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THERE WAS MUCH made of the opening ceremony at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
On the day almost three weeks ago now, as athletes cruised down the River Seine waving their countries’ flags with pride, the torrential rain was said to have put a bit of a dampener on the occasion.
But there was no wet weather in Dublin this afternoon. Rather, a sea of green, white and orange as thousands descended on O’Connell Street to welcome home Team Ireland’s 137 sportsmen and women.
The glorious sunshine went hand-in-hand with the electric atmosphere, the buzz of excitement in the air, the fact that this was Ireland’s most successful performance at an Olympic Games in history not lost on anyone.
Seven medals – four gold and three bronze. Nineteenth in the overall medal table. A record-breaking finish.
Ray Larkin got the 7am train from Tullamore, Co Offaly to the country’s capital to see the homecoming. Clad in an Ireland jersey and cowboy hat and waving a tricolour, he could barely contain his excitement as he spoke to The Journal.
“These are legends. These are heroes,” he said.
“The effort that they have put in, they have all given us a massive lift. We had something to look forward to for a change. We went through Covid, and we never thought that we’d see these days. These are legends.
“You look at some of the athletes, they trained for four years for maybe two minutes to perform, and they kept going. Unbelievable.
We’re going to party for a few days now.
The atmosphere only built as a DJ hyped up the crowd with hits like Mr Brightside, Freed from Desire – a tune that is never far from a sports celebration – and David Bowie’s Heroes.
Dancers also took to the stage to entertain those who had made the journey before the athletes’ arrival.
Nicky from Dublin came to the event with her daughters Alex and Grace.
“I just felt it was important to come out and support them, they’ve done amazingly well, in all the sports. They were unbelievable,” she said.
Alice and Grace are both runners themselves. Unsurprisingly, they said that their favourite event at the games was the athletics – specifically the track and field events. Their favourite athlete? Rhasidat Adeleke.
Children held signs celebrating Harrington’s second gold medal and one girl was seen holding an “I heart Mona” banner to celebrate swimmer McSharry’s bronze medal.
Others sat in windowsills and looked out from above rooftops to catch a glimpse at the celebration.
There were young and old at the front of the barriers, but mostly young. Children of all ages, some on their parent’s shoulders, cheered and held up homemade signs, eager to see their sporting heroes.
This mood was captured by Taoiseach Simon Harris, who spoke briefly before the athletes were introduced.
“We’ve talked a lot about lighting flames, and really what these men and women have done is lit a flame in all of the young people right across Ireland,” he said.
There are so many little tiny kids, including my own, who now believe they too can be the very best in the world, that they can represent Ireland, that they can win medals.
“That’s what they’ve done, and what we will do now is invest in sport because we believe in these athletes and that’s going to be the legacy of these Paris games.”
If these Games have shown anything, it is that they can.
Not long after Harris spoke, they arrived – and the atmosphere went up another notch.
Those athletes that the country had cheered on from their television screens for the last two weeks made their way onto the stage, and O’Connell Street erupted.
It caught some of them by surprise. “When I heard there was a homecoming, I thought it would be a bit like a birthday party when you’re scared no one is gonna show up,” Sophie Becker confessed, before thanking the crowd for their support.
The biggest cheers were for swimming Bronze medalist Mona McSharry, and the Gold medalists: rower Fintan McCarthy, gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, boxer Kellie Harrington and swimmer Daniel Wiffen.
After chants of ‘Kellie, Kellie, Kellie’, the double Olympic champion also hailed the support of the crowd – and the country.
“We’re a small nation, but we’re a mighty nation,” she said.
“To have the support now of this nation for all of us, from the bottom of every one of our hearts, it really does mean the world. Whether we win, lose or draw, to have you all there to pick us up, to dust us off and to help us go again, that’s what matters, so thank you.”
Daniel Wiffen made a prediction when asked whether his twin brother Nathan – who is also a swimmer – might challenge him at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
“I’m sure in LA we’ll be both on the podium,” he said, adding that he hoped the country would be able to cheer the two of them on.
“We’ll make Ireland proud with hopefully a gold and a silver – he can have the silver.”
Donegal native Breege Condy came home from Australia last week to visit family, including sisters Mary Bennett and Kathleen Campbell. There was no way she was missing the Team Ireland homecoming.
Wrapped in her county flag, she told The Journal that she watched most of the Games in Australia, including the swimming. Team Oz won 18 medals in the water, including seven Golds.
“Australia is really good at swimming and you very rarely see other countries, but when I saw Wiffen, I went ‘oh my god!’.
“It was just the most incredible thing to be an Irish person living in Australia and seeing an Irish person tip the wall. It was 5am in the morning my time. Then I was awake!”
Mary barely missed a minute of the Games. “I’ve watched for the last two weeks – up from seven o’clock every morning, television on all day. It was absolutely brilliant,” she told The Journal.
“When you think of the effort that these guys have put in to get to here so we can watch them winning a medal and be experts on the couch. It’s just incredible.”
So, what about Los Angeles 2028? “We’ll all be going to LA for the next one. We’re going to book our tickets today,” Condy said.
“Roll on LA.”
We’ll all be watching.
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He’d want to speak to his mate McEntee about making it a safer place to walk.
@marklars81: total looser
Dublin a safer place to walk or cycle.
Tell that to the family of the Canadian tourist who died after being attacked by feral thugs in Dublin city centre.
@Chaotic State: who mc entee did nt check their ba grounds
@Karen Marten:. The back rounds of the attackers .
@Karen Marten: EU nationals travel freely in the EU, did you not know that?
@Malcolm Swan: omg yes I did and there lies the problem walking around here no one knows anything about them.
@Chaotic State: He was Attacked by 4 people , two of them were Romanians the other two were not in court yet
Better make it safe to walk around so not like the kip it is now!
Tourists attacked almost weekly.
Shocking how Mac Entee is still Minister for Justice with what’s happening and just happened to people visiting our country.
Ryan is hellbent on getting his legacies through, then he can ride off into the sunset with his saddlebags stuffed with loot and a hefty pension sponsored by the people he helped fleece. He’s some Cowboy, or am I allowed to say that? OK cowperson!!
It’s not a car ban that should be a priority, the city desperately needs to be made safe and clean.
People need nerves of steel to go there.
@JP: We should be capable of both. Needn’t be an either or
@JP: The City will never be safe and clean with cars everywhere
@Mick Duvanny: it is not the cars that are beating up people
@JP: as a person who has to pass through abbey Street oconnell Street and Talbot street five days per week, I can honestly say its an absolutely filthy sewer filled with vagrants, disgusting characters both indigenous and from all corners of the world and poor unfortunates. Paved with litter vomit urine and dog poo. DCC have actively let the city decline, although stephens green area is like a different city and maintained and policed to a far better standard. I’d be delighted if I never had to visit Dublin city ever again.
Has he not gone yet,
Gonna need those cops from Japan to heard us into the already packed Luas . Fun times ahead
An awful lot of cyclists don’t care about their own safety. Never mind anyone else’s.
@Alan OConnor: Driving the road to Lismore on Sunday cyclists were cycling 3 abreast,do you think they would go single file for cars to pass? No way.That was not the first time i encountered them on the same road but there were fewer there on Sunday.
Cycling although fantastic if you enjoy it and great for fitness, does not lend itself to doing your weekly shop,dropping your pet to the vet, collecting large items from stores etc.In a country that has rain for hundreds of days a year, Cycling/Walking isnt always possible.Imagine as you get older and less able, or if you are Disabled, being told to cycle or walk.As for Public transport, look at last weekend, Concerts, Pride, Taylor Swift , huge pressure put on Public transport, which couldn’t cope. Its the Businesses and Residents of the city that this will hit so hard, regarding deliveries, maintenance, visitors, complete and utter madness
@Gavin Power: and explaining to extend pub closing but luas can’t operate any later than current time as they need to do maintenance. Real irish, no joined up thinking
So Dublin will be safer if your on a bike or public transport dosent he know people in dublin get a knife put in their faces for their bike or their wallet or phone on a bus at night.
On your bike You are yesterday’s man
More fatalities yesterday involving a HGV, why are large lorrys allowed on 2nd and 3rd class roads when there’s barely enough space for a car?
@Mike B: dont agree with them stopping cars but the lorries/hgv’s should only be allowed in at night.
Stay away ! You left.
C40 cities is an organisation that many western cities have signed up to, Dublin excluded, but its goal is for 95% reduction in automobile ownership by 2040, as well as no more than 1500 airplane miles per citizen over a 3 year period, as well as other dystopian goals….would imagine our government will sign up too, they just waiting for the right PR timing.
@Dere: The right PR timing for that is when they have made a colossal f up, and something like this would deflect
@Dere: “The objective is to reduce emissions from transport by transforming urban mobility by using cleaner, more efficient transport. It supports the fast bus network in cities and encourages broad adoption of low-emission electric vehicles”
“C40′s Zero Emission Vehicles Network works with cities that are pursuing the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to zero-emission ones. The network serves as a platform for cities to share best practices and policies to reduce emissions by promoting the use of electric and other zero-emission vehicles.”
Does not say they are trying to reduce car ownership.
https://www.c40.org/networks/zero-emission-vehicles-network/
@Dere: 1500 Airplane Miles, maybe the reason the Greens in Ireland haven’t signed up is because of Eamon Ryan & Catherine Martin’s hypocritical & astonishing Carbon Footprint when it comes to Air Miles, add in the fact that they insist on flying Business Class which has an even higher Carbon Footprint. No doubt they will devise some excuse & steal the Carbon Credits created by others.
@Dere: Lets go back to dancing at the crossroads as well shall we! You want to live in a Yurt by all means do. But I do not! Been there done that and it was fun for a while. I like being able to get where I need to be and not taking too long. Do you realise you are being Ablest in the the extremeQ
Hasn’t this cl own not caused enough damage to people’s lives?. Just retire,get the f**k out of politics and leave people alone.
@Gerry Lamont:
Now there’s a well thought out argument with sophisticated reasoning.
You can implement all the bans you wish once there is an alternative reliable safe public transport system. A couple of jammed LUAS lines and bus connects is not that alternative. Metro, under ground DART and extra LUAS lines are needed before people can avail of options that doesn’t insole their car…
There should be a public inquiry into this national crisis immediately and all holidays for government ministers and officials plus Dublin city councillors should be postponed until this issue is resolved.
I despair… if only he was the minister for transport…
Need to round-up the racists who are going around rioting and murdering tourists for a start.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: Silly thing to say a few months after the racist murder of Josip Štrok, where a patriotic group of Irish citizens told him to speak English then battered Josip to death and beat his friend unconscious. Also, who murdered Urantsetseg Tserendorj, and who put Stephen Termini in a 9-day coma? Not foreigners.
Vigil to be held for Croatian man who died after ‘racist attack’ in Clondalkin
@David Jordan: I think you need to read the original comment again. It mentions racists, not of any nationality.
More in his line to do something proactive and scrap the airport passenger cap
Traffic won’t flow efficiently in Dublin city centre, no amount of lights, box junctions, bus gates will help. The problem is the complete disinterest of the traffic corps, gards don’t bother so the bus gate at Dame st is a free for all, taxis park where they like.
The other issue is the sheer volume of taxis that can be on the streets at any given time. I have sat on buses & trams at college green & gone nowhere for 20 minutes due to taxis just blocking up the area, factor in traffic coming from D’Olier St heading southbound trying to join the queue southbound by blocking the northbound lanes for westmoreland St & you see the problem.
Until these issues are addressed consistently & satisfactorily then Ryan can waffle all he wants about congestion etc.
@Matt D: Got to agree – I’ve also sat on a bus in Dolier street for 20 mins and it wasn’t private cars that was the cause of the jam (there were zero private cars as College green is a bus gate), it was other buses, LUAs and taxis…
@NotGreta: Do you want to know the really bad news. They want to take all the buses and run them down Pearse Street and the Quays instead.
I know, plans designed and pushed by people who have never sat in a bus!
Obviously he needs a tree to hug.
Is he still mouthing and sprouting…on yer bike son!!
So, the plan is to ban or greatly reduce private cars from the city and introduce more pedestrian areas. One of SFs criticisms is that ” shops will need delivery of goods,” but those types of vehicles won’t be banned or restricted.
Why create a criticism by citing something that isn’t going to change? Yes, there might be different routes, but if this does reduce private cars surely those deliveries won’t be impacted negatively.
I’ll thought criticism, just saying something for the reporters.
@Paul O’Mahoney: *ill, predictive text
@Paul O’Mahoney: Really, deliveries should be made at night from hubs all over the country via electric vehicle. Be great if it was like that now, a bit more organised, silly to have so many people needing to be in exactly the same place, at exactly the same time, you’re right tho, this topic should no longer be ‘news’, whole bunch of nobodies having a great time being asked for opinions, get it done ffs.
@Thesaltyurchin: So 22% of the population are nobody’s.
Fix the roads that are in bits not full them in eith tarmacadam and do it agon next year do it right. There’s more holes in the roads in Ireland than there is craters from bombs in Ukraine.
@Paddy C: sorry for spelling mistakes cheap ass phone may stay working to afford a new one
All these piecemeal & costly reroutings “to reduce inner city traffic congestion” are just transferring flows to other routes, mainly residential routes. What about the noise, pollution and safety residents will be subjected to.
The correct solution is to ban on street parking of vehicles not in use throughout the city,every where, provide drop zones for public and goods vehicles. The latter should be incentivised to off peak access.
Roads are arteries for access & travel ,not for storing vehicles.
Disabled drivers can be facilitated by designated off street parking, as with shopping centres.
Champion hater of the masses and lettuce. Ryan has played a key role in the tax slavery of the Irish people. A truly repulsive politician.
The only thing that will make this Country safe is when we remove Ryan and the other Green Muppets at the next election
He really has zero awareness doesn’t he?
this man has damaged the country beyond repair and he’s still spouting his daft notions ..
I thought this muppe t was gone??
What a kip Dublin has become
That last paragraph quote is absolutely bonkers stuff from Ryan.
He’ll keep going right to the bitter end. Maybe this is why we need a mayor for Dublin – someone to provide a coherent strategy instead of this piecemeal planning. I support safe walking and safe cycling and you see it all over Europe – and it goes hand in hand with safe driving. We have no metro. In 20 years the Luas still only has 2 lines. We are stuck in some kind of inertia with a bus obsession. Go to London, they are constantly developing the underground. You can get off a bus, hop on the tube and go to a main line railway station and hit out for Edinburgh if you want to. We need a modern transport system. Constantly blaming cars and drives just distracts from years and years and years of political indecision.
Did a runner, leaving the country in a mess, has no moral authority to continue to govern or speak out on any subject, he is done, time to move on & unhitch the Green trailer as it has been a disaster for Ireland. Go & ramble elsewhere & maybe some day we will get an expose on your involvement with the Data Centres by large conglomerates. The Hypocrite turns a blind eye to these companies chewing up our national grid.
W⚓️
Says the man who said I don’t care what IBEC say its going ahead anyway. Enjoy your pension while all the businesses have to suffer.
Literally trying to find times to get a bus from Naas to the Airport, Bus Eireen dont do one, the big green bus is apparently a national scam, Kavenaghs don’t do one, I mean it’s a complete and utter joke of a place, and these clowns are banging on about an area for tourists and smak heads? All these companies need to have national standards implemented or they get shut down ffs.
No it should not, it discriminates against large sections of the community. The disabled and the older community are first to suffer.
the idea that everyone can cycle or walk “between the canals” or that the public transport service is capable of supporting them is up there with his “Grow Lettuce” and “Bring Back Wolves” comments.
3000 well primed green activists loaded the online vote and how that few people can tell the rest of the community how to travel is antidemocratic.
This has been seen in all the DCC online votes, well organised lobby groups vote and skew the result. We have seen it before
I have raised the issue at the DCC Traffic & transport SPC and ignored, I have raised it all all the meetings with DCC and ignored.
There have been constant complaints about the way DCC are imposing the management and the ministers wants on the disabled community in this country.
I know this as I have one of the people saying it. Repeatedly.
I will be called a hater, an anti environmentalist, a sop for the car lobby, a car fanatic and a lover of my car. I do not own a car as it happens. Nor can I drive or cycle either.
I am a public transport user and they are ruining that with this plan. Bis Connects is never going to work as planned.
They have their aim, no motor traffic between the canals. So that means a lot of people will also not be between the canals.
Greenwashing and Ablest plan which they have been shown will not work. The it works in Amsterdam and London are wrong. Cycling in London has dropped in total, accidents are up. If you look at the overall figures and not the snippet they use for PR. Amsterdam is smaller and flat and even they are thinking of banning cyclists from the city center due to the issues they are causing.
Bus Islands are dangerous and so are the other designs they are pushing. They have been told this, they have seen the data and read the reports, watched the videos that prove this.
Dublin will be different they say. Somehow that sounds more hollow every time they say it.
Mind you a lot of these people think helmets don’t lower the risk of Traumatic Brain Injury or worse! Due to some rebutted poor reports written, where the vast majorrity say they work.
They get an idea and refuse to let go of it, no matter what is shown to them.
Zealots I think they are called.
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