Born in 1965

Ireland and the UK signed the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement, the most significant economic step since independence. It would open Irish industry to competition and, in the long run, make it more competitive. The Sound of Music was the film everyone saw.

The showband era was at its peak — there were hundreds of bands, hundreds of ballrooms, and a generation of young Irish people discovering the pleasures of dancing, dressing up, and falling in love outside the parish hall.