Much of the pre-television footage of Ireland came courtesy of Pathé or Movietone imports. Clips were typically narrated with a cut-glass English accent and told from a British perspective.
To remedy this omission, Gael Linn, set up in 1953 with the mission of promoting and revitalising Irish language and culture, founded Amharc Éireann to create newsreel footage from an Irish perspective.
It was the first regular, indigenous cinema newsreel since the Irish Events newsreel (1917–1920). The first one was produced in 1959. It only ran until 1964 before being superseded by RTÉ television news, but it was a critical period in Irish history as the country emerged from the depression of the 1950s into the optimism of the 1960s.
The newsreel ran for 267 editions as magazine-style items shown before feature films in the cinema.
The visit of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco to Ireland in 1961 was captured by Amharc Éireann. They were the first of many prestigious overseas visitors to Ireland in the 1960s, which included US president John F Kennedy and French president Charles de Gaulle.
The Rainiers were captured on the reel, as was the Aer Lingus Irish jetliner in 1960 on its inaugural flight to New York.
That happy occasion is counterbalanced by footage of the Shannon air disaster of September 10th, 1961, in which 83 people were killed shortly after a President Airlines flight left Shannon Airport bound for Chicago.
Footage from the crash at Shannon Airport in 1961 which killed 83 people. The film reel is being released as part of digitisation of the Amharc Éireann news reels from the late 1950s and early 1960s
The modernisation and economic progress of Irish society in the 1950s and 1960s is documented through a broad array of stories, such as Thrills for Dubliners: Speedboats on the Liffey, Mansion House – Ideal Homes Exhibition, and a variety of fashion shows.
However, this modernisation is set alongside the continued importance of the Catholic Church in Ireland, with notable entries including the annual blessing of the Aer Lingus fleet and a gift of a bull sent to the pope.
The big freeze of 1963 brought the country to a halt, but it also brought a lot of joy to schoolchildren. It was captured by Amharc Éireann cameras.
A still from the inaugural transatlantic Aer Lingus flight between Dublin, Shannon and New York from December 1960. It is part of the Amharc Éireann film archive which has been digitised and released by the Irish Film Institute.
The Irish Film Institute (IFI) has digitised these newsreels and set up an interactive map of Ireland. This map allows users to explore stories relating to villages or counties.
The interactive map is mirrored on an app by Irish tech company Axonista. The IFI Archive Player app is available to download from Google Play, the App store, Amazon TV, Android TV and Roku.
Gael Linn chief executive Réamonn Ó Ciaráin said the newsreels made a significant contribution to the revitalisation of the Irish language at the time and will do so again. “Amharc Éireann is a valuable audiovisual record of social history portraying Ireland at a time of great social change,” he said.
Children throwing snowballs during the big freeze of 1963. This still, from a film captured by Amharc Éireann, has now been digitised by the Irish Film institute (IFI).
Film historian Dr Ciara Chambers of University College Cork said it was important the news reels are being made freely available to the public not just in Ireland, but around the world.
“A lot of archives are shockingly priced which means that only broadcasters with big budgets can get access to it,” she said.
“A lot of archival footage is not accessible everywhere. Anybody with an interest in this can see it. It’s really strong that they have done this.
“It’s a lovely visual representation of the collection that will encourage people to find treasures that they might not otherwise find.”