Optimism in the Sixties

The decade that saw Ireland relax after years of austerity is celebrated in a new book of photographs, writes Jo Kerrigan

WE might all know the catchphrase: “If you can remember the 1960s — you weren’t there.” But it really only applies to American youth, the generation which saw the development of hippy culture, the proliferation of hallucinogenic drugs, the Summer of Love in San Francisco, and the embracing of a culture which lived by the mantra, “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

In Ireland we experienced a very different decade, and it would be accurate to say of this country that if you can remember the Sixties, then you’re probably regarding the current economic downturn with a cynical eye. For we were only emerging slowly from post-war stringencies at the beginning of that period, starting to forget about scrimping and saving, relaxing a bit and looking with wonder on the new developments, new products, new temptations that were starting to make themselves known in what was still a fairly rural land.