During the Sellafield Paranoia of 2002 so embarrassing. I remember they were sitting beside our punt-euro conversion calculator for ages.
It was a PR exercise in the midst of hysteria.
Remember getting them in our house and going wft. Then reading the instructions, take 2 tablets each, 4 people in our house and only 6 tablets. Would have been a bloodbath if alquida hit sellafield
We still have a pile of these in an old sweet tin we keep forgetting about
Crap I know what they are, Im old
My memory of them is something like this.
Back in the 1980’s people were very concerned about nuclear contamination either from accidents (such as Chernobyl) or from the threat of Nuclear War. The Irish government of the time bought a bunch of iodine tablets for the populace because apparently iodine help protect against some forms of radioactive contamination. They forgot to hand them out to anyone though.
Year later someone in the press realised that the Irish Government was still sitting on stocks of these things so it became a political football. The minster of the day went all ministerial and demanded that they be issued immediately. Every house in the country got one.
They were already long past their expiry date by the time we got them.
More proof positive of the calibre of politicians we elect in this country.
Chris that is a blast from the past pardon the pun.
Blast from the past. After Chernobyl we were terrified that Sellafield nuclear power plant would blow up and kill us all, so every household got iodine tablets, which i think delay radation poisoning.
It took 9 days for the first iodine tablets post of 2025
My wife had to take these as a kid in Poland. They were dispensed in soviet-occupied countries after the Chernobyl incident. Everyone was shitting bricks.
The only reason anyone remembers Joe Jacob
It feels very tin foil hat but when things heated up in Ukraine I bought iodine in case they would be needed.
I thought more likely a nuclear plant being attacked rather than a nuclear bomb.
Sounds a little nutty but they cost almost nothing.
Fear of a Sellafield meltdown. Every member of a household was posted a pack, both my parents and my brother received a pack but I didn’t 🙄
Fianna Fáil at its infamous out of control worst back on the 00s – an idiot called Joe Jacob, junior minister trying to make a name for himself had them sent to every house. He was so thick he Went on radio then looking for claps on the back and he got absolutely eviscerated for his stupidity (think Marian Finnucane did a right number on him)….
With Trump taking power again shortly, maybe they’re worth hanging onto, maybe he’ll stop threatening to nuke countries and actually start doing it.
There was a feeling any site could be attacked after 9/11 and the Irish government thought Sellafield could be a target. The whole family got them except for me…dirty bastards. I was destined to become a ghoul.
I was 11 or 12 when they were issued and my older brothers told me they were suicide pills.
It was due to a Sellafield panic post-9/11. The government was getting a lot of questions about what they’d do in various terrorist scenarios – because Ireland has never seen terrorism before 9/11 /s – and they didn’t answer very well for Sellafield. So they sent these out.
I still have mine. I email my TDs about them every 5 to 10 years. It’s fun.
That said, I did get some more in 2016 after the shitgibbon got elected. They don’t really expire. So if he decides to nuke Denmark this time I’ll be able to avoid thyroid cancer – which is likely more optimistic about my lifespan than the situation would warrant at that point.
Here is a link to the full story about the Iodine Tablets.
It was the result of a a fantastic piece of radio interviewing by Marianne Finucane. Joe Jacob, He was a junior Minister at the Dept of Transport and it was just after the 2001 September 11 attacks in America and he was woefully unprepared and tried to bluff his way through the interview. Funucance kept asking questions about how prepared Ireland was for terrorist attacks and he ended up telling her that the government had a plan and a factsheet, but he couldn’t tell her what was on the factsheet.
It was such a mess that Micheal Martin (remember him) had to give interviews to smooth things over and eventually to distribute the Iodine Tablets to every house in the country.
Its well worth listening to the interview. It is right up there with the Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew interview
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Immediately after Chernobyl they started storing them, and issued them in 2002.
https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0617/882735-iodine-tablets-issued-nationwide/
Summer 2002.
Cant remeber the exact year but im guessing around 1998- 2000.
Better than bunkers those yokes. Keep them close by for when you hear a loud bang
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/1214/1335973-joe-jacob-marian-finucane-iodine-tablets-national-emergency-plan-2001/
Comedy gold if you listen to the interview.
This just made me feel soooo old 🙁
During the Sellafield Paranoia of 2002 so embarrassing. I remember they were sitting beside our punt-euro conversion calculator for ages.
It was a PR exercise in the midst of hysteria.
Remember getting them in our house and going wft. Then reading the instructions, take 2 tablets each, 4 people in our house and only 6 tablets. Would have been a bloodbath if alquida hit sellafield
We still have a pile of these in an old sweet tin we keep forgetting about
Crap I know what they are, Im old
My memory of them is something like this.
Back in the 1980’s people were very concerned about nuclear contamination either from accidents (such as Chernobyl) or from the threat of Nuclear War. The Irish government of the time bought a bunch of iodine tablets for the populace because apparently iodine help protect against some forms of radioactive contamination. They forgot to hand them out to anyone though.
Year later someone in the press realised that the Irish Government was still sitting on stocks of these things so it became a political football. The minster of the day went all ministerial and demanded that they be issued immediately. Every house in the country got one.
They were already long past their expiry date by the time we got them.
More proof positive of the calibre of politicians we elect in this country.
Chris that is a blast from the past pardon the pun.
Blast from the past. After Chernobyl we were terrified that Sellafield nuclear power plant would blow up and kill us all, so every household got iodine tablets, which i think delay radation poisoning.
It took 9 days for the first iodine tablets post of 2025
My wife had to take these as a kid in Poland. They were dispensed in soviet-occupied countries after the Chernobyl incident. Everyone was shitting bricks.
The only reason anyone remembers Joe Jacob
It feels very tin foil hat but when things heated up in Ukraine I bought iodine in case they would be needed.
I thought more likely a nuclear plant being attacked rather than a nuclear bomb.
Sounds a little nutty but they cost almost nothing.
Fear of a Sellafield meltdown. Every member of a household was posted a pack, both my parents and my brother received a pack but I didn’t 🙄
Fianna Fáil at its infamous out of control worst back on the 00s – an idiot called Joe Jacob, junior minister trying to make a name for himself had them sent to every house. He was so thick he Went on radio then looking for claps on the back and he got absolutely eviscerated for his stupidity (think Marian Finnucane did a right number on him)….
With Trump taking power again shortly, maybe they’re worth hanging onto, maybe he’ll stop threatening to nuke countries and actually start doing it.
There was a feeling any site could be attacked after 9/11 and the Irish government thought Sellafield could be a target. The whole family got them except for me…dirty bastards. I was destined to become a ghoul.
I was 11 or 12 when they were issued and my older brothers told me they were suicide pills.
It was due to a Sellafield panic post-9/11. The government was getting a lot of questions about what they’d do in various terrorist scenarios – because Ireland has never seen terrorism before 9/11 /s – and they didn’t answer very well for Sellafield. So they sent these out.
I still have mine. I email my TDs about them every 5 to 10 years. It’s fun.
That said, I did get some more in 2016 after the shitgibbon got elected. They don’t really expire. So if he decides to nuke Denmark this time I’ll be able to avoid thyroid cancer – which is likely more optimistic about my lifespan than the situation would warrant at that point.
Here is a link to the full story about the Iodine Tablets.
It was the result of a a fantastic piece of radio interviewing by Marianne Finucane. Joe Jacob, He was a junior Minister at the Dept of Transport and it was just after the 2001 September 11 attacks in America and he was woefully unprepared and tried to bluff his way through the interview. Funucance kept asking questions about how prepared Ireland was for terrorist attacks and he ended up telling her that the government had a plan and a factsheet, but he couldn’t tell her what was on the factsheet.
It was such a mess that Micheal Martin (remember him) had to give interviews to smooth things over and eventually to distribute the Iodine Tablets to every house in the country.
Its well worth listening to the interview. It is right up there with the Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew interview
[https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/1214/1335973-joe-jacob-marian-finucane-iodine-tablets-national-emergency-plan-2001/](https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/1214/1335973-joe-jacob-marian-finucane-iodine-tablets-national-emergency-plan-2001/)
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