Suzanne Harrington: The good, the bad, and the ugly of the last year

Well, goodbye 2024, you’ve been mental

Suzanne Harrington: "Ireland has been called both ‘extreme’ and ‘antisemitic’ for its stance as the most unambiguously supportive EU country of this small, powerless state whose civilian population is being systematically annihilated in their tens of thousands." Picture: Andrew Hasson.

Therapeutic breakthrough of the year goes to Ireland, which continues to use the medium of film, big screen and small, to address the horrors of its recent past, both north and south. From Cillian Murphy in Small Things Like These to Maxine Peake playing Dolours Price in Say Nothing and the irrepressible Kneecap playing themselves in Kneecap, Ireland has been processing its past cinematically, resulting in a body of work both cathartic and engaging.

Elsewhere however, things have not been quite so reflective.