Inspirational People

Steve’s refusal to give into the gangs and his campaign to reclaim the streets from criminality has seen thousands of Limerick people rally behind him in a collective show of support, and a determination that people will not be intimidated and that the gangland bosses will be defeated.

Most of us live under the misplaced illusion that ‘gangland’ is somewhere else. But the callous murder of 35-year-old father of two Roy Collins in Limerick last April showed again that law-abiding citizens are not immune from the bloody feuds of Ireland’s vicious criminal gangs.

The murder was meant to be a warning to Roy’s father – Limerick businessman Steve Collins – and to anyone else who might think of taking on Ireland’s most vicious gangs that to defy them is to risk taking a bullet.

In response to a call from the Collins family, many demonstrators wore red as a gesture of solidarity with innocent victims as they made their way in solemn silence to City Hall. There, a rally was held and a minute’s silence was observed for all those killed in gang-related violence. A lone uilleann piper then played “Limerick’s Lament”.

“This has been a traumatic time for our family, which we felt should not have gone without some kind of message to the thugs who have destroyed our lives and have let us down and have let the good name of Limerick down,” Steve told the crowd.

With these words, Steve Collins and his family proved that the gangland bosses will be defeated. Their reign is based on fear. By mobilising so many people who refuse to be intimidated by them, he has started a process that will break their stranglehold on Limerick.

(September 2009)

The story of how Eleanor Thomson befriended and cared for a complete stranger, ensuring that he died with dignity and surrounded by love, is so full of compassion and human empathy that it reads like a modern-day version of the Bible’s Good Samaritan tale.

Two years ago, following a diagnosis of cancer, Eleanor, who is originally from Lurgan, travelled regularly with a group of fellow patients on the mini-bus from her home in Dundalk to St Luke’s Hospital in Dublin. On one journey her attention was drawn to a man who seemed apart from the rest of the group. He was clearly in a lot of pain and spent the entire trip shuffling in his seat and groaning in discomfort.

Much later, Eleanor was to learn that the man’s name was Kevin and that he was suffering from bowel cancer. But back then, all she saw was a man who seemed unable to walk a few yards into St Luke’s on arrival.

Moved by his plight, Eleanor made sure Kevin was helped into the hospital – the first small act of kindness in a relationship of care and friendship between the two that would span the rest of his life.

Despite having completed her own radiotherapy treatment, Eleanor continued to make the long journey to St Luke’s in Dublin to visit Kevin following his re-admission. She would pick up his mail at home in Dundalk and get other necessities for the sick man.

When he was eventually discharged, Eleanor would pop around to see how he was doing and began cooking his meals, looking after his shopping and helping him with other everyday tasks that illness prevented Kevin from carrying out himself.

Eleanor continued her vital care for a year, visiting Kevin daily. She didn’t pry into his private life, but learned a little more about him. “I didn’t know his life story,” said Eleanor. “I knew the little bits he told me and I know there was a time in his life when he was down on his luck and he became a client of the Simon Community. I knew that he lived alone, and had no family whatsoever living in Ireland.

“My heart broke when I saw him that day on the bus. I didn’t know at the time but he had only been released as an in-patient from the hospital three days before.”

Kevin stayed with Eleanor and her twin 24-year-old-daughters, Gillian and Judith, over Christmas and was then invited to spend every weekend at their home. But soon after Kevin developed a secondary cancer in the groin. Eleanor vowed to help Kevin and brought him to her home to spend his remaining days in as much comfort as possible.

Kevin lived for six more weeks, during which Eleanor became a full-time carer, even moving a mattress into his room so she could give round-the-clock care. She washed him, looked after his personal care needs, and sorted out his medication.

It was a real family effort, with Gillian and Judith following their mother’s example, from massaging Kevin’s leg to get the swelling down, to making pots of tea for the carers who supported Eleanor.

“He used to say to me, ‘I never thought I’d live to see the day with someone doing this for me and caring so much,’ but I’d just say to him ‘don’t worry about it.’”

After a month of good form, Kevin’s health went into rapid decline and he slipped into unconsciousness. He died a fortnight later on February 27th 2009, just days before his 51st birthday.

It was the end of a remarkable friendship that Eleanor, for all her gifts of care to Kevin, feels has enriched her life greatly. “I honestly believe that each and every one of us is put on this earth for a reason. If my reason was to serve Kevin for the few years that I did, I can say my life has been worth living.” 
 

(September 2009)

They say even the longest journeys begin with a single step. But when Debbie Deegan arranged a modest coffee morning fundraiser in her Clontarf home over a decade ago, she could not have foreseen the life-changing impact her actions would have on orphaned children living thousands of miles away on the other side of Europe.

The fundraising idea had been hatched after Debbie adopted Zina, an orphaned girl who had stayed with her family on a holiday. Zina settled really well in Ireland but often spoke of the friends she had left behind in the orphanage and how much she missed them, so Debbie decided to visit them there in a State-run orphanage.

Back then, the Hortolova Orphanage in Bryansk was a bleak place; located miles from the nearest town and set in a dense forest, the conditions were horrendous. The children, aged from seven to 17, were suffering from ill-health, as well as from a chronic lack of love.

One 12-year-old girl held Debbie’s hand all day. When it was time for Debbie to leave she gave the girl a kiss. For the young girl, it was the first kiss she had ever had. Debbie promised that if all she could do was return to give her a kiss, she would be back.

After that she promised to make a difference. The initial coffee morning with school-gate mums and dads established the To Russia With Love charity, so named because they had nothing to give but love. The event led to an appearance on the Late Late Show which gave rise to significant donations from the Irish public.

The funds raised paid for a massive overhaul of the orphanage and Debbie knew she was in it for the long haul. “Too many people go in with a good heart, give the kids a few teddy bears and don't look back. I think if you do that, it’s irresponsible; you have to keep at it and keep at it to make changes. I decided I wasn’t there for a quick fix, to paint Minnie Mouse on the walls and leave. I wanted systematic changes brought in.”

Only one year on from the original coffee morning in Debbie’s home, the orphanage had been transformed. There was an impressive new block incorporating kitchens, a laundry, dining-room and storage, and imported teams of Irish volunteer care workers who concentrated on the children’s well-being.

There are some 700,000 orphans in 2,500 orphanages in Russia and, after her initial success, Debbie decided to take on even more ambitious projects.

Realising the need not just to improve the lives of children in institutional care, but to prepare them for life beyond the orphanages, Debbie set about establishing enrichment programmes. These address areas such as emotional well-being and reintegration as well as life skills and extra assistance for those who are academically gifted. For example, To Russia with Love’s ‘Final Steps’ programme supports teenagers who leave the orphanages move into third level education. Just four per cent of children leaving State care go on to further study. But ‘Final Steps’ has a 100 per cent success rate, with many participants studying professions such as business, medicine and law.

With children in Russian orphanages often separated from siblings, To Russia With Love spent three years tracking down the brothers and sisters of every child in Hortolova. Now, each weekend, the orphanage bus brings children to visit their brothers and sisters in other orphanages, often hundreds of kilometres away.

The work of To Russia With Love has encouraged a variety of leading public figures to lend their support, with author Marian Keyes joining as patron. To Russia With Love relies heavily on the kindness of the Irish people who have volunteered their time, energy and money since 1998 to maintain its programmes.

Today the work of the charity has extended from Hortolova to the 11 orphanages in the Bryansk region and further across the Russian Federation in many more orphanages.  To Russia With Love still receives requests for help from orphanages across the Russian Federation that have heard about their programmes; how many it can work with is always dependent on funding received.

Debbie’s drive to bring love and decent conditions to abandoned children has brought her back and forth to Russia over 130 times. Through her unstinting efforts and success in bringing hope and help to thousands of abandoned children, Debbie has earned the respect and trust of the Russian authorities, who even conferred honorary citizenship of the Bryansk Region upon her, the only westerner to date to achieve this honour. With Hortolova now a flagship centre of excellence, To Russia With Love aims to work with the authorities to transform care for young people in orphanages throughout Russia.

Debbie, meanwhile, is always first to pay testament to those who have made To Russia With Love a success, including her husband Mick, her family, her friends, her dedicated team of staff and volunteers and the Russian authorities and people who have been wonderfully supportive over the years and without the support of these people no change would be possible.
 

(September 2009)

For Sarah Kavanagh, being a big sister to Michelle has always been important.  But a June afternoon in 2008 took her sibling care to a new extreme, testing Sarah’s courage and confirming her as a hero, when she selflessly put her own life at risk to rescue Michelle from imminent peril.

On her last day as a national school pupil at Scoil Naomh Áine in New Ross, County Wexford, Michelle should have been celebrating. Instead, she found herself in the midst of a freak accident from which she continues to bear the scars after the petrol station the two girls stopped off in went up in a blazing inferno.

Miraculously, Michelle survived thanks to the stunning bravery of her teenage sister who risked her own life to drag the youngster to safety just seconds before the entire forecourt was engulfed in flames.

There was no sign of the horror that was about to befall the sisters that summer’s day as 19-year-old Sarah took a break from working at the family tyre business to collect Michelle from school as the holidays began.

The sisters chatted for a while at the school, before starting the journey home at around 3pm and then stopping off at O’Dwyer’s shop, post office and garage in Ballywilliam village.

Michelle was about to go into the shop, when a car suddenly careered out of control, smashing through a petrol pump and tearing it from its plinth. As the pump and the car hurtled towards the petrified schoolgirl, an explosion took place spewing fireballs across the petrol station forecourt and igniting the roof of the shop. 

In the blink of an eye, Michelle found herself trapped between the car and the shop front, with her foot stuck in the petrol pump and her shoe on fire. Onlookers froze to the spot in terror.

Witnessing the nightmare unfold, Sarah could see that the flames had covered Michelle’s legs and were spreading up her back. Oblivious to her own safety, quick-thinking Sarah raced to her stricken sister and, mustering every fibre of strength and courage, struggled to free her from the carnage. She put her arms under Michelle and, after seemingly endless moments of a life-or-death struggle, managed to pull her little sister to safety.

Within seconds, the spot where Michelle had been trapped, as well as the entire shop and post office, were totally destroyed by the blaze.

Emergency services rushed to the scene where Michelle was treated for injuries to her back and legs. She was badly burned, but her injuries were not life-threatening. Firefighters and Gardaí who surveyed the charred remains of the petrol station and shop said that Sarah’s swift intervention had undoubtedly saved her sister’s life.

Michelle’s ordeal was far from over, however. She was taken by ambulance to Waterford Regional Hospital and later transferred to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, where she remained for two months.

There, she underwent intensive treatment for third degree burns, including skin graft operations to her legs, while her back largely healed itself. During her stay in hospital, Michelle showed that determination and fortitude are very much family traits as she battled to overcome her horrific injuries.

Michelle was finally released from hospital in August last year and just a week and a half later was able to attend her first day of secondary school at The Holy Faith Convent in New Ross. But she still attends hospital on a regular basis and will have to wear special protective clothing for two more years, while the scars of the accident are likely to remain for life.

Grateful for the care and dedication of the staff at the burns unit in Our Lady’s Hospital, Michelle, Sarah and the Kavanagh family held a major fundraiser in their local community last October which raised thousands of euro for its vital work.

The hospital staff helped make her better, but she owes an even greater debt to Sarah. Faced with the split-second decision to risk her own life for her sister, Sarah responded unhesitatingly with selfless heroism.

(September 2009)

Many Irish nurses work longer, harder and with more commitment than is demanded of them. But in Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, there’s going above and beyond the call of duty and then there’s Sister Bernadette Lanigan.

Bernie has run the eye clinic for almost 27 years. She is central to every area of patient care, an unsung hero to the 10,000 children who visit the facility each year for investigations, tests, admissions or surgery.

The huge number of nominations she received for a People of the Year Award from the children in her care show that Bernie is more than just respected for her professionalism and the attention to duty. They love her because she loves them.

Regardless of whether they attend the clinic for just a short time, or are long-term patients, Bernie establishes a unique relationship with each and every child.

But it’s not only their fear and anxiety that Bernie tries so hard to ease. Her kindness and extraordinary devotion to duty extends to their parents – all of whom seem to get her mobile number and know that they can ring her if they experience problems inside or outside her working hours, seven days a week.

When parents face the daunting task of travelling overseas for specialist treatment for their child, Bernie provides invaluable support, communicating with healthcare authorities and specialists abroad and even booking travel and accommodation.

In her daily work Bernie is something of a contradiction; while she may speed around the eye clinic in a whirlwind of activity, she always has the time for a kind word or gesture to parents and children.

One such child is 12-year-old Michael O’Connor: “She is the kindest person I have ever met and is always there when something is wrong. Anytime I had to have a cornea transplant, Bernie was always the first one in the hospital to organise the theatre and any equipment needed for the operation and she always visited me in the ward before I went to theatre. Whenever I am waiting in the outpatients for the eye clinic, Bernie always calls me in to the examination room and I have heard her voice saying my name so many times that I can now even imitate her voice. Bernie deserves this award because she has worked hard for her entire career as a nurse and stands out above everyone else in the hospital in my memory,” he said.

Bernie’s workplace can sometimes be intensely pressurised as she is called upon to deal with stressed parents and screaming children and administers care while also supporting the doctors and specialists, answering phones, responding to faxes, organising theatre lists and managing the queues and the clinic in general.

Utterly approachable, parents sometimes receive emails and text replies as late as 1am and as early as 5am, as well as telephone calls at the weekends asking about their children. Bernie is also the point of contact for parents needing reports for schools, the Health Service Executive, the local doctor, pharmacies, the Department of Education and Science, and more.

She is a role model and trainer to her colleagues and puts tremendous effort into fundraising for the eye clinic. She manages from start-to-finish the production, advertising and sale of Christmas cards which raise much-needed funds to buy specialist equipment.

Bernie, the consummate professional, continually challenges herself to stay ahead of new techniques in her field. She has many academic qualifications, has been involved in many research programmes, and is held in high regard by specialists across Europe and the United States.

And in addition to writing papers for medical journals, Bernie makes appearances at parents’ supports groups for their fundraising and family days, as well as speaking at professional medical conferences throughout the world.

Despite all of this, her unwavering focus is on the thousands of children who attend the Temple Street eye clinic, for whom she is there day-in, day-out, morning, noon and night, for that extra personal touch that is her unique calling card.

(September 2009)

In less than a quarter of a century since its establishment, the Irish Hospice Foundation has won the respect, support and admiration of people throughout Ireland.

This may be due in part to the resonance and clarity of its vision – “That no one should have to face death or bereavement without appropriate care and support”. Few of us are not touched sooner or later by these critical life experiences, as we find ourselves caring for elderly parents, nursing a terminally-ill spouse or – hardest of all, perhaps – losing a beloved child.

The word “hospice” also resonates because more and more of us have had contact with modern hospice care. We have come to learn that a “good death” is something that can be actively facilitated, when equal value is given to a person’s physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, and when every effort is made to enable them to die free from pain, as comfortable as possible and, above all, with dignity. These are key principles of hospice care.

The Foundation is driven by a belief in the right of everyone to comfort and dignity at the end of life. It has campaigned tirelessly to make hospice/palliative care available to all who need it, whatever their illness; wherever they may live. It is working to extend the principles of hospice care for the dying to all care settings, including general hospitals – where most people die - and nursing homes. Overall, it is encouraging Irish society to address end-of-life issues in more open, thoughtful and imaginative ways.

These are ambitious goals but thinking big has been a feature of this organisation since its foundation in 1986. Fundraising was its main focus then and in hard times the Foundation showed its spirit by raising €1.6m in a single year for a hospice education centre; by funding the first home care service on Dublin’s northside; and by contributing substantially to the opening of a new hospice.

The Foundation soon broadened its scope and began to focus on identifying and responding to needs which hospice care providers were often not yet in a position to fulfil or for which funding wasn’t available. Volunteering plays an important role in hospice care, and the Foundation developed a programme of training and supervision for volunteers working in hospice bereavement support services.

The following are just some of the programmes in which the Foundation is engaged today, often in association with partner bodies:

• The Hospice-friendly Hospitals Programme, which aims to improve the conditions under which people die in hospital. Currently running in 40 hospitals nationwide, it is focusing on the development of standards for end-of-life care in hospitals, including such key issues as communications, integrated care and the design of physical spaces.

• The Children’s Palliative Care Programme, targeting children with life-limiting illnesses in the community, which is developing a team of consultant-led regional outreach nurses and providing palliative care training to healthcare professionals working with very ill children around the country.

• The Extending Access Programme, which focuses on the extension of hospice care to patients with conditions other than cancer. Currently, cancer patients constitute over 90 per cent of hospice service admissions. This programme is undertaking pilot projects to develop new models of care, and offers a night nursing service for people dying at home from non-cancer illnesses.

• The Foundation’s Education and Bereavement Resource Centre plays a key role in the development of education in hospice/palliative care, especially bereavement care. It provides post-graduate programmes, workshops, volunteer training/supervision for bereavement support services, and education and research grants.

Other Foundation activities include extensive work in advocacy and awareness-raising, a scheme of grants for the development of hospice services, and the co-ordination of annual fundraising events for local voluntary hospice groups.

The Irish Hospice Foundation’s passionate belief in its cause has inspired others, too, attracting support for hospice care from creative, compassionate individuals and organisations in business, philanthropy, sports and the arts, as well as from people across Ireland. As the Foundation receives no ongoing funding, it is largely dependent on the generosity of donors to continue to pursue its mission.

(September 2009)

Everyone has their own favourite David Kelly. For some it is Rashers Tierney, the bowed yet unbroken vagrant of RTÉ’s Strumpet City adaptation; for others it is Michael O’Sullivan in the film Waking Ned, riding naked on a motorcycle down a country lane; or perhaps - briefly but brilliantly - the unforgettably-inept builder O’Reilly in a classic episode of Fawlty Towers.

With appearances in countless stage and screen productions during a professional career spanning over 55 years, the actor from Fairview on Dublin’s northside has long since acquired national treasure status. Yet, while he continues to sparkle, the stardust is not for David. He spurned the lure of Hollywood moguls following his stand-out turn in Waking Ned, preferring instead to continue the lifestyle that has been his trademark; quietly honing his craft, diligently taking pride in his work and enjoying life in his beloved Dublin.

Throughout the decades of entertaining and giving joy to audiences in Ireland and across the world, David has earned a steady legion of fans who admire his much-loved personal charm and self-deprecating wit as much as his talent.

“There are marvellous parts for people of my age,” the 80-year-old dryly commented recently. “For one reason: the competition is all dead.”

David showed a natural flair for comedy play-acting as a child in Synge Street School and at the Gaiety in 1942. He then trained at the Abbey Theatre and went on to perform in productions of Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Arthur Miller and WB Yeats.

Dublin theatre then was in good health, with plenty of work, if not riches, on offer. “It wasn’t that difficult even though you didn’t live the life of Riley; you never stopped working,” he said. “There weren’t many of us because only an idiot would do it. The idea that any of us would be rich and famous was ridiculous. It never arose.”

However, a fortunate meeting with playwright Hugh Leonard in 1960 took his career in a new direction. Leonard was working in London, writing dramas for the BBC and ITV, and he brought Irish actors with him, David included. A productive time followed, with appearances on BBC’s The Mammy from 1969 to 1972, and a regular role in the 1970s sitcom Robin’s Nest, elevating David to the status of a star of the small screen.

His prolific television career includes an appearance in an early incarnation of Emmerdale Farm, as well as Glenroe and Ballykissangel, while David’s film career has similarly spanned an array of popular hits. A high point was Waking Ned in 1998, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award. This led to roles in Ordinary Decent Criminal, Greenfingers and the part of Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. David subsequently used his profile to team up with Barretstown in a cookie sale fundraising drive enabling more children to take part in life-changing programmes.

In 2005 he was awarded an International Film and Television Award (IFTA) for Lifetime Achievement for his contribution to the Irish theatre. It was a fitting recognition of the actor who has worked with many of the greats, from Michael Mac Liammoir to Johnny Depp.

But despite his position as a bona fide international film star, David and his wife, actress Laurie Morton, have steadfastly refused to move away from Dublin despite having been offered two separate Hollywood roles. “I said no because, in your 70s you don’t really want to uproot and go to Hollywood... being rich and famous – I never wanted that.”

David’s cites his own career highlight as playing the eponymous anti-hero in Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape in 1960, a role he reprised in the 1990s all over the globe to critical acclaim. But for many he will forever be Rashers Tierney. “I knew, from the book, that Rashers represented Dublin. The basic ingredient was that the man, despite his rags, had tremendous dignity. That was what I latched onto. Wounding Rashers’ pride, or calling him a sponger or a liar, infuriated him. That to me was the Dublin of the period: that unsinkable dignity.”

Rashers Tierney and an unsinkable dignity. One of Ireland’s most loved actors is synonymous with both.

(September 2009)

They marched to Croke Park. They stormed the Stadio Flaminio. They harried in Murrayfield. And they battled to the very end in the Millennium Stadium. This year, the nerve and stamina of Ireland’s burgeoning green army of rugby fans was tested like never before. But they didn’t flinch or falter as they stood shoulder to shoulder, and every step of the way, with the Irish rugby team in its quest for Six Nations and Grand Slam glory.

In 2009, the stars of Irish rugby were going places.

The team that had claimed coveted Triple Crowns in 2004, 2006, and 2007 finally seemed poised on the brink of greatness.
 
After huge success with the Presentation Brothers College in Cork, as Ireland Schools’ coach and at the helm of Munster, Declan Kidney took over the Irish managerial reins in the summer of 2008.

The Kidney magic had an instant effect on the Irish team as they recorded a 30-21 victory over France at Croke Park on the opening day of the 2009 RBS Six Nations competition. Jamie Heaslip, Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy ran in brilliant tries as the Irish registered their first triumph against Les Bleus since March 2003.

This was followed by a workmanlike 9-38 dismantling of Italy, during which Luke Fitzgerald crossed the line twice with Tommy Bowe, David Wallace and Brian O’Driscoll also touching down against the Azzurri.

A giant stride was taken with a 14-13 victory over England at Croke Park, memorable for Brian O’Driscoll’s performance as he notched up a try, a drop-goal and was named man of the match - while almost out on his feet following a collision.

It was only now that Irish fans started to whisper the words ‘Grand Slam’. But as hope was dampened by the disappointments of the past, a trip to play Scotland in Murrayfield was viewed as a potential banana skin. The pessimism wasn’t entirely misplaced as Ireland squeaked past the Scots by 15-22, with Jamie Heaslip powering over for a try created by a moment of brilliance from Peter Stringer.

And so to Cardiff, home of the reigning RBS Six Nations champions, Wales, who had emphatically claimed their own Grand Slam the previous year. The match was a toe-to-toe contest, in which Ireland cast aside their fears to play the better rugby. But, because of the boot of Stephen Jones, they could never quite draw away from the Welsh. After being 6-0 down at half-time, tries in quick succession by Brian O’Driscoll and Tommy Bowe put Ireland 14-6 ahead early in the second half.

Two more Jones penalties reduced the arrears to 14-12, before the Welsh fly-half dropped a goal five minutes from time to give his side a one point lead. But Ireland surged back into the Welsh half, set up the ruck and O'Gara, gesturing frantically for the ball, dropped the most important goal of his illustrious career.

The nail-biting, heart-racing final moments saw the teams agonisingly close at 15-17. A long-range penalty kick from the on-form Stephen Jones failed to make the target and the whistle – to the relief of millions of Irish souls – blew on a two point Irish victory. A nation rejoiced and the team ascended the stage to accept Ireland’s first RBS Six Nations Championship and, most importantly of all, the country’s first Grand Slam for 61 years.

The Golden Generation of Irish rugby had claimed the ultimate crown.

A day later, at the team’s homecoming reception outside the Mansion House in Dublin, the crowd, resplendent once again in green, waved their flags and cheered their heroes. Boys and girls, the future stars of Irish rugby, danced on Dawson Street looking up at the sportsmen who had made them believe.

By winning that day, Ireland’s rugby superstars led by O’Driscoll, O’Connell and O’Gara, achieved their destiny as Ireland’s greatest-ever rugby team, and arguably our best in any sport.

(September 2009)

The Ryan report into abuse in institutions run by religious orders shed light on a dark and hidden Ireland where huge numbers of our most vulnerable children endured cruelty, neglect and unspeakable physical and sexual violence at the hands of the very people charged with protecting them.

The courage of Christine Buckley and Michael O’Brien in continuing to speak when nobody wanted to listen, or believe, played a crucial part in ensuring that we finally learned the full, unvarnished truth of the horror that they suffered.

As revulsion and shame swept the nation in the aftermath of the report’s publication, these two individuals came to the fore again as their passionate, yet reasoned eloquence, brought home the full extent of the depravity inflicted on so many of our children.

Their dignity as they recounted their personal stories with raw and painful honesty, will do as much as even the report’s most damning passages, to seek to ensure that no child will ever again suffer what they endured in the State’s care. In different ways, they represent those who were abused, and both receive a People of the Year Award tonight.

Among many events held after the publication of the report, perhaps the most important to abuse survivors was the reception at Áras an Uachtaráin where President McAleese expressed “heartfelt sorrow” on behalf of the people of Ireland.

“It was a day of happiness, and a day of love and a day of deep sadness,” said Christine. “It took us 25 years to be believed and to be at Áras an Uachtaráin.”

“I feel a free man now,” said Michael. “The President did us and the people of Ireland proud today. We are going home with our heads held high and our hearts full of joy.”

Christine Buckley

Christine is a co-founder and director of the Aislinn Centre in Dublin which provides educational and support services for survivors, many of whom continue to endure the consequences of their earlier child abuse in later life. Since it was first established in 1999, the centre has helped over 8,500 survivors, a figure that continues to grow.

Placed in care at just three weeks old, Christine eventually arrived at the Goldenbridge orphanage in Dublin at the age of four. She first came to prominence in 1992 when she disclosed abuses at Goldenbridge orphanage in a radio interview with Gay Byrne. It was an interview that also featured her father who she had tracked down in Nigeria.

The radio interview led to the 1996 documentary Dear Daughter and the subsequent States of Fear programme documenting the abuse suffered by children in various residential institutions which provoked such public anger that then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern issued a historic apology on behalf of the State.

Mr Ahern said Christine was a major factor in the apology. “I think her sincerity and passion for justice made a lasting impression on me and my colleagues. She was a great source of knowledge and counsel to me in making sure the Government sought to do the right thing.”

The apology led to the setting up of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, a nationwide counselling service, and the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

This summer, a decade after it was established, the Child Abuse Commission produced the Ryan report. It summarised the testimony of more than 1090 witnesses who gave evidence to its confidential committee, and incorporated the evidence of around 1,500 people who suffered abuse in children’s institutions.

The Ryan report into abuse in institutions run by religious orders shed light on a dark and hidden Ireland where huge numbers of our most vulnerable children endured cruelty, neglect and unspeakable physical and sexual violence at the hands of the very people charged with protecting them.

The courage of Christine Buckley and Michael O’Brien in continuing to speak when nobody wanted to listen, or believe, played a crucial part in ensuring that we finally learned the full, unvarnished truth of the horror that they suffered.

As revulsion and shame swept the nation in the aftermath of the report’s publication, these two individuals came to the fore again as their passionate, yet reasoned eloquence, brought home the full extent of the depravity inflicted on so many of our children.

Their dignity as they recounted their personal stories with raw and painful honesty, will do as much as even the report’s most damning passages, to seek to ensure that no child will ever again suffer what they endured in the State’s care. In different ways, they represent those who were abused, and both receive a People of the Year Award tonight.

Among many events held after the publication of the report, perhaps the most important to abuse survivors was the reception at Áras an Uachtaráin where President McAleese expressed “heartfelt sorrow” on behalf of the people of Ireland.

“It was a day of happiness, and a day of love and a day of deep sadness,” said Christine. “It took us 25 years to be believed and to be at Áras an Uachtaráin.”

“I feel a free man now,” said Michael. “The President did us and the people of Ireland proud today. We are going home with our heads held high and our hearts full of joy.”

Michael O’Brien

A campaigner on the issue for many years, the articulate passion of Michael’s extraordinary intervention on RTE’s Questions and Answers is already regarded as being among the most powerful pieces of television in the station’s history. His testimony, delivered in simple language was both brutal and poignant as he described how, as a bewildered eight-year-old child, he was abused just two days after his committal to the Rosminian Order home in Clonmel, Co.Tipperary, following the death of his mother in 1942.

Addressing a silenced and sombre panel of commentators and politicians, Michael recounted his tale of horrific physical, mental and sexual abuse, expressing years of built-up anger and frustration at a system that had failed him as a vulnerable child and again as an adult. It made distressing but compelling viewing for all those watching their television sets around the country from the comfort of their living rooms.
 
Seventy-five-year-old Michael has been campaigning for the rights of fellow survivors since he went public with his own experiences in 1999. A former Mayor of Clonmel, he founded the Right to Peace organisation, and is a member of the Education Finance Board, which provides funding to survivors and their families to pursue educational, training and personal development courses.

For his dignity and raw honesty in recounting traumatic childhood experiences and for continuing to throw a spotlight on the abuse suffered by the most vulnerable in our society, Michael O’Brien receives a People of the Year Award.

(September 2009)

For the last four decades Sylvia Meehan has been a champion of equal rights in Ireland. One of the most prominent leaders of the women’s movement of the 1970s, she continues to be a vociferous campaigner for older people.

Sylvia came to the fore again late last year when, as the President of the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament – the country’s largest representative organisation of older people – she led a determined campaign against the abolition of the universal entitlement to the medical card for over 70s.

The protest, which dominated the domestic news agenda and challenged the traditional view of older people, became known as the ‘grey revolution’. Sylvia mobilised huge numbers of older people – who felt they were being badly treated by the Government – in a show of strength that was unprecedented in the history of the State.

The campaign culminated with a march on Dáil Éireann by a gathering of some 15,000 mainly older people.

For Sylvia, the protest was an important moment in which older people demanded their voice be heard and asserted their self-respect and dignity. She said at the time, “Older people have become more confident, and I am thrilled that this confidence is expressing itself now.”

The road to the gates of Dáil Éireann has been a long one for Sylvia who returned to the workforce in 1969 as a young widow with five children under the age of 15. The University College Dublin graduate in legal and political science became a teacher of English and History at the Ursuline Convent in the south Dublin suburb of Cabinteely. She rose to deputy principal within five years, and became actively involved in promoting the rights and responsibilities of teachers through the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI). 

Her involvement within ASTI proved a valuable foundation as Sylvia became a prominent member of the Council for the Status of Women and the Advisory Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. With a belief in equality deepened through grass-roots experience of hardship, Sylvia was fundamental to the women’s movement that successfully campaigned for the Equal Pay Act and for the foundation of the Employment Equality Agency.

A staunch believer in Alexander Hamilton’s assertion that “every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of Government,” Sylvia’s commitment to the cause led to her emergence as the ideal chairperson for the newly-established Employment Equality Agency in 1977.

She led the agency until 1993, tenaciously pursuing issues such as equal pay, maternity leave, the provision of childcare facilities and measures to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. In doing so, she helped to create a more just and tolerant society, setting out large sections of the agenda for women’s rights that exist to this day.

Following her retirement, Sylvia has remained active in campaigning and the pursuit of equality – this time for older people. Since 1992 she has been active on ageing issues as a board member of the ‘Age of Opportunity’, and she contributed to the sensitive work undertaken by its oversight committee, which was responsible for repaying money to nursing home residents whose pensions were wrongly taken away by the State.

She is also on the board of the Council for Aging and Older People and has served as the Irish representative on the Executive of AGE (the European Older People’s Platform), as well as on the Government’s Task Force on Active Citizenship. In recognition of her contribution to public life she has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Limerick.

At 80 years of age, this busy grandmother to seven grandchildren continues to make a formidable contribution to equality issues and has a relentless determination to make Ireland a better place for all to live.

(September 2009)
 

Ronnie Drew was asked a few years ago what life was like as the front man of The Dubliners. He replied, “A bit like a party that went on for 35 years”.

That was Ronnie. A true blue Dublin wit and an iconic figure on the Irish music scene for as long as most of us can remember.

In an age of conformity and imitation, the big man from Monkstown Farm, Dún Laoghaire, on Dublin’s southside stood out as the genuine article.

The band he fronted for so many years couldn’t have been more aptly named. True Dublin came through in all its music, in the humour and devil-may-care attitude of its members. But most of all, it came out in Ronnie’s unique gravel voice.

Indeed, Ronnie’s voice became as identifiable with Dublin as Guinness or coddle. And despite the dearth of long grey beards in the capital city throughout the last generation, to many he also became the face of Dublin – even ahead of more famous sons of the city like Bono and Sir Bob Geldof.

It could be said that even they owe Ronnie a debt of gratitude. Because it’s no exaggeration to claim that the history of modern Irish music dates from a series of sessions in the backroom of O'Donoghue's pub in Dublin's Merrion Row.

At the time the music scene in Ireland was in the doldrums. The resurrection was spear-headed by two men – Ronnie and Paddy Moloney. From a roomful of drinkers and traditionalists they assembled two of Ireland’s greatest-ever bands, The Dubliners and The Chieftains.

Ronnie had met Ciarán Burke, Barney McKenna, John Sheahan and Luke Kelly in the pub after returning from Spain, where he spent three years teaching English and learning to play flamenco guitar. They pooled their musical skills as the Ronnie Drew Group before changing their name to The Dubliners. The group recorded their first album live at Cecil Sharp House in London in December 1964.

The record displayed an earthier and more irreverent feel than other popular Irish acts of the time. Much of this came from Ronnie’s voice - once described to his own satisfaction as "the sound of coal being crushed underfoot".

The band’s big breakthrough came in 1967 when they recorded an old ballad, “Seven Drunken Nights”. With Ronnie singing the incomparable lead vocal, it was released as a single and banned from the airwaves for its bawdy content. The record made the UK Top 10 and The Dubliners appeared on Top Of The Pops alongside Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks and The Who. When Ronnie was told the record had charted, he reportedly asked whether this was good or bad news.

The Dubliners were not one-hit wonders and more chart singles followed with “Black Velvet Band” and “Never Marry An Old Man”. Album titles also exploited the group's bawdy, hard-drinking image with titles like A Drop Of The Hard Stuff and Drinkin’ and Courtin’.

By now The Dubliners were touring the world. In America they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and played to sell-out audiences wherever a large Irish immigrant population was to be found. Ronnie left the group to go solo in 1974. His plans were thwarted by a serious car accident and he returned to the fold in 1979.
In 1974, Ciarán Burke collapsed on stage after suffering a brain haemorrhage. A second haemorrhage left him paralysed and Ciarán died in 1988. Tragedy struck for a second time when Luke Kelly was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1980. He underwent an operation and remarkably was back singing with the group within three weeks. Yet he never fully recovered, and he passed away in 1984.

Many suspected The Dubliners had reached the end of the road. But Ronnie decided to continue and the group's 25th anniversary in 1987 gave them a new lease of life.

On the birthday album Celebration, they teamed up with a new generation of Irish hell-raisers, The Pogues, and went back on Top Of The Pops for the first time in almost 20 years with their collaboration on “The Irish Rover”.

Ronnie left the group for the second and last time in 1994 to go solo once again, releasing Dirty Rotten Shame and The Humour Is On Me Now. He returned temporarily for the group's 40th anniversary in 2002, appearing on the album 40 Years, which included the group's greatest hits.

In 2006 Ronnie was honoured with a bronze cast of his hands outside the Gaiety Theatre. And earlier last year, U2, Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan and Sinead O'Connor released a tribute song, “The Ballad of Ronnie Drew”.

By now Ronnie was well into a lengthy battle with cancer. He had lost his wife Deirdre the previous year and despite having son Phelim, daughter Cliodhna, brother Tony, sisters Joan and Margie, and six grandchildren around him, it was a devastating blow.

Yet like everything in his life, he met adversity with courage, style and, most of all, his famous wit. He cheered up other patients and even joked about his appearance.

He finally lost his battle against cancer on August 16th 2008. He died as he lived: Ronnie Drew, true Dub.

(September 2009)