From Garth Brooks to Irish Water: Six stand-out moments from Reeling in the Years 2014
Garth Brooks pictured at Croke Park during the announcement of his ill-fated concerts. Picture: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
Who knew a few country music concerts would cause such controversy when they were announced. In 2014, Garth Brooks came to Ireland to reveal his planned two nights at Croke Park, and demand for tickets was so high that they pushed it to five concerts, subject to license - that will be important.
Residents around Croke Park objected: with a number of other concerts taking place that year they felt it was five concerts too many in a residential area. Permission was granted for just three concerts, but Brooks was unimpressed. He gave an ultimatum and said it’s five nights or none.
The saga moved from local negotiations to having Ireland’s event planning laws discussed in the Dáil. In the end, it was unanswered prayers for fans as all five nights were cancelled.
We were reminded that a certain millionaire from the United States bought a hotel and golf course in Co Clare in 2014 in the early days of his quest to make things great again.
That’s right, pre-White House, Donald Trump touched down in Ireland to visit his new property at Doonbeg, but not before we cringed as a welcoming committee met him off the plane, complete with red carpet, a harpist, a violinist and a soprano. Hindsight really is 20-20.
“We wanna make it one of the great resorts anywhere in the world and we think we have the potential to have one of the great golf courses anywhere, there’s nothing like it,” Trump tells the media of his new hotel. In fairness, seven years later it’s still going strong and the town of Doonbeg has often spoken in support of Trump, even during his controversial presidency.
“You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.” That was how Phil Hogan defended the €180 million cost to set up the new utility, Irish Water.
He described the company as essential and good value for money, two sentiments not shared by the Irish public, who ultimately saw Irish Water’s plan for universal water changes stood down.
A massive march through Dublin and the move by some demonstrators to prevent water meters being installed locally around the country were a showing of the public mood. We also saw then-Tánaiste Joan Burton spend two hours in her car after being surrounded by protesters in Jobstown, Co Dublin.
The government revised its plan and hoped to placate the public with reduced fees and increased grants. It didn’t work and the plan to introduce water charges was ultimately scrapped.
In the depth of the recession, we saw more people living on the streets. Fr Peter McVerry, a homelessness advocate, spoke about the rising levels of homelessness on the streets: “I have never before encountered so many people living on the streets, never encountered so much frustration amongst homeless people because they see no way out of it.”
The number of families seeking emergency accommodation began to increase. “Last month, 44 families became homeless in Dublin,” St Stanislaus Kennedy said.
In Dublin, 160 people were recorded as sleeping rough during the winter of 2014 and in December, 43-year-old Jonathan Corrie died while sleeping rough near Dáil Éireann.
“There may, and likely will, come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly and in order for us to deal with that effectively we have to put in place and infrastructure, not just here are home but globally, that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly and respond to it quickly.”
That’s what Barack Obama told a White House press briefing in 2014 when a new strain of Ebola devastated parts of west Africa. It’s an eery watch from our current perspective: few of us ever imagined we would see such a life-changing event like the Covid-19 pandemic but Obama was already preparing for such an event.
The Ebola virus killed 7,000 people that year.
Legendary RTÉ commentator Bill O’Herlihy retired after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Over the course of his 49-year career, the Cork man had been the voice of 10 World Cups and 10 Olympic Games.
“Like the Skibbereen Eagle, I’ll be keeping an eye on you,” he promised, before donning the famous hat he wore during the Italia ‘90 World Cup and, for the last time, saying his iconic catchphrase: “We’ll leave it there so. Okie doke.”
O’Herlihy passed away the following year at the age of 76.
