Celebrating Twitter’s 16th birthday with these iconic Irish Twitter moments

Fiona Frawley

From the Free Luas to Brian McFadden challenging ISIS to fisticuffs.

It’s hard to believe Twitter has been around for 16 long years. It’s old enough to sit its Junior Cert, and head away on a transition year trip to Lourdes. It can be a hell scape sometimes, but Irish Twitter has provided us with some true moments of comedy gold during its tenure, and we’ve rounded up some of our favourites for the day that’s in it.

Here we go:

Brian McFadden wants to fight ISIS

ISIS obviously haven’t seen this tweet. Otherwise, they would of course have stepped down at this stage.

Wouldn't it be great if isis had the balls to stand face to face with us and fight. No weapons. No bombs. No dead children. Man to man!

— Brian mcfadden (@BrianMcFadden) May 23, 2017

Miggeldy Higens

In 2018, a primary school student gave the President of Ireland a nickname which has stuck ever since.

Lads I'm fucking howling my neighbour is a primary school teacher and just put this on his insta story…. miggeldy higens😭 pic.twitter.com/CgH3ckT1Lq

— lucy 🇵🇸🤝🏻🇮🇪 (@helllolucy) March 13, 2018

Paul Mescal is Irish

In a classic case of The Brits Being At It Again, popular actor and GAA shorts wearer Paul Mescal was claimed as British by several UK publications after being nominated for an Emmy. He quickly set them straight with this two-word tweet.

I’m Irish.

— Paul Mescal (@mescal_paul) July 29, 2020

Niall Horan v Donald Trump

As part of his ongoing Twitter rivalry with Donald Trump, Niall Horan tweeted “I WON THE GRAMMYS!!!” following Trumps famously fraudulent “I WON THE ELECTION!!!” tweet after the US election back in 2020.

I WON THE GRAMMYS!!!

— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) November 25, 2020

Dustin is Cancelled

During RTE Does Comic Relief in 2020, Niall Horan appeared on a segment of The Den and Dustin the Turkey joked that they would have preferred Harry Styles. The comment did not go down well with Niall’s US fans, who accused the turkey of being “disrespectful and rude”. The backlash was so severe, that Dustin had no choice but to address it publicly.

Lads……

I’m a lover* not a fighter….

I 💚 @NiallOfficial
I 💚 Americans
I 💚 The Craic #BeKind

*Just ask @KimKardashian

— Dustin The Turkey (@DustinOfficial) June 28, 2020

Jedward v The X Factor

In April 2021, Jedward slammed X Factor in a series of tweets as we sat back, popcorn bowl in one hand, scrolling with the other.

The Biggest regret in life was not telling the judges on Xfactor to fuck off ❤️

— JEDWARD (@planetjedward) April 5, 2021

Trying to be fashionable in Ireland

In one of our favourite Twitter threads ever, Irish people shared the trials and tribulations of trying to wear anything remotely fashionable in this country. If you didn’t see it first time round, click in and enjoy.

Props to anyone who tries to be fashionable in ireland i wore a red beret once in waterford and someone called me super mario

— Jane (@janky_jane) August 15, 2021

Thumbs up for Stephen Donnelly

On October 12th 2020, Dr Tony Holohan texted Stephen Donnelly to express his concern regarding the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Dublin and to advise him to be cautious when publicly discussing the situation. Infamously, Donnelly replied with a single thumbs up emoji – an emoji which haunts him to this day. Case in point, the replies to this tweet he shared regarding vaccines in Ireland back in Jan. Over 6,000 thumbs up.

This is progress and will mean more vaccines for Ireland 🇮🇪 in the next two months. https://t.co/1XeDDLBqks

— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) January 31, 2021

Free Luas

Who could forget the Free Luas trend that swept Irish Twitter back in August ’21. What started off as one tweet quickly grew legs and went viral, and soon the bird app was overflowing with free Luas jokes. Eventually, transport officials contacted the Gardaí to report the claims.

Delighted to be home using the great free resource that is @Luas never change Dublin x pic.twitter.com/8kKzB8pRAy

— Louise🪆 (@Selkies_) August 23, 2021

Matt Le Blanc is everyone’s Irish uncle

I hope MLB doesn’t mind that he’s now got thousands of adopted nieces and nephews in Ireland. When the Friends reunion aired over the summer, Irish Twitter couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity between Matt Le Blanc and every Irish auld lad ever. A thing of beauty, immortalised now forever in meme form.

https://twitter.com/sarahlostctrl/status/1398940463525208066?s=20&t=GZzui-gJK3hgT-BBdqdESA

Happy Super Sweet 16, Twitter. Thanks for the memories.