Reeling in the Years review: Six moments we can’t stop thinking about from 2017
Damage to the Derrynane Stand at Turners Cross Stadium due to Storm Ophelia. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
In October, Storm Ophelia raged her way across the country. Winds of up to 157km/hr devastated many areas.
Amateur footage captured planes landing in heavy winds, waves crashing against the shore and flooding coastal areas, and roofs being ripped away, including the roof over the Derrynane Stand at Turner’s Cross Stadium in Cork, home to Cork City FC.
Three people died in storm-related incidents around the country.
It emerged in 2027 that figures around the reported number of breath tests administered by gardaí included one million falsified tests. The false statistics were described as “appalling and staggering” by then Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald.
The scandal was one of several crises and rows to hit Ireland’s policing and justice system that year. Then-Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan said it was a “very serious issue” that they intended to get to the bottom of.
By the end of 2017, both Fitzgerald and O’Sullivan had stepped down from their respective roles. Both women were later cleared in the Charleton Report of any involvement in a campaign against Maurice McCabe.
In June 2017, the world watched on in horror as a 24-storey council apartment block of flats in London burned down after a fire started in the kitchen of a fourth-floor flat, reaching the top floors of the building within an hour.
More than 70 people were injured and 72 people died.
A huge community relief operation got underway and there was widespread public anger as inquiries got underway. People questioned why the fore spread so quickly with such fatal consequences.
“We don’t want human beings to live in buildings like that,” one protester told a television reporter.
A number of Islamist attacks hit the UK in 2017, with attackers targetting London Bridge and Borough Market in one incident, in which eight people died.
Another attack on Westminster Bridge saw five people killed.
In Manchester, a suicide bomber targeted an Ariana Grande concert, which was attended by thousands of children, teens and young people. Hundreds were injured and 22 concert-goers died.
“My heart lies in the Bogside.” In January 2017, Martin McGuinness returned home to Derry due to his failing health.
He resigned as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland following a row with the DUP over a botched renewable energy scheme. Power-sharing collapsed. McGuinness, a key figure in the peace process, died in March, aged 66.
Michelle O’Neill took over as Sinn Féin’s Northern leader following McGuinness’s resignation.
Meanwhile Arlene Foster of the DUP resisted proposals for an Irish Language Act in Assembly elections. “If you feed a crocodile they’re going to keep coming back and looking for more,” Foster said.
The election results did not resolve the political stalemate. In Downing Street, then-Prime Minister Theresa May saw her party suffer a major defeat at the polls and turned to the DUP for a deal to keep the Tories in government.
A Cork family had the best experience on the Late Late Toy Show in 2017. Kayla and Adam were shocked when host Ryan Tubridy ripped open a giant present to reveal their dad, Graham Burke, who had been away from home on peacekeeping duty in Mali.
He was greeted by his tearful and delighted children as an emotional Tubridy looked on.
“I can’t take this,” Tubs said, struggling to hold back his own tears.
It was a heartwarming moment that struck a chord with the nation.
