish pubs in midtown Manhattan which is where myself, Gay Byrne, Alex White and the radio show crew bumped into the always effervescent Noel Carroll, the late press officer with Dublin Corporation and a world-beating athlete himself. But Noel was not his usual bubbly self as he told us he had just heard that six men watching the match on TV had been massacred in a pub in Loughinisland, Co. Down, five others were critically injured.
We were immediately deflated and downcast. To think that six Irish supporters, just like us, watching the same Ray Houghton goal in the Heights Bar in Co. Down – an 87-year-old man among them – should be gunned down so savagely simply because they were Catholics watching the Republic play was shocking.
Tragically the news was not beyond belief because we were all well used to horrific stories of murder and mayhem emerging from Northern Ireland.
It’s hard to explain to those who did not live through the Troubles how absolutely awful those times were. We were all in the EU together but even they could not broker an end to the killing. In 1994 alone 69 people died violently in the North, bringing the total number killed since 1969 to 3,524 – including 128 children.
This weekend alone nine families are marking the anniversary of loved ones killed between June 21 and 27 in 1976. Every day is another anniversary of an
YOU have to hand it to the Railway Procurement Agency who are tearing up the centre of Dublin to join the two Luas lines – they have a great sense of humour. They are now running ads encouraging people to come into the city and enjoy Dublin in the rare oul’ times! Unless you are a civil engineer with a special interest in observing the inner machinations of interminable roadworks, the gridlocked city centre is of little use. O’Connell Street is a long wall of open-topped tourist buses going nowhere. Every pedestrian seems to be in bad form as they elbow their way through the narrow spaces that now masquerade as footpaths in Dublin. Dublin in the rare oul’ times, me a**e! unnecessary death on this island. The Troubles went on to the late 1990s, but 1994 marked the worst year that decade for violent deaths. It was the darkest of times. Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that no matter how hard he tried he could not think of one benefit from Brexit. I agree but it’s not the end of the world. Brexit, water or waste charge worries pale into insignificance when we remember where this country was the last time we beat Italy. Today is a joyous time in Ireland and it’s not just about football but the fact that we are living in peaceful times.