Gareth O'Callaghan: Homesick diaspora took comfort in drink and music of the Pogues

'Some of them fell into heaven, some of them fell into hell': It became a distraction from the loneliness of living away from home

The music of the Pogues became a distraction from the loneliness and the daily insecurity of living abroad during a tough decade. Picture: Marc Broussely/Redferns

For many Irish emigrants who boarded the boat or the plane in the 1980s, the only way to forget about all that had been reluctantly left behind was to drink.

And so we drank and then drank some more.