Born in 2011

A general election produced a political earthquake — Fianna Fáil, which had dominated Irish politics since independence, was reduced to a rump. Fine Gael and Labour formed a government under Enda Kenny. The new government continued austerity while beginning to restructure the banking debt.

Ireland's recovery would be long and hard. The Wedding of the century in Britain provided brief distraction. In Croke Park, Ireland defeated England at rugby — with enormous symbolic resonance — on the same weekend the Queen visited Ireland for the first time.