Born in 1974

The Dublin-Monaghan bombings in May killed thirty-three people — the deadliest day of the Troubles in the south. Families going about their Friday shopping were killed in the city centre. The horror was profound.

Ireland was directly experiencing the violence that had seemed, to many southerners, like someone else's war. Politically, there were multiple governments in quick succession as coalitions collapsed. But the economy was growing, and Europe's farm payments were transforming rural Ireland.