As the 2024 Olympic Games draw to a close, Ireland can take stock of what’s been a historic two weeks. With four gold medals and three bronze, it has been the most successful Games ever for Team Ireland.
This week, Kellie Harrington took centre stage with a brilliant win in the final of the women’s 60kg boxing to defend her title and become just the third Irish Olympian ever to win gold at two consecutive Games. For context on how successful these two weeks have been, the second Irish Olympian to do that was Paul O’Donovan the previous Friday.
With Daniel Wiffen’s 800m win and 1,500m bronze, Rhys McClenaghan’s pommel horse gold, bronze medals for Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle in rowing and Mona McSharry in the 100m breaststroke, it’s safe to say that Paris 2024 won’t be forgotten for a long time.
But with success comes expectation, and improving on that medal count in LA in four years will now be the target, as Malachy Clerkin writes in his final piece from Paris.
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“If you were to create lab conditions for the perfect Olympics in which an Irish team could thrive, no better city than Paris for it to happen. The proximity to home has made these the last Games for the next decade that Irish people can casually drop in and out of. That made a difference, both on the ground and in the stands. Friends, family, support staff – there was an ease of access for athletes that won’t be the same in LA or Brisbane,” he writes.
Away from the Games, the US presidential election took another turn this week as Kamala Harris selected her running mate, opting for Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Just a few weeks ago most Democrats may have struggled to identify the 60-year-old, but this week he has shot to the fore of the election campaign with raucous rallies alongside Harris across a number of swing states, while his description of JD Vance - Donald Trump’s running mate - as “weird” has created a stir on both sides of the divide.
Writing from New York, Jack Sheehan calls it a smart move by Harris and her team to opt for Walz, who “projects a personal humanity and sincerity that are rare qualities among the political class.”
“Walz has a reputation for affability, a consensus builder who goes out of his way to say how happy he is that the party is a big tent, a welcome change from the reflexive left punching that has characterised so much of the party establishment for years,” Sheehan writes.
In his column this weekend, David McWilliams writes that a decaying Dublin city centre could be caught in an urban doom loop.
“Time and again, I hear people, young and old, say ‘I don’t go into town any more’. Something has shifted in recent months and this could be the beginning of an extremely negative urban trend,” he writes.
“A combination of high rents, crime, a lack of venues, far too many commercial offices, a lack of residential developments and, of course, exorbitant prices are slowly throttling the city. After 30 years of relative success, are we going backwards again?”
Meanwhile, anti-immigration protests again hit the headlines this week with riots across England and in Belfast following the fatal stabbings of three young girls in Southport last week.
On Monday, an anti-immigration gathering outside Garda headquarters descended into chaos after different factions in the small crowd began arguing over the attendance of a group based in Coolock who had stood alongside loyalist protesters in Belfast.
The use of Tricolours during the violence in Belfast was described as “repugnant” by Taoiseach Simon Harris while, on Friday, Justine McCarthy wrote that the “moronic marriage of loyalists and ‘Irish patriots’ revives Troubles-era nightmares.”
“Brain-washing is working. Fascism is on the march. It is being led by individuals for whom Sinn Féin is too moderate and for whom, therefore, Sinn Féin’s old enemy is their new best friend,” she writes.
Taking on the same topic this weekend are Mark O’Connell, who writes that self-styled Irish patriots have more in common with internationalist racists than with their fellow citizens, while Adam Doyle (the artist also known as Spicebag) writes that if we surrender the tricolour to the racists, it will be hard to get it back.
Elsewhere in The Irish Times this week, Andrew Hamilton reports that infighting and division in the Doolin Coast Guard have prompted the husband of Caitríona Lucas to set up an independent rescue service.
“It was a great unit to be part of when I joined. We were probably the best unit in the country. We were definitely the busiest, and we were probably the best as well. You couldn’t wait for a Tuesday night to go training,” said Bernard Lucas. “But that started to change maybe 10 years ago. It didn’t happen all at once but it creeped in bit by bit and it festered.”
A key part of safety along the Irish coastline are the lighthouses dotted around the country. For centuries, Ireland’s lighthouses have stood strong against raging storms, offering a beacon of hope for sea travellers and carrying a strange fascination for those on land. In a new series, The Irish Times visited some of Ireland’s most notable lighthouses, including Blacksod, Fanad, Ballycotton, Hook, and Wicklow Head, to learn about their fascinating histories and how their roles have changed in the modern era.
In this week’s On the Money newsletter, Conor Pope looks at the pros and cons of online shopping. Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.
Also this week, Hugh Linehan and Pat Leahy introduced a new podcast series from The Irish Times - Charlie v Garret. In the first instalment they look at what shaped Charlie and Garret. Born a year apart, one a Northsider, one a Southsider, both sons of Civil War veterans, divided by social class, personality and beliefs, they came to epitomise their two respective parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
As always, there is much more on irishtimes.com, including rundowns of all the latest movies in our film reviews, tips for the best restaurants in our food section and all the latest in sport. There are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.
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