Reasons to be cheerful 2011

From Rihanna’s antics in Co Down to Rory McIlroy’s heroics in the US Open, there were plenty of stories that brought a smile to our faces this year, despite increasingly depressing news on the economic front

DESPITE THE doom and gloom, there were plenty of moments in 2011 when we managed to forget about the itchiness of the national hairshirt and smile. To listen back to the Morning Irelandinterview with DUP Alderman Alan Graham, for example, is to remember how reasons to be cheerful can be found in the most unlikely places.

A committed Christian, Graham found himself having to take pop star Rihanna to task for cavorting half-naked in his field in Bangor, Co Down, while filming a video earlier this year. “The young lady in question was ceasing to be dressed in an appropriate manner,” explained the good alderman as a nation fell about the place. It was the radio equivalent of lithium in the water, one of the more depressing ideas mooted to lift the spirits of the nation in 2011. (The proposer: psychiatrist and former Labour TD, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee.)

As always, many of the most memorably positive moments of the year happened on pitches and greens. Whether it was the unexpected thrill of beating Australia in the Rugby World Cup or Leinster’s near-miraculous win in the Heineken Cup, sportspeople put the biggest smiles on our faces this year.

After his disaster at Augusta, golfer Rory McIlroy’s US Open win was bookended neatly by his recent victory in the Hong Kong Open, while Darren Clarke secured his first victory in a major winning the British Open. Even controversy over photographs of Clarke toasting his success down the pub couldn’t dampen the mood of celebration.

You didn’t have to be a cricket fan to be cheered by the Irish team beating England at their own game in the World Cup, and in soccer Trapattoni’s men scraped into the European Championship by not losing to Russia and beating Estonia. (Hey, we’ll take our Olé, Olés wherever we can find them, thank you very much.)

And while it may only have caused cheers in the capital, the Dubs beating Kerry to take the Sam Maguire at Croke Park was the cause of a city-wide spending spree that Sunday night, an injection into the capital’s coffers possibly cancelled out by the cost of the inevitable absenteeism the following Monday morning. “See you in Coppers,” the Dublin captain Bryan Cullen roared to end his jubilant victory speech.

Away from the sports venues, a trio of distinguished international visitors also gave us reason to smile. The Dalai Lama, who visited in April, has an infectious giggle which could soften the heart of even the most penny- pinching IMF official.

Wearing his red and saffron robes, the Dalai Lama answered questions on how Irish people should cope with the economic crisis. He confessed that, like a lot of us, his knowledge of financial matters was “zero”. He advised people to work hard and have self-confidence and to look inside themselves for happiness. “The ultimate source of happiness, peace of mind, cannot be produced by money,” he said. “Billionaires, they are, I notice, very unhappy people. Very powerful, but deep inside, too much anxiety, too much stress”.

The Queen, even though she’s not short of a few quid, beamed her way through her historic visit lifted the national mood. The stand-out moments included her cúpla focal at the State banquet, the lowering of head at the Garden of Remembrance and the apparent delight of Banríon Eilís a Dó (as she was introduced at one official function) at the “clinking glasses” for the champagne toast.

A more muted happy moment occurred in Cashel when the Sinn Féin councillor Michael Browne, also the local mayor, broke rank with his party and shook the Queen’s hand. “How can you not shake the hand of an 85-year-old woman who offers it to you?” he said. “I told her, ‘Welcome to Cashel, your majesty, and I hope you enjoy your stay’.”

We didn’t mean to laugh when Obama’s bomb-proof Cadillac “The Beast” came a cropper on a ramp in Ballsbridge during his flying visit, but we couldn’t help it. And this opening line of his speech in College Green was priceless: “Hello Dublin. Hello Ireland. My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas”.

You also couldn’t help being happy for young Henry Healy, the eighth cousin of Obama, who became something of a global pin-up for at least 24 hours. And fair play to Jessica Walls for handing Obama her mobile phone at College Green so he could talk to her mum. Mrs Walls managed to blurt, “Oh my God, Mr President, it’s a great honour to talk to you”.

In politics, there were laughs to be had about Gerry Adams being appointed, without his agreement, as crown steward and bailiff of the manor Northstead, a temporary title given to MPs when they want to quit.

The sartorial choices of Mick Wallace & Co in the Dáil were a welcome distraction, and while the outfits of new Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor were equally eye-catching, it was her car crashing into the Dáil plinth on her first day that provided the Leinster House comedy moment of the year.

Some other contenders for Reeling in the Smiles 2011: Jedward, who charmed Europe and put an end to our Eurovision shame by finishing in the top ten; Liveline'sJoe Duffy and everyone who rallied to the cause of artist Alexandra Trotsenko whose three fingers were cut off during a burglary in 2009. About €60,000 was raised at a benefit art auction for her; Hugh Walsh and Barry Dignam, who earlier this year became the first gay couple to have a public civil partnership ceremony in Ireland; Mary Carney, who became the first winner of Masterchef Ireland; Dublin business woman and mother-of- three Glenna Lynch, who challenged the business ethics of presidential candidate Seán Gallagher in that campaign-changing Frontlinedebate; "Anglo avenger" Joe McNamara, for his never-ending array of ingenious protest-based publicity stunts.

Yes, of course, we cried and moaned and wrung our hands in 2011, but we also cheered, laughed and were inspired.

Perhaps nobody inspired us more than our new President Michael D Higgins with his uplifting inauguration speech. “It is time to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort . . . also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured,” he said.

Michael D also inspired one of the best jokes of the year when someone decided his victory meant that at last, “the pitter-patter of tiny feet” would be heard around Áras an Uachtaráin.

Lithium my Áras.