Water meters and Magdalene apology: Six stand-out moments from Reeling in the Years 2013
Enda Kenny apologising to Magdalene laundry victims from the Dail
On behalf of the state, then Taoiseach Enda Kenny formally apologised for its role in the Magdalene laundries, in which thousands of women and girls did unpaid manual labour in laundries run by Catholic nuns between 1922 and 1996.
He apologised to all the women affected and said a memorial would be erected "to remind us all of this dark part of our history".
In a touching scene, tearful survivors of the institutions spoke to the media outside the Dáil following the speech, which was soundtracked on Reeling in the Years by Hozier’s debut single, Take Me To Church.
One of the lighter moments recalled during the episode was from 2012’s Rose of Tralee contest in Co Kerry, when the New Orleans Rose Molly Molloy Gambel was surprised by her boyfriend on stage.
Dropping to his knee, the hopeful guy continued popping the question despite her pleas of ‘no, no, no’ and ‘please get up’. The audience cheered as her nos turned to a yes. The happy couple wed in 2014.
You still see anti-water meter signs in the windows of some homes today so it seems strange that the saga began eight years ago.
A younger Phil Hogan, then Minister for the Environment, was seen discussing the plan to install Irish Water meters in each home in the country, not long after the introduction of local property taxes and after Ireland exited the bailout.
Angry taxpayers took to the streets in protest and people power later paid off and the ill-fated installation programme was scrapped.
Ireland was the first EU state to report finding horse meat in beef on some supermarket shelves following investigations by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
It led to similar discoveries across Europe and the scandal highlighted that scandal revealed a major breakdown in the traceability of the food supply chain, and the risk that harmful ingredients could have been included as well, such as the veterinary drug phenylbutazone which is banned in food animals.
It was the split second that caught the public’s imagination, both at home and abroad. As the RTÉ News began, a clearly unaware Aengus Mac Grianna was seen touching up his makeup and fixing his tie before realisation dawned on his face: the cameras were already rolling and he was live on television screens across the country.”What?!’
Eight years later, he is everyone who has worked from home and not realised their camera was on in a meeting.
Yes, it really has been going on that long. In 2013, then-British prime Minister David Cameron announced a referendum in the wake of changes to EU laws.
There would be a public vote as to whether British voters would accept the new rules or choose to leave the European Union altogether.
What followed three years later was a surprising decision to break apart from the EU that led to years of negotiations, particularly concerning the North.
