Cheaper pints, dearer f lights... but Jack was all right!
NICOLA BYRNE takes a look back through history to bring us up to date on how Ireland has changed since the last Papal visit in 1979 – a time when the Police were not the subject of tribunals of inquiry but the No.1 band, travel was expensive and Britain’s go-it-alone policies were just as much a headache for Irish businesses as they are today.
THEN
Fianna Fáil’s Jack Lynch was taoiseach, the first and only Corkman to hold that position. The price of a pint of Guinness was 48p (61c).
The cost of a flight to London averaged £210 (€267). Flights everywhere were cheaper if you included a ‘Saturday night stopover’ in your itinerary. The price of a new Citroen car started from £4,047 (€5,139). The European Monetary System came into effect. Ireland joined but Britain did not. We initially remained tied to Sterling but then split with it for the first time in 153 years after a sharp rise in Sterling. The All-Ireland football champions were Kerry. The All-Ireland
hurling champions were Kilkenny. The No.1 record was Message In A Bottle by the Police. Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose at 21. Contraceptives were illegal and banned from sale in Ireland. Homosexuality was illegal in Ireland.
The famous Popemobile was rolled out during the Papal visit and used to bring Pope John Paul II much closer to the crowds during several masses he gave while on his visit here.
NOW
Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar, openly gay and the son of an immigrant, is Taoiseach. The average price of a pint of Guinness is €4.96. The average cost of a flight to London is €40. The price of a new Citroen car starts from €13,500
Britain is on the verge of leaving the EU and Ireland is desperately trying to maintain the Customs
Union between the two countries and avoid the imposition of a hard border with the North.
The All-Ireland football champions are Dublin.
The All-Ireland hurling champions are Galway.
The No.1 record is One Kiss by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa.
Singer Dolores O’Riordan died tragically in London in her hotel room, just ahead of a recording session.
Contraceptives are available everywhere from supermarkets and
pubs to petrol stations.
Ireland is the first country in the world to have voted in gay marriage by referendum, and recently voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment, a Constitutional ban on abortion.
The Popemobile is now available for hire to stag and hen parties in Dublin. It still contains the ‘Pope’s chair’.