Irish Twitter Shares Their Best Celtic Tiger Communion Stories

Words: Eva O’Beirne

Artwork: Paul Smith

Ah the Boom. A simpler time really. Where eight-year-olds getting limos to the church could be justified.

Communion season is in full swing, so we’ve decided to look back to nearly twenty years ago at the ridiculousness of the Celtic Tiger. Our audience on Twitter provided their best stories and we just had to share them with all District readers.

The Helicopter Sagas

Nearly every second DM sent to us involved a helicopter in some way shape or form. But the one that we’ve chosen to include in the article really takes the biscuit.

https://twitter.com/AishlingHuggins/status/1525097590320246785?s=20&t=jFGhXBL12KI9yyP-gAt8DQ

Did you know that at the height of the Boom, Ireland had more helicopters per capita than the UK?

The money was just resting in our parent’s account (they promise)

A universal experience we expect. Perhaps the second most common story sent in to our Twitter.

Did everyone’s mam put their money into the ‘credit union’ never to be seen again or is mine just a con artist https://t.co/OERlr9FB3x
— April 🤝 OF (@aprilrozina) May 14, 2022

Priorities people, priorities

One child in our school rang to say she wouldn’t make the church part cos her hair appointment ran over but she’d be there for the photos 😆
— PaulineGood (@pgood38) May 13, 2022

We’ve never associated any cocktails with communions, but maybe we’re just out of the loop.

I remember being in tesco trying to buy mint. Was told they were sold out. "It's communion season. They're needed for mojitos" 😐 https://t.co/lcus9VO5Rl
— Pursuit of balance (@HealthyBalance8) May 13, 2022

The exotic purchases

Between iPods to reptiles, fancy venues to a Nintendo DS, we’ve heard it all.

Confirmation in 2006. Immediately spent all the money on two things: an electric guitar and a sad-looking chameleon in a petshop window in Walkinstown. The chameleon died before the recession hit, so he never knew how good he had it.
— Oisín Antóin Ó Briain-Orr (@ob_oisin) May 13, 2022

https://twitter.com/evaobeirnee/status/1525096420126167040?s=20&t=jFGhXBL12KI9yyP-gAt8DQ

We’re sure this fella became a cryptocurrency influencer when he grew up

We’ve heard of getting a calf or heifer for your communion, but never stocks in a semi-state company.

Bit before peak Celtic Tiger but a guy in my confirmation class gave his earnings to his parents to invest in Eircom shares and told the rest of us we were wasting our time buying Furbies. https://t.co/lVZm3HlHXD
— Ronan Kennedy (@RonanJKennedy) May 15, 2022

The holiday of a lifetime

We haven’t been able to stop thinking about this story since it was sent to us. Truly heartwarming, pure naivety. Oh to be this innocent (and think so highly of Stena Line).

This is a sad one. I spent all of my communion money taking my family to Holyhead on the Stena Line. The ads made it look like a cruise. https://t.co/qa9og8oE4d
— Royal Yellow (@Royal__Yellow) May 13, 2022

We even got a look into what ads corrupted this young lad’s mind, and in fairness, it does look class.