¹ For most historians ‘the sixties’ as a period of social, economic, political and cultural change begins somewhere in the late 1950s and ends in the early 1970s. In this article ‘the sixties’ represents the period c.1956 – c.1973. The ‘1960s’ refers to the ten years of that decade. This article focuses on young people in the Republic of Ireland.

² Forde was active in youth affairs from the early sixties. He acted as chairman of the Ferns Diocesan Youth Service and as General Secretary of the National Youth Federation. See Forde, Walter, ‘The aimless rebellion’ in Christus Rex, 21, no.1 (1967), pp 45–51, at p. 50.Google Scholar

³ Sandbrook, Dominick, Never had it so good: a history of Britain from Suez to the Beatles (London, 2005), p. 410.Google Scholar

⁴ David Fowler has identified the interwar years as critical for the emergence of new forms of youth culture: Fowler, , Youth culture in modern Britain c.1920 – c.1970: from ivory tower to global movement – a new history (Basingstoke, 2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ As histories of youth often focus on peer groups in industrialised societies, comparing examples over time and space, Irish examples rarely feature. While social scientists have produced studies that analyse youth as a distinct social category in the Irish context, the topic has been relatively neglected by historians. David Fowler’s recent work Youth culture in modern Britain is a notable exception. He provides a study of youth culture in Northern Ireland and independent Ireland c.1922 to c.1939, analysing the role of the Y.M.C.A. and the public dance hall, while a second chapter is devoted to the topic of juvenile delinquency in Northern Ireland. Other relevant historical works include those that draw links between traditional youth peer group activities and political organisations, as well as studies of migration and sexuality. Examples include Hart, Peter, The IRA and its enemies: violence and community in Cork, 1916–23 (Oxford, 1998);Google ScholarDelaney, Enda, The Irish in post-war Britain (Oxford, 2007);Google ScholarDaly, Mary E., The slow failure: population decline and independent Ireland, 1920–1973 (Madison, WI, 2006); Diarmaid Ferriter, Occasions of sin: sex and society in modern Ireland (London, 2009).Google Scholar

⁶ Lee, J.J., Ireland 1912–1985: politics and society (Cambridge, 1989), p. 404.Google Scholar

⁷ The percentage of the total population living in large urban centres of over 10,000 inhabitants was 36 per cent in 1961 and 40 per cent in 1971: Census of population of Ireland, 1961, i: Population, area and valuation of each District Electoral Division and each larger unit of area (Dublin, 1963), p.140; Census of population of Ireland, 1971, i: Population of District Electoral Divisions, towns and larger units of area (Dublin, 1972), p.136.

⁸ Census of population of Ireland, 1961, ii: ages and conjugal conditions (Dublin, 1963); Census of Population of Ireland, 1971, ii: ages and conjugal conditions (Dublin, 1973).

⁹ These proportions are approximate and refer to those aged fourteen to twenty-four years. It should be noted that in 1961 ‘apprentices and learners’ were not included in the category ‘employees’, while in 1971 they were. This has been accounted for in these calculations. Census of population of Ireland, 1961, v: occupations (Dublin, 1964); Census of population of Ireland, 1971, v: occupations and industries (Dublin, 1975).

¹⁰ Roseingrave, Tomás, Manpower in an industrial growth centre: a survey in Waterford (Dublin, 1969), pp 20–1;Google ScholarKelly, Mary, Manpower in Galway: summary report (Dublin, 1970), p. 27.Google Scholar

¹¹ Irish Times, 25 Nov. 1968.

¹² Brown, Terence, Ireland: a social and cultural history, 1922–2002 (London, 2004), p. 264.Google Scholar

¹³ These magazines followed Irish and international musical acts. Spotlight and New Spotlight were manifestations of the same magazine, while Top Ten Weekly merged with New Spotlight in 1967. Spotlight described itself as being ‘written by young people for young people’. Referred to as to the ‘showband Bible’ by Vincent Power, showbands were its chief focus, reflecting both their popularity and the business interests of those involved with the magazine. It had a light-hearted and promotional/commercial rather than a critical tone. First published in Cork in 1963, production moved to Dublin in 1965 and ceased in 1974. Musical Gazette (also known as Dancing News) was similar in character. It was published in Longford and had a limited circulation. See Power, Vincent, Send ‘em home sweatin’: the showband story (Cork, 1990), pp 198, 202–6.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Marwick, Arthur, The sixties: cultural revolution in Britain, France, Italy, and the United States, c.1958–c.1974 (Oxford, New York, 1998), p. 58.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Evening Herald, 5 Oct. 1966.

¹⁶ New Spotlight/Top Ten Weekly, 21–26 June 1967.

¹⁷ Garland, Jon, Gildart, Keith, Gough-Yates, Anna, Hodkinson, Paul, Osgerby, Bill, Robinson, Lucy, Street, John, Webb, Pete & Matthew, Worley, ‘Youth culture, popular music and the end of consensus in post-war Britain’ in Contemporary British History, 26, no. 3 (2012), pp 265–71 at p. 266.Google Scholar

¹⁸ See Holohan, Carole ‘More than a revival of memories? 1960s youth and the 1916 Rising’ in Daly, Mary E. and O’Callaghan, Margaret (eds), 1916 in 1966: commemorating the Easter Rising (Dublin, 2007), pp 173–97.Google Scholar

¹⁹ See Ryan, Paul, Asking Angela Macnamara: an intimate history of Irish lives (Dublin, 2012).Google Scholar

²⁰ Jefferson, Tony, ‘Cultural responses of the Teds’, in Hall, Stuart and Jefferson, Tony (eds), Resistance through rituals: youth subcultures in post-war Britain (Cambridge, 2000), pp 81–6.Google Scholar

²¹ In the aftermath of the so-called riots that accompanied the Beatles’ concerts in Dublin in 1963, a Garda spokesman described how ‘force was used only to restrain people from breaking cordons, and every consideration was given to girls and youths who obviously were not of the “teddy-boy” type’: Keane, Colm, The Beatles Irish concerts (Bray, 2008), p. 127.Google Scholar

²² The term ‘scene’ was commonly used by the media to describe different youth subcultures and referred not just to the places where young people socialised but also to associated tastes in music and fashion.

²³ Bell, Desmond, Acts of union: youth culture and sectarianism in Northern Ireland (London, 1990), p. 30;Google ScholarWills, Clair, That neutral island: a cultural history of Ireland during the Second World War (London, 2007), p. 30.Google Scholar

²⁴ Wills, That neutral island, pp 30–1; Devane, Richard S., Challenge from youth (Dublin, 1942) cited in Bell, Acts of union, p. 30.Google Scholar

²⁵ This criticism came from the secretary of the executive committee of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Éireann: Irish Independent, 10 June 1957.

²⁶ Ard Chomhairle minute book, 18 Apr. 1965 (G.A.A. Archive, Dublin, GAA/CC/01).

²⁷ Marwick, The sixties, p. 48; Venmore-Rowland, John, Radio Caroline: the story of the first British off-shore radio station (Lavenham, 1967), p. 18.Google Scholar

²⁸ New Spotlight, Jan. 1967, pp 6–8.

²⁹ RTV Guide, 28 Sept. 1962.

³⁰ There were disturbances at screenings in both Dublin and Drogheda: Irish Times, 1 Sept.,16 Nov., 1956.

³¹ O’Halloran, Daragh, Green beat: the forgotten era of Irish Rock (Belfast, 2006), p. 16.Google Scholar

³² Rock, Dickie, Always me (Dublin, 2007), p. 28.Google Scholar

³³ Ibid., pp 36–7.

³⁴ Sandbrook, Never had it so good, p. 447.

³⁵ Mitchell, Gillian A.M., ‘A very “British” introduction to rock ‘n’ roll: Tommy Steele and the advent of rock ‘n’ roll music in Britain, 1956–1960’ in Contemporary British History, 25, no. 2 (June 2011), pp 205–25 at pp 205–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁶ Ibid., p. 208.

³⁷ The one nighters (1963).

³⁸ O’Brien describes how The one nighters ‘pre-empted Richard Lester’s A hard day’s night (1964) in its depiction of its subjects as a group of happy-go lucky “kids” with clearly defined semi-comic personae’: O’Brien, Harvey, The real Ireland: the evolution of Ireland in documentary film (Manchester, 2004), p. 153.Google Scholar

³⁹ Power, Send ‘em home sweatin’, p. 200.

⁴⁰ Smyth, Gerry, Noisy island: a short history of Irish popular music (Cork, 2005), p. 14.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Spotlight, July 1963, p. 4.

⁴² New Spotlight Weekly, 19 – 26 July 1967.

⁴³ Spotlight, 6 June 1963.

⁴⁴ Rock, Always me, p. 44.

⁴⁵ Power, Send ‘em home sweatin’, pp 211–12.

⁴⁶ Smyth, Noisy island, p. 16.

⁴⁷ O’Halloran, Green beat, pp 18–19.

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ Smyth, Noisy island, p. 27.

⁵⁰ New Spotlight, July 1966, p. 5.

⁵¹ Smyth, Noisy island, p. 28.

⁵² Steven, Even, a ‘mod shop’, was located over Club Arthur: Irish Times, 19 July 1966.Google Scholar

⁵³ Spotlight, 23 May 1963; Spotlight, Dec. 1963, p. 6.

⁵⁴ Keane, The Beatles Irish concerts, p. 98.

⁵⁵ New Spotlight, July 1966, p. 5.

⁵⁶ Mitchell, ‘A very “British” introduction’, p. 221.

⁵⁷ New Spotlight, June 1966, p. 38.

⁵⁸ Long, Harry, The Walton’s guide to Irish music (Dublin, 2005), p. 85;Google ScholarhAllmhuráin, Gearóid Ó, O’Brien pocket history of Irish traditional music (Dublin, 1998), pp 151–2.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Coughlan, John, The swinging sixties (Dublin, 1990), p. 102;Google ScholarVallely, Fintan (ed.), The companion to Irish traditional music (Cork, 2004), pp 19–20;Google ScholarNew Spotlight Weekly, 27 July – 2 Aug. 1967.

⁶⁰ Vallely, Companion to Irish traditional music, pp 19–20.

⁶¹ It should be noted that the traditional music scene became divided as some resented the profile afforded commercial forms of the genre.

⁶² New Spotlight, May 1967, p. 3, Apr. 1967, p. 3.

⁶³ See Kelly, Eddie, The complete guide to Ireland's top ten hits: the definitive listing of Ireland’s top ten hits, 1954–1979 (Dublin, 2009).Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Wills, That neutral island, p. 33; Ferriter, Occasions of sin, p. 403.

⁶⁵ Dáil Éireann deb., ccxxiv, 833–4 (6 Oct. 1966).

⁶⁶ Luddy, Maria, ‘Sex and the single girl in 1920s and 1930s Ireland’ in The Irish Review, no. 35 (summer, 2007), pp 79–91 at pp 79–83.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Irish Times, 14 Jan. 1970.

⁶⁸ For examples see New Spotlight Top Ten Weekly, 21–26 June 1967; Spotlight Weekly, 11 Jan. 1968; New Spotlight Weekly 7 Sept. 1968, 30 Mar. 1968.

⁶⁹ Fowler, Youth culture in modern Britain, p. 90.

⁷⁰ Miller, Rebecca S., ‘Irish traditional and popular music in New York city: identity and social change, 1930–1975’ in Bayor, Ronald H. and Meagher, Timothy (eds), The New York Irish (Baltimore & London, 1996), pp 481–507 at p. 495; Rock, Always me, p. 35.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Irish Times, 22 Mar. 1966.

⁷² Musical Gazette, Mar. 1968.

⁷³ Irish Times, 22 Mar. 1966.

⁷⁴ Irish Press, 6 Feb. 1967.

⁷⁵ Irish Independent, 1 Oct. 1966.

⁷⁶ Irish Press, 1 Oct. 1966.

⁷⁷ Irish Independent, 1 Oct. 1966.

⁷⁸ Ibid.

⁷⁹ Irish Times, 6 Oct. 1966.

⁸⁰ In September 1966 the Evening Press reported the opening of a beat club in Limerick, Club A-Go-Go, which had a counterpart in Dublin: Evening Press, 3 Sept. 1966; O’Halloran, Green beat, pp 89–90, 105.

⁸¹ Evening Press, 15 Sept. 1966.

⁸² Evening Press, 19 Oct. 1966.

⁸³ Irish Times, 15 Sept. 1966.

⁸⁴ Report of working party on drug abuse (Dublin, 1971), p. 12.

⁸⁵ Dáil Éireann deb., ccxxiv, 1391–2 (18 Oct. 1966).

⁸⁶ Ibid.

⁸⁷ Evening Herald, 14 Oct., 18 Oct. 1966.

⁸⁸ Sunday Independent, 16 Oct. 1966.

⁸⁹ Ferriter, Diarmaid, ‘A nation of extremes: archival sources for drink and temperance in twentieth century Ireland’ in Irish Archives, 4, no. 1 (1997), pp 8–14, at p. 11.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Rock, Always me, p. 49; O’Halloran, Green beat, p. 17.

⁹¹ Cleary, Joe, Outrageous fortune: capital and culture in modern Ireland (Dublin, 2006), p. 207.Google Scholar

⁹² Scene: Ireland’s new international magazine, June 1967, p. 9.

⁹³ Western People, 27 May 1961; Westmeath Examiner, 15 June 1963.

⁹⁴ Westmeath Examiner, 8 June 1963.

⁹⁵ Ibid.

⁹⁶ This article from the Irish Catholic was reprinted in the Westmeath Examiner, 29 June 1963.

⁹⁷ Terry O’Sullivan described ‘the young men who ruined the Thurles Fleadh’ in 1965 as having been ‘uniformly middle class, all with money to burn’: Evening Press, 8 June 1965; Westmeath Examiner, 22 June 1963.

⁹⁸ Irish Independent, 7 June, 8 June 1965; Evening Press, 8 June 1965.

⁹⁹ Westmeath Examiner, 29 June 1963.

¹⁰⁰ Westmeath Examiner, 8 June 1963.

¹⁰¹ Westmeath Examiner, 29 June 1963

¹⁰² Evening Press, 11 June 1965.

¹⁰³ Ibid.

¹⁰⁴ Westmeath Examiner, 15 June 1963.

¹⁰⁵ Girvin has argued that Ireland, in the period 1959–89, was characterised by continuity, which was directly related to political and social stability: Girvin, Brian, ‘Before the Celtic tiger: change without modernisation in Ireland 1959–1989’ in The Economic and Social Review, 41, no. 3 (autumn, 2010), pp 349–65.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ Evening Press, 10 June 1965.

¹⁰⁷ Cleary argues that original bands, with roots in both folk and rock music, such as Thin Lizzy and the Horslips marked the emergence of a distinctly Irish popular music: Cleary, Outrageous fortune, p. 81.