They came. They saw. They completely ignored all the medical warnings. More than 2,000 people congregated in Dublin's Phoenix Park to witness yesterday's solar eclipse, most of them unprepared to view it safely.
Astronomy Ireland's few remaining eclipse sunglasses - which the Irish College of Ophthalmologists advised against using - were sold out an hour before maximum coverage of the sun by the moon was achieved shortly after 11 a.m.
Some people made do with pinhole viewers but others used welding masks, sunglasses and even their hands to look at the sun directly.
The star of the show, apart of the obvious one, was Astronomy Ireland's David Moore, who wandered through the crowd imparting words of wisdom.
"In China, they believed it was a dragon swallowing up the sun . . . If we had a total eclipse we could see other planets . . . The Irish invented astronomy, you know. Newgrange predates the Pyramids and Stonehenge."
Starry-eyed girls watched his progress with awe, hanging on every word. A couple of women even stopped him for his autograph.
"It was noticeably more cold. I was freezing," said Ms Geraldine Errity from Stillorgan.
Others noticed it had become darker. A press photographer remarked he had to open his lens setting by three stops to continue taking pictures.
As the moon moved on and the excitement died down, people began to talk about the next total eclipse viewable from Ireland on September 23rd, 2090.
"I'll be bringing my grandchildren to it," said Ms Errity's 11-year-old daughter, Darina. "And I'll be up there waving down," her mother replied.
Clare Murphy writes from Belfast: An 85 per cent eclipse was present over Northern Ireland but cloudy skies allowed sky-watchers only fleeting glimpses of the event.
People who filed on to the streets of Belfast from places of work were rewarded with a break in the cloud. Many went to the Botanical Gardens where telescopes with special viewers were available. However, the crowds who travelled to the Armagh Observatory were disappointed when their view was obstructed by heavy cloud.
Chris Dooley writes from Waterford: Cloudy skies did not deter some 300 people from gathering in Waterford's People's Park to view the partial eclipse.
Viewing conditions improved as 11 a.m. approached and the sun briefly came out to cover the city in a strange half-light. Most of those present for an event organised by Astronomy Ireland expressed delight at the spectacle, while a minority described it as an anti-climax.
More than 100 people gathered in a high field near New Ross, Co Wexford, for a similar event organised by Astronomy Ireland. Sean MacConnell writes: Thousands of midlanders left their homes and offices to watch the eclipse and were rewarded with a good view of the event because of broken cloud. The largest formal gathering was at Birr Castle near the famous telescope when 200 people turned up to look at the partial eclipse through specially supplied glasses.
A camera had been set up to allow the visitors to the famous historical science centre to watch the event on closed circuit television.
There was a gathering of some hundreds of people in Mullingar where special arrangements to view the eclipse safely had been set up in the town park.
There was also a crowd of enthusiasts at the new observatory in Tullamore and a number of people observed the event from the bridge in Banagher.