Beirut's Holiday Inn

A report from a recent trip to Lebanon

2016 US election reporting for RTE Radio

Towards the end of 2016 I took a month to travel across the US to speak to Americans about the presidential election. I spent time in California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and New York, and reported for Drivetime, 2fm and Morning Ireland on RTE Radio. Here's a map of my trip! It explains it all.

Otherwise, here are my reports, in no particular order:

The Irish and New York's Carriage Horses

The De Blasio administration's move to shrink the horse-carriage trade in Midtown, and relocate the animals to Central Park, is a big compromise on his initial promise to ban carriage horses completely on his first day in office.

In a city like New York, where overarching issues like inequality and poverty inhabit almost every corner of the city, putting priority on such an issue seemed like a curious move. That was, until you considered the amount of money the animal rights movement put into getting De Blasio elected, and their dubious ties to property developers.

When I visited the stables in Midtown last year, the small two-storey building was dwarfed by the high-rise building that were shooting up around it. The plans to extend the 7 train service to the area had created a flurry of interest from developers. Neil Byrne, the owner of the stables, pointed to the dilapidated building next door, which had just sold for $88 million.

Byrne had no interest in selling the stables or allowing the developers to buy him out of his valuable land. He worried that city might take the horses from Midtown, or ban the service altogether, and force him out of the business he loved. With the announcement this week, his fear may soon be realised.

Of course, many would argue that the slow decline of the carriage horse industry is a small price to pay for the safety and welfare of the horses. But animal rights activists have also opposed the new legislation, saying it does not go far enough.

The industry was once made up of 80% Irish or Irish American drivers, so either way, the decline is the end of an era. This is a report I produced for Drivetime last year, where I spoke with those involved in the industry, and those opposed to it.

The Great Trail and the Impenetrable Border - Drivetime Radio 1

The Great Southern Trail Group officially handed over the maintenance of the Limerick cycle and walkway to Limerick County Council last Sunday. It marks the end of an enormous success story for the voluntary group, who’ve worked for over 25 years to convert the old railway line into a tourist attraction. But the success story, along with the trail itself, stops short at the county border with Kerry, blighted by land disputes with residents, funding shortages and lack of cooperation from the county council.

Undocumented Abuse - Drivetime, RTÉ Radio 1

Lack of information, fear of deportation and separation from family can lead many undocumented Irish men and women in the US to stay in abusive relationships. Here is Clare's story.

Depression and the Diapora

A piece I produced for Drivetime, RTE Radio 1, to coincide with Pieta House setting up services in New York.
 

The Mean Streets Project, New York Public Radio (WNYC)

I spent much of last year working on an investigative series into road traffic deaths in New York City. We used data to track and analyse the deaths, while also telling the personal narratives around the tragedies. I was personally responsible for seeking out the families and profiling the deaths. Here's the sum of the work:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/mean-streets-2014-who-we-lost-how-they-lived/

When West Point met the GAA

This weekend the Connaught Senior Football Championship will open with Mayo making a trip overseas to face New York. And while many expect it to be an easy win for last year's All Ireland Finalists, hopes are high in New York GAA.

I caught up with the team as they made some last minute preparation for the big game.

Clip Clop or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Earlier this month New York’s new mayor Bill de Blasio made headlines by refusing to march in the St Patrick’s Day Parade on 5^th Avenue. But as that controversy dies down, a new point of contention with the Irish American community rumbles on.

The Oldest Wolf on Wall Street

The Irish Immigrants who made it big on Wall Street

St. Patrick, New York, and the Right to March

Is St. Patrick's Day a celebration of Irishness or a private religious occasion?

Irish Noir

Last Summer RTE Radio broadcast a BAI funded series on Irish Crime Fiction. I produced 3 reports for the series; one on Raymond Chandler's connections to Waterford,another with author Colin Batemen, and a third that looked at women's attitudes to the genre. Here they are!

Happy World Radio Day!

Although I didn't know it existed until a few months ago, World Radio Day is now one of my new favourite made up holidays. To mark it I spoke to one of the biggest radio fans in one of the smallest radio museums.
 

"Maybe he just didn't like the job...or maybe he fell in love"

On the resignation of Pope Benedict I decided to put together a roundtable discussion on the topic for RTE Radio 1. The only difference is that my panel was made up entirely of Primary School students. The results were hilarious.

Divine Comedy

 My wonderful RTE producer Gerry McArdle was generous (and trusting) enough to hand over the first show of the new year to me. The result is a half hour special on religion and comedy, recorded in 4 countries over 4 months. Enjoy!

The Dalai Lama in Derry

It's now more than 40 years since the sounds of plastic bullets and doors being kicked in marked the beginning of Operation Demetrius, bringing a dark cloud over Northern Ireland. 

Within a week, 24 people had been killed, including 20 civilians. Bloody Sunday followed, as did Direct Rule and Hunger Strikes. By the time of The Good Friday Agreement in 1998, thousands had died and whole communities were shattered. 

And while Northern Ireland has since been held up as shining example that peace is possible, the recent unrest has shown that the past can quickly infect the present.

But it is for this reason that the Derry's 'City of Culture' title for 2013 is all the more significant. Through theatre, music, exhibitions and art, visitors can reshape their view of a city that was for so long stigmatised by unrest and violence.

One of the most noteworthy events this year was the visit of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, when 300 primary school children united with Protestant and Catholic leaders to walk the Peace Bridge. I was fortunate enough to be there for RTÉ Radio and you can hear my report below.

While in Derry, I also took a walking tour of the murals in the Bogside, which will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 in the autumn.

Coming soon...

I've spent a lot of the summer working on pieces for RTÉ Radio 1's autumn schedule. I'm really excited about it actually - there's everything from the murals of Derry to the evacuation of the Blaskets to the stories of the 'Forgotten Irish' in London.

One feature that I'm working on is a documentary on the religion and comedy in Ireland, tracing it from the '60's through to the present. In the process I was fortunate enough to interview Frank Kelly, aka Fr Jack of Fr Ted fame. The interview at his home was intelligent, hilarious and deeply personal, and it was one of the most enjoyable interviews I have ever had the pleasure of doing.

The final product should be posted over the coming months so do stay with me....

Frank Kelly at his home in Blackrock, Co. Dublin

RTÉ vs The Catholic Church?

Every so often, three men appear outside the RTÉ buildings with signs that claim the public service broadcaster has a deep and unjustified bias against the Catholic Church. In the interest of balance and fairness, I popped outside to find out more.

Seaweed - Countrywide on RTÉ Radio 1

It's been a part of Irish tradition for hundreds of years, used in everything from cosmetics to fertilisers to medicine. But in recent times there's been a fresh interest in one of our greatest natural resources; Seaweed. I travelled to Kerry and Galway to find out more.

Sweaty Business - The Business, RTÉ Radio 1.

This morning I spoke to a Dutch man who moved to Ireland in June 1996, a summer of unusually warm sunshine and blue skies. He wrote to his family back home to tell them that Ireland was not the cold, wet country the rest of the world believed it to be; it was simply the victim of bad press.

Then it rained for the next 10 years.

It's true that we don't often experience 'summer' in the real sense of the word, but once in a decade that wonderful yellow ball in the sky pays us a visit and the nation rejoices. We happily holiday at home, Tesco runs out of sunscreen and all over the country people compete for the best sunburn.

So to celebrate sunshine, I travelled around the country to find people who were enjoying outdoor work. AND I even walked up and down Pearse Street as a giant mattress in solidarity. The things I do for my job....