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Beaches, black marketeers and migrant millionaires - the tragedy of Beirut

Reporter Niall O’Connor visited Beirut this week to see the crisis hit Lebanese capital two years after a massive explosion ripped through its streets.

BEIRUT’S GENERAL de Gaulle is a coastal road hugging the picturesque shore of the vast Mediterranean.

Take a walk along its promenade in blazing evening sunshine and you could be forgiven for dreaming that it was the south of France on a summer’s day.

There are the azure blue waters to the west, the stunning island peaks of Pigeon Rocks and the pale sandstone cliffs. On the beach below people cast fishing lines into the bay and above, on the high cliff side, couples pose for Instagram selfies as the sun sets.

Nearby, families sit and chat, eating local street food, with others puffing from the famous bubbling shisha pipes – the atmosphere declares that all is good with the world. 

To the east, looking inland, there are the pockmarked high rises and simmering food vendors and deeper in, the arid peaks of mountains rising high above the city.

Take a walk further in to the streets to areas of Hamra or Bachoura alive with bars and restaurants – the smell of grilled meat and groups of pals playing drafts on the steps of buildings architecturally reminiscent of its French colonial past.

There is a ferocity to the energy of Beirut that easily intoxicates – a perpetual festival on every street corner and laneway.  

We all know the stories of the unending tragedy of Lebanon: centuries of crises and wars and the recent history of Israeli attacks, protests, economic disaster and a monstrous explosion that devastated the people of this struggling metropolis.

Image from iOS (7) Beirut residents enjoy a balmy evening. Niall O'Connor / The Journal Niall O'Connor / The Journal / The Journal

The people are friendly with an enthusiastic smile but chat to them for a few moments and it is clear that this place is not the paradise of sunny beaches and roaring nightlife.

They will tell you of crippling inflation, repeated power cuts throughout the day and the impossible anxiety of perpetual political mismanagement. 

Pitch Black

Walk the streets at night and they are pitch black – there is no electricity to light the boulevards. The hum of generators fills the neighbourhoods as crippled infrastructure is starved in a fuel crisis that makes our Irish concerns of turf cutting look like the musings of clueless privilege.

Closer to the port the streets are ravaged – all across the city the damage from the 2020 port explosion is evident. In fact many buildings in Lebanon are a history lesson for what has passed – bullet holes and blast marks.

It is hard to tell which calamity made it – the recent explosion, the decades long civil war or the 2006 Israeli bombing campaign.

Speaking to Elie, a hotel worker, he says the city is ravaged with poor political leadership and the economic crisis.

“It is the inflation, the electricity problems, the fuel, the corruption – it is everything here.”

There are those willing to help – the sight of UN vehicles moving through the streets and the various non-governmental organisations playing whack-a-mole to prevent the absolute collapse of Lebanese society. 

Black marketeers are thriving, running cash conversions and selling the knockoffs of high-end luxury. There are also massive riches here with Ferraris in the streets, large power boats in the marina and empty mansions owned by migrant millionaires who return to visit.

The aftermath of the now infamous 2020 explosion in the port, when a cargo of neglected fertiliser detonated as firefighters attempted to fight a blaze, ripped through not just the city but the very fabric of Lebanese society. 

Tracy Makhlouf is a proud Lebanese woman who is working with French aid agency Medécins sans Frontieres (MSF) in their Beirut base. 

Image from iOS (9) Tracy Makhlouf is a Lebanese woman working with Médecins sans Frontieres. Niall O'Connor / The Journal Niall O'Connor / The Journal / The Journal

She spoke to The Journal about the state of her country and how the repeated crises have reached a moment where her fellow citizens’ resilience is at a critical juncture.

“We are providing preventative care at MSF in various areas, around Beirut, Tripoli to the North, the Bekaa Valley, and this is dealing a lot with the Syrian refugees coming across the border.

“Our healthcare system is mostly private. There is a major problem now with access to health care here in Lebanon and that has now been made worse because of the economic crisis. 

“For the first time we have noticed that the amount of people in Lebanon seeking our services, our primary healthcare, has increased where more Lebanese are using it than the Syrian refugees,” she said. 

Tracy said that the repeated crises, including the horror of the explosion which claimed the lives of 218 Beirut residents and made hundreds homeless, has left people in a very vulnerable state. 

There is a serious problem with mental health – yes, a lot of it is post traumatic stress disorder but also pre-existing environmental triggers. 

“But the issue is that there is a major problem around access to treatment – there are no supports. It is easy to understand why this is here. It is very normal when there are just repeated crises, that people feel depressed,” she added. 

Burden

Tracy’s colleague and Head of Mission in Beirut Marcelo Fernandez is an Argentinian doctor and humanitarian.

He has been in charge of the MSF mission in the country for the last two years having worked in similar aid projects in South America.

Fernandez said the country, not just Beirut, is crippled by the burden of the collapse of the financial economy but it had its genesis in the failed political apparatus.

a-money-exchange-vendor-counts-u-s-dollar-banknotes-next-to-lebanese-pounds-at-a-currency-exchange-shop-in-beirut-lebanon-may-24-2022-picture-taken-may-24-2022-reutersmohamed-azakir A money exchange vendor counts U.S. dollar banknotes next to Lebanese pounds at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon. PA / Mohamed Azakir PA / Mohamed Azakir / Mohamed Azakir

The system of Government involves all sects and tribes – with 18 religious sects including Sunni and Christian in a political system devoted to give positions in parliament to a mix of religion and politics. 

Recent elections saw the rise of independents as people disillusioned by the political system sought change, with a move away from the Hezbollah leaders of old.

What it has given the country, since the end of the Civil War in the late 1990s, is a quagmire of political inertia. 

The country last had an official census in the 1930s because such are the tensions associated with identifying the specifics of the demographics that a fresh civil war could erupt.  

Fernandez speaks of the fiscal collapse which has hit the pockets of ordinary Lebanese people. The average monthly wage is the equivalent of US$100 but to fill a car with fuel is €40. 

“Since 2011/2012, there has been a massive influx of Syrian refugees – approximately 100,000 registered. And since then our target population for aid was providing access to health care mainly for refugees, Syrians, and Palestinian,” he said.

However, in the last two years, since the beginning of this big, deep crisis, political and economic crisis in the country, we start to see an increased number of Lebanese patient.

“For example two years ago and three years ago, 70% of our patients in Becca Valley were mainly Syrians, and 25/30% were Lebanese. This year, 2022, is the first time in the history of MSF working here with refugees, that we have more Lebanese patients than Syrian patients.

“For example, in North Becca, today, 55% of the new patients are Lebanese and the rest are from Syria, that’s giving you an idea how this deep crisis in the country is affecting the local population,” he explained. 

The problem is that Lebanon’s ailing medical system is not state funded, leaving residents to fend for themselves.

High-cost private health care providers make up 80% of the market and MSF has realised that the vast majority of the country are now suffering, without access to healthcare.   

Medical professionals, who could help, have emigrated while such is the loss in wage value that healthcare is now seen as a luxury. 

Fernandez said such is the crisis in fuel costs matched by worthless wage packets that many people receiving treatment for long-term illness now can’t afford to travel to treatment, which ultimately makes their manageable conditions now life-limiting or lethal. 

Image from iOS (8) Marcelo Fernandez, Head of Mission MSF in Lebanon. Niall O'Connor / The Journal Niall O'Connor / The Journal / The Journal

Fernandez said that MSF has now identified a major crisis looming as pharmacies and the Lebanese State’s failing purchasing power for medication is leaving medicines unavailable to those who most need it.

He believes that a lack of access to vaccines to prevent childhood diseases such as measles and other issues could cause a medical crisis that will devastate the country further. 

“Last year, with this deep economic crisis, access to essential medicines was a nightmare. You will not able to find paracetamol in the pharmacies, because lack of the market was just crushing access to essential medicines – it was a real disaster.

“We are now seeing a reduction of the vaccination coverage from 30% to 40% – it is growing. The kids are not vaccinated, you have high risk of an outbreak like so polio could arise very soon, because it’s extremely expensive. 

“Combine that with a lack of access to healthcare and they are facing a major risk of outbreak very soon,” he added. 

Aid package

Fernandez and his team are now providing healthcare – filling the gap left open by the turmoil of the collapsing economy.

Fernandez said the solution is for the international community to come on board with an aid package to save the lives of Lebanese people, but that the will is not there. 

But such is the issue with the political ecosystem that corruption could mean that any money coming into the country could be diverted away from helping the State. 

The United States also will not co-operate as long as Hezbollah have influence on political leadership. 

Such is the crisis that it is easy for the humanitarians to be sucked in to the developing tragedy. 

Fernandez is fighting his natural empathy to try and make strategic decisions that best serve the response to the crisis. 

“I need to try to keep my head to be able to take decisions not based on my emotions, but based on what the population needs in specific areas of the country.

“Somehow, this is part of humanitarian work in general, not just in Lebanon. You need to have some empathy for the communities where you work, but at the same time, not to be too much emotionally attached, because you need to make decisions. And sometimes decisions are extremely tough,” he added. 

But the biggest, most frustrating issue for Fernandez and his team is the difficult political morass and the inability to find a path to solving the problem. But the outlook is difficult.

“No one is coming to this office to say I have good news,” he said. 

On the streets outside the cars still move, the scooters beep and move across the town. Life goes on with a resilience that is a learned instinct from years of chaos. 

The site of the port explosion is still locked down. Rubble and chunks of buildings still lie where they dropped. 

The streets are clean, but above the roadways the scars on buildings remain, the damage untouched like the bedroom of a lost relative. It is almost too traumatic to confront. 

An experienced Irish military officer, who has served many tours of duty in South Lebanon, sums it up: “This place is caught between Iran and a hard place. Syria, Israel, the US and all sorts of other people – it is just a place where people fight their wars over and that has been the way for millennia since the Phoenicians were walking around – the awful thing is, it will never change.”

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    Mute Hugh De Payans
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:29 AM

    A complete legend and Ireland’s best ever player. Enjoy your retirement Johnny, you served Ireland very well.

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    Mute Michael Fielding
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:33 AM

    @Hugh De Payans: LOL

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:37 AM

    @Hugh De Payans: best ever 10, cannot compare positions, too different.

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    Mute Michael Fielding
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:39 AM

    @Hugh De Payans: he’s not our best ever player. Best fly half yes. Ever played the game oh wise one?LOL!

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    Mute Sean Parker
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:00 AM

    @Michael Fielding: grown ass man saying lol. He is arguably our best player over all positions. Be between him and O Driscoll

    139
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    Mute 6gRrQtLn
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:05 AM

    @Sean Parker: every comment on other journal pages all he puts it LOL, when you reply to him he gets aggressive with his replies, threw one at me this morning about my mother, she died 2 weeks ago, he’s not very intellectual

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    Mute Sean Parker
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:06 AM

    @6gRrQtLn: bit sad really. Sorry for your loss.

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    Mute 6gRrQtLn
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:17 AM

    @Sean Parker: thank you Sean

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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:43 AM

    @6gRrQtLn: it’s easy to act the big man and insult or disrespect people from behind a keyboard. Likely wouldnt say boo to your face. I’m sorry for your loss and I hope you are doing OK.

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    Mute Hugh De Payans
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:25 AM

    @Michael Fielding: “Oh wise one”…and you don’t even offer an alternative? Apart from BoD, who comes close to him? And leave the LOL to the kids….using it, doesn’t shine much on your intellect.

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    Mute Anna Carr (Morrigan_Dubh)
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:47 AM

    @6gRrQtLn: my deepest sympathy on your sad loss, my friend :(

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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:39 AM

    @Hugh De Payans:
    Jackie Kyle, Willie John mcbride and Mike Gibson to name a few

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    Mute gordon o loughlin
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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:35 PM

    @Hugh De Payans: I don’t post negative comments on the journal because it’s widely known as blind boy says to be the gutter of the Internet and you sir are the epitome of it.. How childish to mock a persons loss. If you take pleasure from that then I’m really sorry for you.
    My sympathies to that man who lossed his mother.
    Well done to Ireland for making us believe by the way.

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    Mute Ayo
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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:38 PM

    @Sean: Paul O’Connell, Ciaran Fitzgerald…

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    Mute Hugh De Payans
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    Oct 15th 2023, 1:29 PM

    @gordon o loughlin: Excuse me. At what point did I mock a person’s loss. I didn’t reference that message or the poster at any stage .

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    Mute Hugh De Payans
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    Oct 15th 2023, 1:30 PM

    @Sean: Although great players, they are not fit to lace Johnny’s boots.

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    Mute Michael Costello
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    Oct 15th 2023, 5:20 PM

    @Hugh De Payans: 5th place in Irish Caps. 8th place in Irish Try Scoring. 1st place in Irish Point Scoring… If not our best player surely 1 of our best.

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:35 AM

    You put everything into the game and pushed to the end. You will always be a legend to the people of Ireland. We are proud of you and the rest of the team.

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    Mute The Green Monkey
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:32 AM

    Sexton will go down as one of Ireland’s greats, no shame to go out against the All Blacks. I fancy France to lift the Cup.

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    Mute Chris Thaunton
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:11 AM

    @The Green Monkey: Hope France do, really time for a NH team to lift the trophy after 20 years.

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    Mute Gerry Dornan
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:58 PM

    @The Green Monkey: France are out…

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:35 AM

    Devastating?? Ukraine is devestating. Palestine is devestating. Ireland just lost a game of rugby.

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    Mute Tom Newell
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:45 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: oh calm down lad, Jesus can ya park the virtue signalling horse manure outrage for one morning…..

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    Mute another one? what's going on is the semi state sec
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:46 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: There’s always one! Well done you for being so literal, thanks for putting it all into perspective for everyone!

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    Mute Denise Daly
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:48 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: This is a rugby thread you are commenting on.
    Make your comment on Ukraine or Israel War topic and it’ll make more sense.

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:51 AM

    @Denise Daly: I am commenting on the wording used in the headline on a rugby article. It wouldn’t make sense anywhere else.

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    Mute Denise Daly
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:56 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: You said Ukraine and Israel/Palestinian war is devastating but that’s not the topic here.
    They are beyond devastating and horrifically upsetting but you can’t compare them on a thread about rugby.

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    Mute Declan Conlan
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:00 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Exactly. Losing vicariously through the team you’ve decided to support is a voluntary extension of your identity. So what if ‘they’ lose a game, YOU neither contributed nor risked anything real or actual in that game.
    It’s just a flutter of chemicals in the brain. You’ll be grand.
    As the saying goes, sport doesn’t build character, it reveals it.

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    Mute Sean Parker
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:05 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: yes the word devestating is now confined to use only in the context of the Ukrainian or Palestinian wars. Somebody ring oxford there and get them to update their dictionary.

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    Mute Chris Thaunton
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:10 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Really?, the goldfish have all forgotten about Ukraine now seeing as there a bit of action in the mid east again. I think what’s really got people confused is what flag to put on their avatar these days. Just support the current thing. The current thing for us this morning is we got booted out of the WC by not playing at 100%.

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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:29 AM

    @Declan Conlan: I’m sure that it was just a post for likes to get a sense of validation and some of those flutters of chemicals in the brain!!

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    Mute Patrick MC Dermott
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:33 AM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: The topic is about a game of rugby and one of the best players of all time. Did you not read the headline?

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    Mute Hugh De Payans
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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:09 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: “Devastating” in rugby terms and in the personal terms of JS rugby career. You’re one of those perpetually offended people. To be avoided at all costs.

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    Mute andrew dunne
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    Oct 15th 2023, 2:49 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: oh shut up please

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    Mute lWOk0fWf
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    Oct 15th 2023, 5:03 PM

    @Declan Conlan: ‘sport doesn’t build character, it reveals it’
    I like that.

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    Mute Tommy Haze
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:44 AM

    Lost the game in the first 20 minutes though there was only 4 points in it at the end.
    Very poor start.

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    Mute Argus Romsworth
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:01 AM

    We put in a massive shift against South Africa and beat a better team despite what the rankings say. I think they would’ve beaten us if we met again.
    And the French would’ve hammered us given they annihilated a poor New Zealand.
    Ultimately we are nowhere near good enough to win a World Cup.

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    Mute Chris Thaunton
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:14 AM

    @Argus Romsworth: Agreed, we are in the top 4 for sure and in good company, but number one is no good when you get zip for it. The IRFU must have cashed in big time this year though, tonnes of merchandise sold.

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:04 PM

    @Argus Romsworth: Rubbish mate! Good supporter you are!

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    Mute Patrick O'Leary
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:14 AM

    What a career it was + what service he gave both Leinster + Ireland / gave them so many great days. People can debate the “greatest ever” moniker but the guy is a legend either way – hope he enjoys long + happy retirement.

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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:34 AM

    Irelands early exit from rugby world cups is as predictable as death and taxes, chokers!

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:38 AM

    @: so are trolls under bridges who spend all day online with their friends.

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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:48 AM

    @Paul Fahey: just saying how it is.

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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:51 AM

    Too afraid to show your name? Still on it from last night are you? Haha.

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    Mute Andrew Meehan
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:00 AM

    @: have to agree. Lucky to beat SA too and got showed up last night. Simply not good enough!

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    Mute Denise Daly
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:04 AM

    @Andrew Meehan: The soccer fan lovers chiming in.

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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:46 AM

    @Paul Fahey: friends?? I thought trolls lived alone under bridges?

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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:36 PM

    @Denise Daly:
    C’mon now, one last time with gusto
    Heyyyy ohhh….me hoop is fiiiure
    Heyyyy ohhh….bad pints in O’Dwyers ;~}

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    Oct 15th 2023, 1:14 PM

    Chokers

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    Mute J. D Murray
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    Oct 15th 2023, 1:44 PM

    @: you would not know how it was if it hit you in the face.

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:05 PM

    @: In your opinion.

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    Mute Paul O Connor
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:52 AM

    We lost by 4 points in a game that was probably 50/50 before it started. If it a hiding I’d understand but people need to relax. They’re should be an app with a breathalyser and be under the limit before some people post here or on social media.

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    Mute Anna Carr (Morrigan_Dubh)
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:10 AM

    Thank you Johnny for everything and all the best for your future

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    Mute Declan Gibney
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:59 AM

    Theres no I in team. Great player, enjoy your retirement and everyone is entitled to their opinion of who is the best player ever……its not a fact.

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    Mute John Conforms
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:44 AM

    Ireland went on the beer too early. They showed the World once again they are the greatest booze team in the world

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    Mute McCarthy John
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:14 AM

    Should have been replaced 20 minutes to go. Didn’t have the stamina and speed to be effectively creative in the last 20 minutes… He is his age.. And much as I would have liked a better result for him and the team, his limits should have been respected

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    Mute Keyser Söze
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:45 AM

    The fear coming in to the World Cup was that Ireland were too reliant on Sexton. That ended up being the case yesterday, but it wasn’t because he was unavailable. New Zealand gave him no room to play at all. His weakness has always been his kicking game and Ireland needed a bit more of one against New Zealand. They addressed it at halftime but then Hansen got injured.

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    Mute padraig o heanachain
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    Oct 15th 2023, 9:14 AM

    Unfortunately time catches up with everyone. We had a few of those players. We made too many mistakes, line out poor, Management needed to make changes sooner. Yet they were so near. But it showed we are not good enough to win world cup and I don’t think New Zealand are either.

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    Mute BarryH
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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:52 PM

    @padraig o heanachain: At 7.55pm last night, we were realistic candidates to win the World Cup. WOW!! Now we are a a bunch of badly managed old men. How quickly some people forget the great memories and great heights, this great IRISH rugby team brought us all too. Reading some of the comments, you would think that we were beaten by Chile, not by the greatest rugby country of all time. It says a lot about some of the Rugby crowds psyche, Win at all costs otherwise you are useless.
    Sexton, apart from his performances for Centra, (betcha sales went down), along with the many many Great Irish players, got us to No1 in the World, inspired thousands of young kids and beat NZ in NZ. Not bad for ‘ Old Men’. Tiocfaidh ar la!!!
    Apart from the fans misunderstanding of the words of Zombie, they were magnificent and were rewarded with great memories. Some might think ‘ Up the R.A.’ means Royal Academy bit given our now diverse culture We are still all proud to be Irish today!!!!!

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    Mute Adam Gorey
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:14 AM

    Bottlers got no further than teams of the past world rankings mean nothing world cups do. New Zealand taught them a lesson tournament rugby

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:08 PM

    @Adam Gorey: Never played a rugby match less probably never been to one. People using ‘bottlers’ can think of nothing constructive but use cliched clutch phrases to describe something of a complexity they can’t fathom.

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    Mute Leonard Gardner
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:46 AM

    Very poor v SA and these but could have won both.

    That’s life.

    Well done Johnny, a career that lifts like a golden cup that many would die to have.

    Best of luck pal

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    Mute Alan Scott
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:18 AM

    Now that Ireland lost I hope that Rte with VM will stop playing the what if’s game over and over again . Because I have a pain in my

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:34 AM

    A few handy games is all they won once they got a proper game they s hit the bed

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    Mute Ham Hat
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:24 AM

    Not even a Palestinian Flag in the game. Soccer are more human.

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    Mute Leonard Gardner
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:47 AM

    @Ham Hat: Erm, lmao. I think

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:09 PM

    @Ham Hat: Bringing politics into it. ‘Bottler’!

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    Mute Chris Thaunton
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    Oct 15th 2023, 3:53 PM

    He seems like a decent human being with young a family, hope he moves on and gets into something he likes doing. He’s a professional and always expected himself to hit high standards, made some mistakes along the way but we had some pretty great days cheering on this team with him at the helm. Some of the comments I’ve seen about him are pretty low and a bit too personal.

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    Mute Eddie Mc Loughlin
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:59 AM

    Back to drawing board for ireland. No where near good enough to win world cup. Kucky against boys who should have won but left some penalties and conversions behind. We just don’t have enough in attack in these crucial games. Bundle aki was the only back that stood out in every game. I missed game last night and saw highlights later. Couldn’t believe how passive our attack was when the clock was in the red. They look clueless and ran out of ideas, all lateral and going nowhere, we wouldn’t win tea cup never mind world cup playing like that. They never git the running game going

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    Mute Donal Martin
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    Oct 15th 2023, 1:33 PM

    @Eddie Mc Loughlin: They were good enough to win it, but so are New Zealand, France and South Africa. The game was close, a held up ball over the line from the Maul is all that was in it. If that touched down we would be facing a pretty average Argentina next week with one eye on the Final.

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:05 AM

    They sud rename irish rugby song to ” chokers chokers, there answering irelands call”

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    Mute Adam Gorey
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    Oct 15th 2023, 2:10 PM

    @: chokers to chokers we are going home again we are go home again. The first real challenge are them sh#t the bed.

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:10 PM

    @: English not the strongest subject?

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    Mute Edward McAndrew
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    Oct 15th 2023, 11:30 AM

    Will Irelands Rugby team be known henceforth known as the Zombies? When NZ do the haha Ireland could respond with Michael Jackson’s’ Thriller’ dance!

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Oct 15th 2023, 2:25 PM

    Definitely the best Irish Rugby team ever up to this point. A series win in NZ followed by a Grand Slam and denied a World Cup semi final spot by a Barrett (irony) hand under the ball.
    For a country which has a very small Rugby playing presence compared to GAA and even Soccer it is very much a minority sport with a bandwagon following that belies it’s real position in the sporting life of the country.
    When the New Zealanders throw dirt on social media they don’t understand that it’s their South Pacific Islands selection versus the products of a few private schools.
    They punch well above their weight.

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:40 AM

    If someone here from rte is reading this please note ,if my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle

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    Mute Leonard Gardner
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:47 AM

    Wow a comment that deserves a defeat oncoming

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 10:47 AM

    Maybe she has balls,ps Journal story not rte

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:18 PM

    Lady balls or balls balls!?!….they were cat at the breakdown and transition alright!!

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 12:23 PM

    The Montrose Mafiosos are obsequious….Paul Reynolds will be along shortly to invest a gate!

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:13 PM

    Seems to be a lot of bandwagoners commenters bearing their low I.Q.’s to sl@g off the team at the 1st opportunity. Well you can get back into your box again till 2027.

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    Mute jose roberto
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    Oct 16th 2023, 1:05 PM

    The association is the reason Ireland are not in a semi final, the draw that was made way back was absolute fiasco, to have 4 best teams in the world in one side, Ireland would easily have beaten any of the teams in the other half by a mile, and be fresher going into a semi. We had very tough game v Scottish to win pool, and then having to lift ourselves for all blacks in quarterfinals, whereas all blacks had training sessions

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Oct 16th 2023, 5:13 PM

    @jose roberto: 100% You’d wonder where SA get their energy from, ahem..

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    Mute James K.
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    Oct 16th 2023, 10:07 AM

    How dare anyone call those players chokers, shame on you. If anyone conducted themselves with that dignity and commitment in the soccer team we’d love it. Time will tell how Sexton ranks in people’s memories, not being involved is going to be hard for him

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    Mute
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    Oct 15th 2023, 8:30 PM

    What bs. Most of ye have never played on any team in any sport after primary school. Just a bunch of chubby middle class voyeurs making a tit of yerselves lol

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