More than 20,000 enthusiastic fans welcomed home Team Ireland after its most successful ever Olympic medal haul ever on Monday.
Most of the athletes who won medals attended the celebratory event on O’Connell Street, together with many other athletes.
64 women and 69 men wore the green of Team Ireland at the Paris games, winning a record four gold medals and three bronze in a mood lifting fortnight in France.
Three athletes retained their Olympic titles from the Tokyo games in 2021 including Skibbereen rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in the men’s lightweight double sculls; and Dubliner Kellie Harrington in the women’s 60kg boxing event.
Mona McSharry, from Co Sligo, won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, while rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch also won bronze medals.
Back-to-back gold medal hero Harrington described the support of her home country as “just fantastic”.
She said: “This is absolutely amazing for absolutely every one of the athletes here on Team Ireland who give their everything day in, day out. To have the support of this nation for all of us, from the bottom of every one of our hearts, it really does mean the world to us.
“That’s whether we win, we lose, we draw, to have you all there to pick us up, to dust us off and to help us go again. That’s what matters, so thank you.”
Harrington added: “It hasn’t actually sunk in yet, but it’s the stuff of dreams to be honest with you.”
Harrington’s parents were among the families who gathered outside the GPO draped in tricolour flags.
Children held signs celebrating Harrington’s second gold medal and one girl was seen holding a “I heart Mona” banner to celebrate swimmer McSharry’s bronze medal.
Fintan McCarthy said his Olympic journey was “surreal”, adding that he and his gold medal partner Paul O’Donovan could join Lynch and Doyle for a four-man rowing event at the 2028 Olympics.
Daniel Wiffen predicted that he and his twin brother Nathan would win gold and silver in the same event at the 2028 games in Los Angeles.
Mona McSharry said “All the hard work paid off and I got to experience something so magical.”
The Olympians expressed gratitude to the fans with McClenaghan stating: “Thanks everybody for coming out and supporting Team Ireland, it’s amazing to see you all here.”
The gymnast further reflected on his success following disappointment in the previous Olympic Games held in 2021: “One tiny error can send you landing on your head – and that’s what makes the sport exciting to me.
“It can happen to anybody at any time. It happened to me in Tokyo, and I’m glad it didn’t happen to me this time and we get to walk away as Olympic champions.”
Taoiseach Simon Harris said the entire country has been cheering on Irish Olympians, who had “lit a flame in all of the young people right across Ireland”.
“What we will now do is invest in sport further and further and further, because we believe in these athletes and that’s going to be the legacy from the Paris games,” he said.
“I’m so delighted about today, that the athletes and their families who’ve been away in Paris are getting to see what it’s like because up until now, they’ve been somewhat in the Olympic bubble.
“But they’re back here today realising that this whole country – 5.6 million of us – have been cheering them on.
“We’ve been hoarse from cheering them on, and today we got a chance to say one amazing thing to them: ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’”
