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OBJECTS DEFINE OUR our nation’s history. That is the essential concept behind National Treasures.
Over four roadshows my fellow curators and I were confronted with hundreds of items, each a cherished and significant part of the lives of the people who turned up to share them.
From these we were asked to select a sample which we felt best reflected the social, cultural, design and sporting history of this island over the past century – a daunting task. The fruits of this endeavour will be aired in RTÉ One’s four-part National Treasures series beginning this evening.
Sporting history
Given my academic interest in Ireland’s sporting history, I was asked to concentrate on items which would reveal to the viewer the rich tapestry of the nation’s sporting heritage. Sport offers a wonderful window into Irish society and the complexities, nuances and contradictions of Irish life are continuously revealed through our sporting history.
Moreover, Irish sport has continually demonstrated our nation’s capacity to unite behind certain events and certain individuals.
Sonia O’Sullivan is undoubtedly one of those individuals. A personal highlight of the project, which viewers will see in the first episode, was getting to select O’Sullivan’s running gear from the Barcelona Olympics and discussing her illustrious career with her father John.
Such a talent
Sonia was not just Ireland’s most renowned female athlete; she was one of the greatest sports stars Ireland has ever seen. It is amazing now to think that this small country, with a relatively unremarkable pedigree in international athletics, produced such a talent.
Sonia dominated world middle-distance running in the mid-1990s. Having first shot to prominence with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500 meters in Barcelona, she went on to win gold in the 1995 World Championships, gold in three European Championships and gold twice in the 1998 World Cross Country Championships. In 1994 she smashed the 2000 meters world record by three seconds, a time not subsequently bested until February 2017.
Yet more than her talents and her unprecedented successes on the world stage, it was the high-profile setbacks experienced in the Atlanta Olympics that helped endear her to the Irish public.
A stomach illness ensured that despite being the odds-on favourite for the 5,000 metres, she failed to finish the final. It struck me as I listened to John talk with such pride about his daughter how we, as a nation, were also so emotionally invested in her. We shared her pain and agony on that humid summer night in Georgia and, like her father, we revelled as she returned to the world stage resolved to erase that failure.
Athletic redemption
Her athletic redemption culminated on September 25 2000. In the final of the Sydney Olympics 5000 meters, Ireland came to a standstill as we collectively roared on our unassuming hero from Cobh.
I can only imagine the emotions John felt as his daughter hunted down Romania’s Gabriela Szabo in a captivating sprint finish. Szabo did just enough to hold on to gold, but O’Sullivan’s silver was the first Olympic medal won by an Irish woman in athletics. It was also the country’s first track and field Olympic medal since John Treacy’s silver in 1984.
Throughout a glittering career, Sonia filled us with excitement and nerves. A proven winner who nevertheless suffered huge disappointment, Sonia was almost the perfect Irish hero: courageous, determined, yet fragile and all too human.
The items John so graciously filmed with us showcase one of the most astounding talents to emerge from an Irish athletics tradition that stretches all the way back to the eighteenth century. Yet on a more personal level, they demonstrate the quiet but immense pride of a father in his daughter’s achievements.
It is that link between the personal and the greater historical context that is at the heart of the National Treasures project.
Dr Richard McElligott is a lecturer in modern Irish history in University College Dublin and a curator on RTE’s National Treasures, a four-part series starting this Sunday on RTÉ One at 6.30pm.
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And the magic Oirish fairies of old will pay for everything!
@Paul: sf car crash interview on the radio. Once the questions were asked the whole thing fell apart. Govt rep not much better
@Alan: What station, I need a laugh?
@honey badger: You could do with a laugh since Putin is your Daddy.
@Brian O’Brendan: Brendan is yours. You allocate so much of every day craving his attention. Silly boy.
@honey badger: rte radio. Sarah mc making fools of both interviewees. Sf helped her do the job though with usual waffle
@Alan: I’m a huge fan of Sarah. She does a great line in cutting through the plámás, and filleting wafflers.
@Paul: Yeah like the one FG using for Public Childcare for all lol.
@Paul: Would that be tye same faury who could build the national children’s hospital for 450 million. We already know that the government can’t talk about finances. How much for a bike shed ha ha
@Paul: The FFG spending has increased from €68.1 billion in 2016 to €110 billion this year…… That’s a 61.7% increase in just 8 years!!!!!….. And they still have you paying USC, and the rest!!! No accountability when it comes to spending any you take the Mick out of SFs plans?!?!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec:
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: Not like the population has grown a lot the last 8 years right? Right?
@Paul: FG are offering public childcare, a socialist policy!!! How will the fairies of old pay for that?
@Alex: 10% population increase in that period requires a 61% spending increase?!?!?! Are you for real????
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: Maybe you should outline where you would not have increased public spending. Just a thought.
@honey badger: where to start, I would have taken steps to get construction going again back in 2011 and it wouldn’t be costing us 7 billion a year in housing now. Manage the HSE issues instead of throwing money at it. Manage OPW spending and all capital projects better. Not sure if you’ve heard of the recent spending scandals. Wouldn’t waste money on national broadband when there’s alternative technology. Reduce job seekers allowance for those on it long term….. That’s to name but a few. Are you happy for them to keep spending?!?! While we’re still paying austerity taxes? What happens if there’s another crisis. Do you think everyone can be hit up for more income tax? It’ll be very hard to reduce their departmental budgets once they’ve grown!
Putting politics aside for a moment, I hope Mary Lou’s husband makes a full recovery after his cancer diagnosis. Tough time for them with Mary Lou also having a cancer scare. Good health to them both.
@Andrew Kenny: Thousands go through this every day/ week, some successful and some not. Why are we concentrating on one household?
Frankly, her using it is an insult to so many who go through it silently, bravely, and simply get on with life/ survival, or at least try .
Why is her family situation relevant?
@Paul O’Mahoney: as someone who is in cancer treatment can I just say
Your lack of empathy is astonishing
@Paul O’Mahoney: if you cannot empathise with a cancer patient then your opinions don’t matter.
And I am the Queen of England and promise a unicorn to everyone.
Their free stuff playbook is back it seems – absolutely disconnected from the reality of how economies, budgeting and finances work. Whose gonna pay for all this ? Their pals in UNRWA in Gaza ?
@Kush OMeara: good one, now that the top Hamas leaders are dead or hiding in a gazan tunnel, maybe some of the terrorists Billions can be redirected to sinn fein so we can build houses for everyone and provide childcare too.
@Kush OMeara: FG are looking to bring in publicly-funded childcare (socialist childcare)!!! How will we pay for that?
@Kush OMeara: well it can’t be any worse than what we have in government now,
Where does this leave people who don’t have children, that are often shouldering the burden of extra work due to reduced numbers in teams to cater for all of this parental leave…..God forbid we would want our own day off to take care of our parents or anybody else….
@Fiona Wyse: Completely valid point! Not that I needed to tell you, just to voice support for the point.
@Chutes: Thanks, I know in my own team it’s been incredibly difficult to get time off in the summer due to all of the parental leave. I’d say a lot of companies would struggle with this initiative
Heard the “debate” on RTE. Car crash for both SF and FG speakers. Proper pie in the sky stuff!
@Padraig O’Brien: Shocking stuff alright, all parties throwing out promises that they have no intention of keeping. Mary Lou lost the people a long time ago with her u turns on the Referendums, Immigration & Hate Speech. The Govt parties are pathetic as well, empty promise after empty promise & Harris the hypocrite on Misinformation, misleading the country on when the Election will be held. No leaders of any substance left in Ireland, liars & spin merchants is what we have.
@SV3tN8M4: Whar u-turn on immigration and hate speech, I mean if you aant to talk about hate speech, Harris came out and said that amendnents were nedded, Sinn Féin withdrew support as the government allowed no amendments, like Harris said it needed, typical Harris though, mess it up and blame Sinn Féin, like Martin did when BAM called for yet more money for the National children’s hospital and who did mehole blame, ah yes, reliable old Sin Féin but they were never in any government to completely overspend. I think you’ll find that immigration were clear that they did not support the EU immigration policy, which us all that the government has and do not agree with sending anyone abroad to decide on their application, how many illegal Irish in America?
@Brian D’Arcy: Open Borders party, deny it all you want. Your health spokesman said there would be no limits on numbers coming into Ireland. Mentioning NCH is deflection on your part, FFG have been a disaster, SF will be no different.
To the anti SF mob commentators on here this will be bad of course, funded from some bad magic tree…. But the FG public childcare for all will be a good thing from the good money tree..
@Michale Kane: are you a big Harry Potter fan?
Does parental leave have implications for pension entitlements?? 52 week leave and 3 children, will this result in a shortfall of 3 years worth of contributions?
Does Parental Leave also include looking after elderly parents for those who don’t have kids themselves? I mean all’s fair in love and war etc. Childless adults pay taxes too!
once again no one asks the question why child care needs be subsidised,its because the wages have not kept pace with the cost of living for decades,once apon a time a 1 wage family could afford a decent lifestyle with 3 or 4 children,without any state intervention now we have 2 wage familys with 1 child,that cant afford a house,childcare etc.the list goes on and on and the root cause is wage stagnation for generations ,versus the cost of living
They’re like Trump, they’ll say anything to get a vote!
@John arse: Ha ha, Trump, didn’t Fibe Gael do that with the National Children’s Hospital, how much us it costing niw? Cost of living, public health services, they don’t actuallh need policies, just point to the government’s calamitious running of this country. Tell me when have Sinn Féin used immigrants as an excuse because I certainly know that the governmebt have used that as a bastion of Trump’s tactics.
Only if you’ve previously been working and have earned stamps.
The speedboats are a coming..
It’s clear why they’re know as Spin Fein
@Pat Hazzard: have you been asleep to all the bullshyte the government has been coming out with lately? We’re going to do this, that and the other but its a fact that they are liers and will do fck all for the ordinary person if they get re elected.
@Pat Hazzard: That’s good, tbf tho I’m hearing it for the first time and I don’t really think it has legs. Who am I tho right?
@Seanie: “ordinary” person has benefited massively under the FG and FF led Govt: income tax reductions, widening of tax bands, energy credits, reduction in public transport costs, reduction in child care costs, unprecedented housing delivery, reducing waiting lists, numerous women’s health measures etc etc
@Pat Hazzard: How many lies can one person tell in a comment..? I think ‘Pat’ is out to break the record.. By Jove, I think he’s done it. Congratulations ‘Pat’ your bonus cheque is in the post .. winnk, wink, nod, nod. FF, the charity that keeps on giving.. to itself.
Keir starmer mary lou and the imaginary funds. Sounds like a fairy tale. She’ll be u-turning like keir if they get in
It’s always the same clowns on here !!
@Quinny: Well, they are a national political party. You can’t always exclude their statements and policies.
@Jack Hayes: Ho ho, very funny, I believe he’s talking about the likes of you, dullard.
@H Woo: FF changed the law to allow themselves to register as a charity to pay for all the lies they told in the run up to 2020 election. Lies like we’ll build 200,000 homes by 2025. Found themselves 1.2m in debt .. but sure with their feet under the table again, cosying up with the auld enemy, they showed they’re still king of the strokes when it comes to strokes in politics.. A fkn charity. I mean to say..
No comments allowed for the Fine Gael think in, ironic
Has it occurred to any of you that they might just do the smart thing when/if they ever got in control and actually do what they say they will as the cleverest means to hold on top that power? That’s what I’d do were I them.
@Chutes: No political party in the world delivers what they promise.
@Tom tom: Oh you noticed, well done you, gold star! It’s the radical kind of thing we need then isn’t it? What, you wouldn’t vote for that? I fkn would, every fkn time until I died if a political party ever put the people first and carried out on their promises!
@Tom tom: well not the ones that we have continually voted for since the foundation of the state… keep doing the same thing and moaning is not a very intelligent way to behave…. vote for someone else and put your theory to the test.
Whenever they say childcare it’s always only crèche business they talk about since the rest of childminders often you have no other options to go to as a parent are not required to be registered and 99% of them are not, keeping them outside of any supervision and making it impossible to claim any state benefits against their cost. There’s a huge black market for childcare that is completely ignored if not even tolerated from governments of all sides.
@MM: I think you’ll find there’s only one government
This lot need to roll out the red carpet for the middle class or they have no chance against FG
@Thesaltyurchin: absolutely
@Thesaltyurchin: I don’t know what world you’re living in if you don’t think that the cost of childcare is a middle-class issue. It is the equivalent of paying a mortgage. It is a tremendous strain on all young couples with children.
@Thesaltyurchin: From my standpoint there are two classes, rich and not!
Until the not stop arguing over scraps, ever divided and tax the rich to recover all their wealth given over time to the rich in our trickle-up capitalist system, there will only be change for the worse. It’s already happening all about us. How bad will things get before folks unite in their mutual interest?
All these parties are gas coming out with all these “plans” when they know the election is coming.
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: What else would you expect? No policies for an election? Genius.
The SF Crock of Gold continues.
Farcical
It’s a really sad state of the nation, when SF…or indeed any party proposes a policy that actually is positive, all the moaners come out with negative comments….then keep voting for the same parties next election,and continue to moan……. something seriously wrong…. they continue to blame the government… but forget that they are the very people who put them there…… vote for SF and call their bluff…or put the same cohort back in power… but don’t moan about the same policies, if you’ve voted for them, your in no position to moan.
If can is game changer. Childcare so expensive. .not sure on sinnfein but know are only chance of getting rid of two parties that have destroyed are country making it very hard to live in unless well off
Anyone fancy going halves on a couple of kids?
Fantastic!! Is there a limit on the number of babies per family? 10? 20-ish? Or it could be think of a number, double it, take away …etc.
@Patrice Ahern: Number of children? Because the Irish would never have big families
@Brian D’Arcy: They did have them – as “good Catholics” and with little other entertainment available.
The days of big\huge families are gone.
I can agree with support for low childcare cost, getting the creches or staff with the increased demand is another question.
I’m not sure what purpose of the one year parental leave is.
This will not provide any relief on the increased demand for childcare because of the reduction in cost for parents.
@H Woo: No because have a history of extremely big families, that’s just a fact, sorry if they don’t fit with your anti-immigrant views, not to mention these big families leaving here for economic reasons, oh, wd can’t talk about that now that we’re ‘rich’, or the 1% are.
@Brian D’Arcy: My father’s family had 11 kids, my mam’s 8. Just saying, it’s not so long ago!
@H Woo: Poorly veiled anti traveler sentiment?
As I said in an earlier thread regarding proposed Government spending, this is taxpayer money that these people just want to squander and then blame the electorate for partying when the next crash comes. Disgraceful carry-on from Government and Opposition..
Trump has a more credible childcare policy
She getting that money from the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow..
SO, SF are going to fund housing , the arts and now child care from the ” surplus ” . The 2023 surplus was 1.2bn , this year’s 6bn .
No doubt their next policy will be funded from said same surplus.
What happens when there isn’t a surplus? And that’s the case for the majority of the time.
Lucky bag political party policies.
Every party is buying the election.
How the hell do they plan to fund 52 weeks of parent’s leave?
Ditto, I pledge not to vote SF.
Please vote for us! PLEASE!!
And there’ll be a hospital in every town in Ireland
Auction politics at its finest, from ALL parties
Brendan O’Brien ( 1 year bob, not the cool one ) donates to the journal.
@Brian O’Brendan: did you know that drinking a few cans has the double benefit of you having a bitta craic and not ruining articles. You and your ilk are why so many articles are closed to comments.
Wait for something involving the weather, at least. You’ll have Mr. Earth’s axis to engage with.
@Brian O’Brendan: And? Does it not need funding?
@Brian O’Brendan: They do good work!
Oh please god get this woman off the stage!
Never once has party taken the side of carers. Never a dickiebird only a rich persons party with privately educated children
And they continue to have no respect for the single person working! It’s like if you choose not to have kids then you should never get anything.
@peter lynch: You get tax credits, you get sick leave now, you get state pension, you get energy credits, you get stuff through PRSI, you get tax back at the end of the year for claimable expenses, there’s all sorts of reliefs available for various things.
The negative comments here by the FFG’ers indicate to me that SF policy will be attractive to people. €50 a week for 1 child as opposed to a second mortgage! Can be done on the Nordic countries. Why not here?
And there’ll still be over 12 billion left from the fallen Apple fund. Sweet! But, maybe most of you can’t do simple maths
@Jonny Hellzapoppin: no 12 billion of unpaid tax money that most are due to be redistributed to other countries.
Any chance of a link to the interview
How would you get more money? Simple, cut politicians pay and borrow more, it’s not rocket science.
The irony here which seems to slip over the heads of establishment supporters is that the government gives low costs for running sectors in Ireland which no journalist highlights but then during the year they have massive overspends, like in healthcare, the HSE Executive warned the government that the budget would not be near enough and he was right because guess what, a massive overspend. Sinn Féin are putting what needs to be spent and as such, the money must be found so yet again in say public health, we won’t have a massive overspend, which is nothing new for the public health service which the establishment cheerleaders mention nothing of, funny that but they’re well be able to peddle out insults to beat the band. But sure the HSE will be gone as Harris promised? Ha ha
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