Documentary on Newstalk

A new radio documentary, premiering on Newstalk this Sunday, tells the story of two sisters from Northern Ireland who left their family and faith for an alternative spiritual journey with the Hare Krisna community in the 1990's. Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble is produced by Magi Scully and takes the listener on a journey from Christianity to Krishna with Karuna Smith-Ryan, from Co. Down.

Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday 13th October at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 19th October at 9pm.  Podcast goes live on www.newstalk.com after first broadcast.

Living in Northern Ireland during the troubles, the Smith sisters  moved with their husbands to rear their families among the Hare Krisna community at Inis Rath Island in Lough Erne on Fermanagh.

A relatively new religion, the Hare Krisna's were founded in New York in 1966, and were best known in Ireland for their street singing and chanting, as well as vegetarian food restaurants. Beatle band member, George Harrison, became a devotee and helped the spiritual organisation with funds for printing books, recorded albums and made the significant donation of a manor house in Watford, which is the UK headquarters today.

Karuna Ryan

Raised among the island community, Karuna's daughter Ekhadasi, was educated by Christians and moved to study fashion design in the UK, where she is a weekly visitor to the Temple in Watford.

Karuna Ryan now runs Karuna's Kitchen Catering at Temple Bar food market Dublin on Saturday and People's Park, Dun Laoghaire on Sunday. Sukhada Smith-Repass founded the Ray of Light, which is located at the Shambala Holistic Centre in Derrylin Co. Fermanagh. www.rayoflight108.com

Since the 1990’s, the number of Hare Krisna’s living on Inis Rath has dwindled. A small community are presently fundraising to maintain the temple, and open for retreats and events including the masters of calm festival. For more information, visit: www.Krishnaisland.com

CREDITS: Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble was edited by Heather Mcleod,  Produced and Presented by Magi Scully. The programme was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television License Fee.

Thank you to Karuna and Ekhadashi Ryan, to Sukhada Smith – Repass, Radha Mohan Das and Keshto and the Hare Krisna communities at Bhakti – Vedanta Manor and Inis Rath.

Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday 13th October at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 19th October at 9pm.  Podcast goes live on www.newstalk.com after first broadcast.

A new radio documentary, premiering on Newstalk this Sunday, tells the story of two sisters from Northern Ireland who left their family and faith for an alternative spiritual journey with the Hare Krisna community in the 1990's. Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble is produced by Magi Scully and takes the listener on a journey from Christianity to Krishna with Karuna Smith-Ryan, from Co. Down.

Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday 13th October at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 19th October at 9pm.  Podcast goes live on www.newstalk.com after first broadcast.

Living in Northern Ireland during the troubles, the Smith sisters  moved with their husbands to rear their families among the Hare Krisna community at Inis Rath Island in Lough Erne on Fermanagh.

A relatively new religion, the Hare Krisna's were founded in New York in 1966, and were best known in Ireland for their street singing and chanting, as well as vegetarian food restaurants. Beatle band member, George Harrison, became a devotee and helped the spiritual organisation with funds for printing books, recorded albums and made the significant donation of a manor house in Watford, which is the UK headquarters today.

Karuna Ryan

Raised among the island community, Karuna's daughter Ekhadasi, was educated by Christians and moved to study fashion design in the UK, where she is a weekly visitor to the Temple in Watford.

Karuna Ryan now runs Karuna's Kitchen Catering at Temple Bar food market Dublin on Saturday and People's Park, Dun Laoghaire on Sunday. Sukhada Smith-Repass founded the Ray of Light, which is located at the Shambala Holistic Centre in Derrylin Co. Fermanagh. www.rayoflight108.com

Since the 1990’s, the number of Hare Krisna’s living on Inis Rath has dwindled. A small community are presently fundraising to maintain the temple, and open for retreats and events including the masters of calm festival. For more information, visit: www.Krishnaisland.com

CREDITS: Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble was edited by Heather Mcleod,  Produced and Presented by Magi Scully. The programme was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television License Fee.

Thank you to Karuna and Ekhadashi Ryan, to Sukhada Smith – Repass, Radha Mohan Das and Keshto and the Hare Krisna communities at Bhakti – Vedanta Manor and Inis Rath.

Peace and Love in a Time of Trouble will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday 13th October at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 19th October at 9pm.  Podcast goes live on www.newstalk.com after first broadcast.

Producer Francesca Lalor explores the world of the professional kitchen, as seen through the eyes of Irish chefs

“My ethos of food is that the hero of the dish is the ingredients…and my life’s work is to make them sing…” Chef Gavin McDonagh

Knives At Dawn will be broadcast on Newstalk 106 – 108fm on Sunday 8th September at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 14th September at 9pm.  Podcast from www.newstalk.com after the first broadcast

The working life of a professional chef involves long hours, split shifts, ferocious stamina, practiced skill, and above all, the quest for culinary perfection...

In her latest radio documentary, premiering this weekend on Newstalk, producer Francesca Lalor follows the lives of Irish chefs, from the start of their training, through their experiences working in kitchens around the world; from Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, to poky dive-bar kitchens in the Lower East Side of New York, and back to Ireland. Their passion for food is contagious. Their backroom tales of all the drama, steam, sound and fury that take place in professional kitchens are at times extreme, at times hilarious, and always gripping. This documentary, Knives At Dawn aims to capture their stories.

There was a time, not so very long ago, when garlic was practically unheard of in Ireland. When you couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee anywhere. Where eating Italian meant visiting your local chipper. Exotic ingredients like balsamic vinegar, Jalapeño peppers, Parma ham or mozzarella were either unheard of or highly unusual. But now, Ireland has a burgeoning culinary scene that is experimental, vibrant and modern. A scene that is holding it’s own against any food scene in the world. And one of the reasons for this is that many of our chefs emigrated, trained and worked around the world, and have now returned, armed with new knowledge, skills and experience.

So where did these chefs end up cooking? What experiences did they have on their travels, armed only with the tools of their trade: their precious set of knives wrapped in their apron?

In this programme, we follow the lives of Irish chefs as they tell the story of their careers in their own words. Beginning with their origins, right back in their early training days, we travel with them as they recount their experiences of emigrating and working in kitchens around the world, before we journey back with them to Ireland, as they return with their new-found skills, ready to break into the Irish culinary scene.

Who will tell the story?

Knives At Dawn features Irish chefs who have developed their reputations in International kitchens. Each of our chefs comes from a very different background, and each took a very different path over the course of their chefing careers. What they share is that they are passionate about their jobs. They are also excellent storytellers, with the passion to bring their varied experiences in kitchens worldwide to life. They are the upstarts, the returned rebels, the innovators...and they represent the future of the Irish food scene.

Chef Brendan Keenan, currently trains chefs in Cathal Brugha Street at the Technological University Dublin:

Originally from Ardee in Co.Louth, Chef Brendan Keenan was meant to take up a job as an accountant, but opted to rebel, and trained as a chef instead. In 1989, he won a Green Card to the US in a visa lottery, and secured a scholarship to train in New York. “I got lucky”, he says. “I just walked up Broadway and got a job”. Working in top kitchens, including the Waldorf Astoria, he cooked for the great and the good, before returning to Ireland. One of Brendan’s claims to chefing fame is that he cooked for Margaret Thatcher when she was in Dublin for political talks in the ‘80s. “The British Secret Service insisted on coming into the kitchen, and standing over me as I prepared her food. They made me taste each ingredient before it went into the pot”, he remembers. Brendan now trains budding chefs back home in Dublin, bringing his wealth of experience and passion for ingredients garnered abroad to a new generation of trainee chefs.

Chef Gavin McDonagh, formerly of Brioche Restaurant, and currently development chef with the Dylan McGrath Restaurant Group:

Originally from Crumlin, Gavin McDonagh started training as a chef at the age of 16 in his local college, Crumlin College, before continuing his training in Cathal Brugha Street and Tallaght IT. He started cooking “just to have a trade”, but when he entered a chef competition in Hotel Olympia in London, and won three gold medals, he got bitten by the bug. Returning to Ireland, he walked into L’Ecrivain Restaurant in Dublin, and got hired as an apprentice chef, under the tutelage of Derry Clarke. “Derry mentored me constantly”, he says, “and encouraged me to compete at Eurotoques with the Irish National Team”. In 1995, he won the Baileys Young Chef of The Year, and his prize was a four month stint working as an apprentice chef in Paris in a 1-Star Michelin Restaurant, in a very old classical style restaurant called Le Petit Colombier, under Chef Bernard Fournier. There, Gavin developed a love for classical French cooking. “In Paris, I learnt the ethos of what flavour should come out of food, and the old-school way of doing things…One of my jobs was to go the market at 5am every Tuesday. I learnt about ingredients…you’re picking up kilos of Morel mushrooms, that would cost a fortune in Ireland, and using them for stews…truffles are being used as if they’re free…”

Returning to Dublin, via stints in kitchens in Germany and the U.K., he landed a job cooking in the Michelin-Starred Restaurant Patrick Guilbauld…”In my formation as a chef, I got to experience two different styles of Michelin starred food, and that’s what informs my cooking. My ethos of food is that the hero of the dish is the ingredients…and my life’s work is to make them sing…”. Gavin currently works as development chef with the Dylan McGrath Restaurant Group.

Knives At Dawn will be broadcast on Newstalk 106 – 108fm on Sunday 8th September at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 14th September at 9pm. Podcast after first broadcast from www.newstalk.com

Francesca Lalor is an award-winning radio documentary/drama maker. She is Series Producer of Documentary & Drama On Newstalk 106-108fm. She also lectures in radio production in DLIADT and Griffith College Dublin. This is her 20th feature-length radio documentary/drama.

CREDITS: Knives At Dawn was produced, recorded and edited by Francesca Lalor. Mastered by John Murphy of Guerrilla Sounds. The programme was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with the Television License Fee.

With thanks to Chef Brendan Keenan, currently training chefs in Cathal Brugha Street at the Technological University Dublin; and Chef Gavin McDonagh, formerly of Brioche Restaurant, and currently development chef with the Dylan McGrath Restaurant Group.  

Sound and Vision is a funding scheme for television and radio that provides funding in support of high quality programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience, and programmes to improve adult literacy. The scheme is managed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

 

Enquiring Minds will be broadcast on Newstalk 106 – 108fm on Sunday 1st September at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 7th September at 9pm

Just as the schools go back for another year, Newstalk 106-108FM broadcasts Enquiring Minds, a new radio documentary which follows a group of ten-year-olds (4th class) from the Central Model Senior School on Gardiner Street in Dublin’s inner city, who are participating in a series of philosophy and contemporary art workshops. The documentary celebrates the capacity of children for critical and independent thought, and their ability to question and explore through the disciplines of contemporary art and philosophy.

Central to the documentary is the children’s responses as they are engaged on a philosophical level.  We listen to their capacity even at a very young age for deep thinking and critical reflection.  Woven through the children’s voices are the reflection of philosophers and teachers on the role philosophy and contemporary art has in our society. We hear about the importance of engaging children in philosophical enquiry in school through the study of philosophy and art. We see how this can teach children to become critical and independent thinkers, empowering them for a future within a rapidly changing world. Together philosophical ideas and contemporary art can open up new ways of connecting and developing the enquiring mind, enriching the child’s capacity for expression and for critical and independent thought.

“We try and find ways of talking about values and ethics philosophically, but also to find ways of connecting with the lives of children and young people so they have these spaces to explore, and understand, and imagine different ways of thinking and existing in the world,” said  Aislinn O’Donnell, Philosopher and Professor of Education at Maynooth University, member of the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy and founder member and ambassador of Philosophy Ireland.

 “They really have something to offer us in terms of showing us the singularity of who they are, the ways they see the world, what they have witnessed, experienced and the wisdom that comes from that, I think we can underestimate children.” 

Enquiring Minds is also a story of the need to create space and time within a rapidly paced society for engaging with the complexity of concepts and ideas, to question deeply, to imagine divergent views, to explore many answers to the same questions about love, justice, identity, existence, meaning, politics and knowledge.

 “When you engage in philosophy for children it forces you to rethink your understanding of philosophy and rethink your understanding of children. It is not some cute novel thing that is happening, it is people making sense of their experience. And just because they are shorter and have not been around as long should not make a difference”, said  Dr Joe Oyler, lecturer in teacher education in Maynooth University, co-ordinator for the philosophy for children workshops hosted by the Institution of the advancement for philosophy for children.

Katy Fitzpatrick, who works in gallery education with a focus on children and young people’s engagement in contemporary art and co-creator of Art and Philosophy in the classroom said of the philosophy and contemporary art workshops; “To have that space to be able to have those conversations in a safe way, I think for children to have those ranges of experience with different artists and art practices with different galleries, to go into artist studios. To work in different rhythms and methodologies for children is really important”

 Enquiring Minds will be broadcast on Newstalk 106 – 108fm on Sunday 1st September at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 7th September at 9pm

Podcast will be available for download from newstalk.com after the broadcast.

Credits:

Enquiring Minds is a Curious Broadcast production funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television License Fee. It was narrated and produced by Patricia Baker, with edit and final mix by Gerry Horan at Contact Studio.

To find out more about The Enquiring Classroom Project, go to:

http://www.enquiring-project.eu/the-enquiring-classroom-training-manual.html

Sound and Vision is a funding scheme for television and radio that provides funding in support of high quality programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience, and programmes to improve adult literacy. The scheme is managed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Curious Broadcast is an arts-based broadcast studio that creates a space for innovation and cultural experimentation across all sectors. Curious Broadcast is based in Inchicore, Dublin 8.

In the latest episode of Documentary On Newstalk, Producer Jim Doherty goes on a road-trip with Europes first, and Irelands only, cross-border, cross-community mobile library in: ‘Books Over Borders’.

 In 2004, Europe’s first cross-border mobile library took to the roads, serving rural communities in Donegal, Derry and Tyrone. Funded by the EU’s Peace Programme, it was jointly conceived by Donegal Library Service and Libraries NI. It is a prime example of co-operation between institutions who operate in different jurisdictions, working together to serve isolated border communities. A practical, all-island approach to pooling resources and providing a quality service.

However, this innovative and valued community resource that has trundled along our border roads for the past 15 years is facing a few bumpy future. Brexit, and the unknown impact it will have on our borders and cross-border institutions, is creating some uncertainty and worry.

The service has become an important feature in the lives of the villages, rural housing estates and small primary schools that it stops at during its 6 days a week schedule. Many people have come to rely on it, not just for books but for the social element it provides. Much of this is due to the cheerful and knowledgeable librarian, Denis Doherty, who has built strong links with his clients over the years. The mobile service also has a key role to play in promoting literacy, particularly among children who would otherwise be glued to a smartphone or tablet. The people who use the service have many reasons for doing so and would sorely miss it if it were gone.

Jim Doherty spent some time travelling with the mobile library, calling at the schools and villages and meeting the people who use it. The border itself is still invisible and will hopefully remain so. As Denis pointed out over one of many cups of tea “People are the same no matter what side of a border you’re on”.

BROADCAST TIMES: ‘Books Over Borders’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday August 18th at 7am, with repeat broadcast on Saturday 24th August at 9pm.

PODCAST from www.newstalk.com after the first broadcast

CREDITS: ‘Books Over Borders’ was produced, recorded, and edited by Jim Doherty - and was supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, through the television licence fee.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Jim Doherty is a lecturer in Media Production in Derry’s North West Regional College and produces documentaries and radio features for broadcasters including RTE, BBC Radio Foyle, Newstalk and Highland Radio.

 

 

 

This weekend on Newstalk, a new radio documentary by Sorcha Heron explores the history of Ballykinlar Internment Camp in County Down, where thousands of Irish men, including her own grandfather, were interned by the British army during Ireland’s War of Independence….

Broadcast Times: Ballykinlar: The Barbed Wire Cage will air on Newstalk on Sunday 11th August at 7am, with a repeat broadcast the following Saturday 17th August at 9pm.

Podcast available from www.newstalk.com after first broadcast.

Ballykinlar: The Barbed Wire Cage that held 2,000 Irish Prisoners of War

By Sorcha Heron.

Many Irish families are laden with tales of republicanism and my family is no different. Growing up, I’d heard occasional stories of my grandparents’ (on my dad’s side) passion for the Republican movement. But it wasn’t until 2016, when the decade of centenaries was in full swing, that I took a keener interest.

While rifling through an old bureau in my parents’ home, I came across a little notebook – an autograph book – and tucked between its pages was a very old black and white photo of some young men. It turns out my grandfather James Heron was among the rather dishevelled looking group and alongside him – with his hand firmly placed on his shoulder – was an older man, my great-grandfather Joseph Heron.

Pic: My grandfather James Heron sitting, front row, centre. My great-grandfather Joseph Heron standing, second row, second from right (hand on James’s right shoulder) Credit: Muiris Heron

But it was the inscription on the back that really piqued my interest: “Ballykinlar Internment Camp, 1921”. I’d never even heard of Ballykinlar – were was it? Was it a prison? A military camp? And how both my grandfather and great-grandfather ended up being there?

Pic: A drawing of Ballykinlar by an internee. The Mourne Mountains can be seen through barbed wire with seagulls flying (signalling a beach nearby).

Ballykinlar: The Barbed Wire Cage that held 2,000 Irish Prisoners of War is the story of how, in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, November 1920, thousands of Irish men across the country were interned by the British army at a military camp in County Down. Some of the men would later have prominent roles in Irish society and culture - including former Taoiseach Sean Lemass; founder of Walton’s School of Music Martin Walton; along with esteemed songwriter Peadar Kearney.

But many of the men were from ordinary backgrounds – like my grandfather and great-grandfather - whose lives were upturned by extraordinary events designed to break their spirit. And yet, these men not only survived but occasionally thrived within their small community - endeavouring to better themselves through education, the arts and above all else comradeship.

Pic: Internees’ signatures in Hut 14, Camp 2 in Ballykinlar, including my grandfather James Heron (Seamus O’Hearagain) and my great-grandfather Joseph Heron.

The 48-minute documentary features contributions from Moira Mahon and Muiris Heron (relatives of James and Jospeh Heron); Assistant Curator at Kilmainham Gaol Aoife Torpey; Professor of Irish Contemporary History Eunan O’Halpin; Author of Prisoners of War: Ballykinlar Liam O’Dhuibhir; Pat McCarthy of the Military History Society of Ireland; Music Historian at Illinois University Christine Bashford; and Major Tony Canniford at Ballykinlar Training Camp. With archive material supplied by Kilmainham Gaol; Down County Museum; Ballykinlar Training Camp; Pat McCarthy’s own collection; Heron family collection.

A very special thanks to Mike King, Heritage Manager at Down County Museum where of the ‘Ballykinlar History Hut’ project will be located in 2020. For more information or to share any knowledge of Ballykinlar from 1914 onwards, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/BallykinlarHistoryHut/about/

Broadcast Times: Ballykinlar: The Barbed Wire Cage will air on Newstalk on Sunday 11th August at 7am, with a repeat broadcast the following Saturday 17th August at 9pm.

Credits: Ballykinlar: The Barbed Wire Cage was produced and narrated by Sorcha Heron. Sound designed, recorded and edited by Neil Kavanagh. Actors were: Sean O’Suilleabhain, Aaron Creavin & Niamh Hassell. Music: Arise: Ballykinlar March performed by: David McEntee on piano, Frank McCann on vocals, and Niall Connaire on violin.

The project was supported by The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland as part of the Sound and Vision 3 Funding Scheme.

 

 

The personal accounts of refugees and migrants who have made Ireland their home

In our latest Documentary on Newstalk, producer Brian Kenny brings us the personal accounts of refugees and migrants who have reluctantly left their homes to resettle here in Ireland in recent years in: 'Don't Look Back'

The Irish people have a tradition of migration, leaving our shores in the face of poverty and hardship for pastures new. In recent times however, Ireland has become  the place where refugees and migrants have sought refuge, and this influx has changed the once homogenous island of ours forever.

The ‘land of a thousand welcomes’ has been put to the test as the economic and political climate has changed. Across Europe refugees from Syria have flooded across borders, and populist parties are on the rise. What about Ireland though? Are we immune to this? Has our own history of migration made us more empathetic to those arriving here in similar circumstances?

Who better to address this question than the refugees themselves who have sought a new start in this small island on the edge of Europe? In ‘Don’t Look Back’, we meet Almuthana, the fiddle maker from Syria who has found a new home here after an epic journey across the ocean on a small plastic boat, and hear how his life has changed forever after an act of extraordinary kindness.

From the communist fortress of North Korea we talk to Chung Lee who risked his life escaping to China as an illegal immigrant before seeking refuge in Ireland where he found solace tending to the gardens of the Columban Missionaries in Navan.

Kurdish man Ahmed tells us how he was within 100 metres of ISIS as they ransacked his village forcing him to flee with his brother leaving everything behind . Ahmed like many of his counterparts look to the future rather than the past realising their children will be more Irish than anything else. Don't look back........

Credits: 'Don't Look Back' was produced by Brian Kenny and Malachy Smyth and was supported by a grant from the Columban Missionary Society.

Broadcast Times: 'Don’t Look Back' airs on Newstalk on Sunday 28th July at 7am with a repeat broadcast on Saturday 3rd August at 9pm.

Note for Listeners: The programme contains strong language and scenes which some listeners might find disturbing. If you are affected by any issues raised by this programme, freephone the Samaritans on: 116123

Exploring the stories behind Ireland’s most popular park, St Stephen's Green.

This weekend, Documentary on Newstalk airs the premiere of ‘Wigs on the Green’, in which IMRO-nominated producer Brian Gallagher looks at the lives of those who work and play in the vicinity of Ireland's most famous park, St Stephen's Green.

Wigs on the Green will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday 21st July at 7am with repeat broadcast on Saturday 27that 9pm

Using a lively mix of interviews, location recordings, sound effects and music, Wigs on the Green explores the stories behind Ireland’s most popular park, St Stephen's Green.

Historian Arthur Flynn tells how the Green was originally used for pubic executions, before becoming a private park that in time was gifted to the people of Dublin by Arthur Guinness. Therese Casey, the Park Superintendent, talks of the challenges of running a city-centre park that gets 4.6 million visitors annually.

The programme looks at the human interest stories associated with institutions located on the Green, such as Adolf Hitler's half brother working in the Shelbourne Hotel, and the canvas from the portrait of Queen Victoria in the College of Surgeons being used to make bandages during the 1916 Rising.

Sinead O'Kane and Pat Rooney reminisce respectively about being a boarder at Loreto on the Green, and visiting the 1500-seater Green Cinema, while Arthur Flynn tells the story of the little-known Huguenot cemetery at Merrion Row, and its link to the family of Samuel Beckett.

Niall Burgess, the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, gives a fascinating look behind the scenes at the historic Iveagh House, while Raymond Mooney tells of the changes that have taken place at the Hibernian Club, which was originally a gentlemen's club founded by Daniel O'Connell.

Contributors reminisce light-heartedly about their memories of Stephen's Green, while Edmund Lynch, one of the founders of the Irish Gay Rights Association, recalls the important role played by Rice's, one of Dublin's first gay-friendly pubs.

We hear of the social changes to the area, as observed by Eddie McEvoy, who has been a barber on Grafton Street for fifty-five years, then Bridget Spain explains why she loves her job as the minister of the nearby Unitarian Church.

Looking to the past, Arthur Flynn tells of Dublin's first Catholic University at Newman House, while looking to the future the impact of one-way streets, pedestrianisation and the Luas system is reviewed.  The programme concludes with contributors expressing what Stephen's Green means to them, and their hopes for its future.

BROADCAST ­TIMES: WIGS ON THE GREEN was broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday 21st July at 7am with repeat broadcast on Saturday 27th July at 9pm

CREDITS: WIGS ON THE GREEN was produced by Brian Gallagher, and funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television License Fee.

Quotes from WIGS ON THE GREEN:

“Adolf Hitler's half brother, Alyious Hitler, worked here.  He would have washed the pots in the kitchen.”  Denis O'Brien Concierge, Shelbourne Hotel.

 “I started in '64 and I'm still working there - I must be the oldest working in Grafton Street,” Eddie McEvoy, barber.

“Trying to get the work done safely - with 4.6 million visitors it's impossible sometimes to get grass cut,” Gerry Donaghue, St Stephen's Green Parks Service Manager

“For a lot of people, going into Rices was the start of their journey to their full freedom as a person.” Edmund Lynch, founder member, Irish Gay Rights Movement.

“We employ over seventy nationalities, speaking forty languages, working in almoist every time zone.  So this is a global organisation, working for Ireland, centred and headquarted, in a quiet house on the south side of St Stephen's Green.” Niall Breslan, Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

 

A look at a grassroots struggle for social change.

In Learning To Change In Israeli and Palestinian Communities, producer Bairbre Flood travels from Tamra to Tel Aviv, and Nazareth to Jerusalem, to meet women involved in the grassroots struggle for social change.

 ‘It’s in the community, it deals with women, students and children; and it deals with Jewish and Arab, so I cannot find a more holistic way to make a change here in my society.’  - Fida Nara, the Palestinian co-director of Mahapach-Taghir

For this documentary, Bairbre Flood met with women from Tamra to Tel Aviv, Nazareth to Jerusalem: an incredible network working together to fight discrimination, social exclusion and domestic violence.

She spoke to members of Mahapach-Taghir (change in Hebrew-Arabic) and Sadaka-Reut (friendship in Arabic-Hebrew), and to women from all communities, to see how they're working on the ground in marginalised areas.

In a region renowned for conflict, these women’s struggle for community and solidarity across sectarian lines is even more remarkable.

CREDITS: "Learning To Change In Israeli and Palestinian Communities" was produced and presented by Bairbre Flood, and supported by the Simon Cumbers Media Fund.

‘Learning To Change In Israeli and Palestinian Communities’ was first broadcast on Newstalk 106-8FM on Sunday 23rd June at 7am, with a repeat broadcast on Saturday 29th June at 9pm

 

 

A new Newstalk Documentary explores how Concern Worldwide is helping Syrian refugees to prevent domestic violence and to reengage with their families and communities.

The Syrian refugee crisis no longer makes headlines. But it is still the largest humanitarian crises since World War II. Lebanon, equivalent in size to counties Limerick and Cork (12 times smaller than New York) but with a population equal to the whole island of Ireland, has taken in 1.5 million refugees. Per capita, the highest in the world.

This documentary takes an alternative approach to the story of domestic violence telling it through the words and experience of four Syrian men. Their stories begin when they were in Syria where civilian families go peacefully about their daily lives in their community and workplaces and then suddenly find themselves in the crossfire.

The impact of the violence they faced on a daily basis, the grief they carry with them is etched on their souls for generations. The men in particular feel shame for not being able to protect their families and communities, for not being able to fulfil the typical role of the man in society.

Positive stories emanating from the Syrian crisis are in short supply as are those showing the human effect of violent conflict. Breaking the Cycle of Violence tells a constructive story of people, affected by the Syrian crisis, attempting to rebuild their lives. These Syrian men are volunteering to solve their problems with the support of their family and others around them.

They do so by taking part in a training programme with Concern staff;  Bassam, Rami and Lama that helps them re-engage with their families and rebuild their lives in a non-violent way. They are assisted by Concern Worldwide with funding from Irish Aid and the local Lebanese community on the Engaging Men Programme. This training programme helps men reflect on their behaviour, reengage with their families and contribute constructively to their communities.

Throughout his documentary Kearney spends time with the men, their families and Concern staff. Breaking the Cycle of Violence therefore shows a human story behind a sensitive and emotive story. It’s ultimately a positive story that shows behaviour can be changed and the cycle of violence can be broken.

BROADCAST DETAILS: Breaking the Cycle of Violence will be broadcast on Newstalk on Sunday June 16th: 7am, with a repeat broadcast on Saturday June 22nd: 9pm 

Following broadcast, the podcast will be available at: http://www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk

CREDITS:  Breaking the Cycle of Violence was produced and presented by Peadar Kearney. This programme was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee.

NB: The programme contains strong language and scenes which some listeners might find disturbing. Listener discretion advised. If you've been affected by any issues raised by this programme, freephone the samaritans on: 116123