As Aer Lingus flight EI 526 rested on the tarmac at the Dublin Airport on Monday afternoon, the pilot offered a special welcome to the Irish athletes travelling to Paris for the Paralympic Games.
The response from passengers wrestling with seat belts and shoving oversized bags into undersized lockers was to pause and clap, because that was what the moment asked of them.
But there was a notable air of expectancy, confidence almost, in the ripple of applause as it gathered momentum throughout the aircraft. Here’s another group of Irish athletes off to stand on podiums for us, kind of vibe.
It is hard to approach the Paris Paralympic Games without viewing the build-up through the prism of the Paris Olympic Games. The success of Team Ireland in the Olympics has put wind in our sails.
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Daniel Wiffen made ingrained cautious Irish sensibilities uncomfortable with his bravado when telling us he would win. By the time we’d crawled nervously back up from behind the couch to watch him do just that, the mindset of a nation had been well and truly scrambled.
There are medals in this Paralympic team, of that there is no doubt, but never has there been such depth of talent across the Games.
[ Paralympics 2024 - Meet Team IrelandOpens in new window ]
Paris was Ireland’s most successful ever Olympic Games. It will not be our most successful Paralympic Games, but that doesn’t mean it won’t yet become one of the most significant.
Ireland’s largest medal haul at a Paralympics came at the Mandeville/New York Games in 1984 when the team brought home 67 medals, including 20 golds.
But there has been massive growth in participation levels and development of the Games in the years since. There were 54 delegations competing at those 1984 Games. Over the next two weeks, 170 nations will participate in Paris.
Ireland has participated in all 16 Paralympic Summer Games since the inaugural event in Rome in 1960.
A team of 35 athletes will compete for Ireland across nine sports in the Paris Games, with all four provinces represented.
In total, over 4,600 athletes will showcase their talents across 22 sports, ranging from swimming and powerlifting to sitting volleyball and blind football.
Of Ireland’s 35 athletes, 12 will be representing the country at the Paralympics for the first time – Dearbhaile Brady, Deaten Registe (swimming), Aaron Shorten, Shauna Bocquet (athletics), Josephine Healion (cycling), Sarah Slattery, Jessica McKenna (equestrian), Cassie Cava, Judith and Chloe MacCombe (triathlon), Katie O’Brien, and Tiarnán O’Donnell (rowing).
Team Ireland returned with seven medals from the last Paralympics in Tokyo back in 2021.
[ Complete day-by-day guide to the Irish athletes in action in ParisOpens in new window ]
“Look, we do have goal targets, we do have medal targets. I think what we’re looking at, hopefully, is somewhere between eight and 10 medals in these Games,” said Stephen McNamara, chief executive of Paralympics Ireland.
“But you’re also hoping for personal bests, season bests. We’re going to put our athletes out in front of other people who are hoping for personal bests and season bests. Only three people in each category will win a medal and I think what we’ve seen from the Olympics is actually fourth at that level is also phenomenal.
“But we make no secret of it, we do want to get medals and the whole way along we haven’t even had to say it to the athletes. They go out there wanting to bring back medals.”
But the impact of the Games goes well beyond medals, with the presence of Irish athletes performing on the world stage hopefully an inspiration to future generations. The power of such role models is unquantifiable but its value is greater than gold, silver or bronze.
Still, medals remain the currency of tangible success in the immediate term. There is hope Ellen Keane can sign off with a medal in the pool, and that fellow swimmers Roísín Ní Riain and Nicole Turner can also make the podium.
There could also be medals mined from cycling where Katie-George Dunlevy returns for her fourth Paralympics, while sprinter Orla Comerford hopes to be battling on the track for a top three spot in the 100m.
Either way, we can only hope the athletes have greater success in their chosen disciplines than several Irish journalists had in recent days at securing their media accreditation for the Games.
Here is a quick Paris travel tip, Rue Ernest Renan is a very pleasant street. Both of them. Many miles apart.
Still, having at first landed at the wrong street, all you can do is dust yourself down and move on. No drama.
But on arrival at our second Rue Ernest Renan of the morning, a temporary sign plastered to a windowless door declaring something about Avenue Ernest Renan (with Avenue screaming off the page in bold red lettering) suggested our voyage had not reached its end.
Our secondary school French wasn’t quite good enough to ascertain the finer details of the message, but we collectively agreed it wasn’t good. Fool me once, and all that. Either way, Ernest must have been a great man altogether to have so many streets and avenues named in his honour.
The opening ceremony of the Games takes place on Wednesday night, with athletes parading through Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde. Should they require directions, we will of course be there to help.
The action gets under way the following morning with Ní Riain, Turner and Brady in the pool; Martin Gordon, Damien Vereker and Richael Timothy in track cycling; and Kerrie Leonard in archery.
There is no guarantee Team Ireland will return to Dublin Airport with medals, but it is beyond doubt the performances of athletes over the next fortnight will leave a mark that will continue to make a difference well beyond Paris.
Daniel, Kellie, Rhys, Mona, Paul, Fintan, Daire and Philip lit the flame of belief for Ireland in Paris this summer.
Ellen, Colin, Róisín, Britney, Barry, Orla, Greta, Ronan, Mary and the rest of Ireland’s Paralympic Team carry the torch now.
It begins on Thursday.
We go again.
