Inspirational People

Have you ever wondered how you would react if you came across someone in their hour of need or in a life or death situation? Have you ever wondered whether you would jump into action, or hide away and hope someone else came to the rescue?

 

Aged just 20, AJ McCullough was travelling near the frozen canal of the River Boyne in Drogheda with his mother, Michele, and his sister, Jessica. It was mid-afternoon, in December 2010, just after the schools had closed for the day and children and young people were on their way home. As evening approached, road conditions became increasingly hazardous. There had been a heavy snowfall and AJ describes the roads that day as particularly slippery: “It was just like one massive thick sheet of ice. You couldn’t see the road. All you could see in front of you was white snow and ice.”

 

AJ and his family were nearly home when, just at the end of their driveway, they saw a car that had skidded from the road into the freezing ice that had formed along the top of the canal running alongside the road: “My mam had started screaming. She had seen the car first. I looked at her as if to say, ‘What in the name of God is wrong with you?’ ” says AJ. It was not possible to see if anyone was in the car or injured. AJ recalls, “The first thing I saw was a car with its nose in the canal and the wheels at the back kicked up in the air and the fumes still coming from the exhaust.”

 

Peering through the windows, they discovered that Emily Attah and her three boys, Bennett, Roy and Adam (then aged nine, eight and four respectively), were still in the car.

 

AJ wasted no time. He made the instant and courageous decision to help rescue the family. As he got closer to the car, he could hear screams coming from inside. Pushing all panic from his mind, he approached the situation quickly and decisively, never stopping to consider his own safety.

 

AJ had to find a way to get the family out safely in the trecherous conditions. The position of the car made his task more difficult. “It was the head of the car, the bonnet, that was in the water. When I got to it, the car was kind of on its side. I had to open the back passenger door but because of the angle of the car I had to open it upwards toward the sky. I had to then shimmy on my stomach up into the car.” From this very difficult and dangerous position, it took all of AJ’s strength to pull Bennett and Roy from the car and get them to the bank. He then had to find a way of helping Emily and little Adam.

 

It would be easy for AJ to be flippant about the events of that day but he is fully aware now of the risk he took with his own life, given that the car had already entered the water: “I took the mother last. She had no shoes on and her feet were wet. The child’s trousers were wet as well, as the front two footwells had started to fill with water.”

 

AJ’s mother and sister were aware of the danger involved as they witnessed the rescue from the bank. They thought the car would go down into the icy waters because they heard the continuous cracking of the ice breaking under the pressure of the car. AJ says his mother, Michele, never doubted his ability to get the family to safety. “My mam said that in her mind she was going, ‘He can do this, he can do this, he can do this’.”

 

To everyone’s delight, AJ was eventually able to get the Attah family out of the car and away from the dangerous icy canal. No one is more appreciative of that fact than Emily Attah. While she still remembers the accident itself, what stands out in her mind most is the speed at which AJ acted: “I was trying to reach for my phone to call for help when I saw someone had opened the car and was taking out the kids. Within five minutes all of us were out.”

 

Thanks to AJ, Emily and her three boys are safe and well, and little Tiffany, Emily’s then six-week old daughter, who was not on that journey, still has her mother and brothers. That is a fact that is not lost on Emily: “Even while he was getting us out you could hear the ice cracking. The ice was the only thing holding the car up. He took the risk. He did not think about his own life…AJ is a brave boy with a good heart. A lot of guys his age would think twice about stopping.”

 

AJ is modest about his bravery and won’t rest on his laurels now. “I didn’t think of myself for a second at all. I didn’t feel that, it just wasn’t there. When it was finished and it was all over, I was standing on the bank and thought, ‘What just happened there?’ I know you can’t just do one good thing in your life, you’ve got to sustain that and do good things all your life.”

 

For his quick thinking under pressure and his bravery in coming to the rescue of the Attah family, AJ McCullough is presented with a People of the Year Award.

Community spirit is a concept that is hard to define, but when it is demonstrated in overwhelming empathy, a public display of solidarity and immense practical support, it is easy to recognise.

 

And so it was in April, when the community of Skerries united behind the families of two fishermen and friends lost at sea, Ronan Browne (26) and David Gilsenan (41). When hope was fading, and it seemed as if the bodies of the two men who had been tragically lost would never be recovered, the people of Skerries did not let them down.

 

Skerries is a small seaside town 18 miles north of Dublin city centre. Its Martello towers, Rockabill Lighthouse and historic harbour highlight the town’s rich maritime history and its current fishing culture and industry. Derived from the Norse word Sker meaning “group of rocky islands”, the name Skerries also suggests the perils that wait for those in the fishing industry.

 

Ronan Browne was a marine engineer from Skerries who had fished in Loughshinny since childhood. David Gilsenan, from Rush, a father of two young children, aged six and nine, was a marine engineer and a life-long fisherman. Ronan and David went missing on 1 April after setting out to go lobster fishing off the Skerries Islands in David’s boat, Lady Linda, which was named after his wife. The couple married last October. The 17ft open boat was found the following day, but unfortunately there was no sign of either Ronan or David.

 

The local RNLI station became the centre of operations when the search began. Together with the Skerries Inshore Lifeboat, the fishing and pleasure boats that normally bob in the harbour in calmer times were pressed into action as volunteers gave their time to search the waters, desperately hoping for a sighting of Ronan and David. At the time of the initial search, over the first weekend, there were in excess of 30 craft on the water, covering a search area of approximately 525 square miles. RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews, along with their counterparts on the fishing and pleasure craft, put in long days, and local shops and individuals provided food to support the effort.

 

As the search for the two men continued into a second week, the costs for those fishing and pleasure boats increased. The close-knit community of Skerries, however, had no intention of giving up. In order to support the fuel and other costs incurred by the fishermen who continued to search day and night, the Lady Linda account was established by Frannie Tanner, and Skerries Chamber of Commerce came up with fundraising ideas. Chamber President Martin Scully outlined the common purpose of the community with regard to those events. “Time was tight but everywhere we went we were pushing open doors. Nobody put an obstacle in our way. Everybody did what they could to help. It was a huge community effort and the community rowed straight in with us.”

 

In a moving act of unity with the families of both men, the community gathered together one evening at the Red Island Martello tower for a Walk of Solidarity and a prayer service. An estimated 10,000 people turned out for the emotional event, a remarkable achievement in itself for a town with a population of just over 11,000. They strode the length of the fishing town, with some dressed in local club kit and colours to underline that sense of belonging and community spirit. Without saying a word, the people told the sea that they would not stop until their loved ones were found. “We didn’t realise it would be as big as it was, but anybody who is from a fishing community will probably understand that when somebody is missing, it affects everybody,” recalled Martin Scully.

 

Over the coming days, €80,000 was raised through various events to cover the cost of fuel for the boats. About 30 local fishermen and boaters took part in the search. They were backed up by a team of naval divers and the Garda underwater dive team as well as the Skerries RNLI lifeboat volunteers.

 

After a search lasting more than a week, the bodies of both men were recovered on Saturday, 9 April approximately 6 miles off Clogherhead in Co Louth. They were found together, by a boat from that town aptly named the Guiding Light. The volunteer crew of the Clogherhead RNLI lifeboat, the Coast Guard Service and members of the naval vessel LE Ciara assisted the crew members in the recovery. Finally, Ronan Browne and David Gilsenan were brought home.

 

Skerries RNLI Volunteer Press Officer Mary Courtney summed up the feelings of the volunteer crew some months after those events: “The recent tragedy brought them closer; like so many in the town, Ronan and David would have been friends with many of the volunteers from the crew, so the crew carry those memories with them. They know that their RNLI training paid off as it allowed them to control the situation on the water in the early stages with so many boats searching. The RNLI crew in Skerries will never forget the events of last April. The tragedy will be with us always, but it will also prepare us should we find ourselves in that position again.”

 

For showing the power of community spirit during immense tragedy and difficulty and for helping two families to properly begin grieving for their loved ones, the community of Skerries is awarded the Community Group of the Year Award.

“Pressure is for tyres!” Knowing an 18-year-old girl made this remark, you’d be forgiven for thinking she was a typical laidback teenager without a care in the world. While other young people are affected by the pressures of exams, their social lives and the expectations often placed on them to succeed and progress, here is a girl who breezes through life taking everything in her stride.

 

In reality, this girl is a gifted, hard-working student, whose unselfish commitment to nursing her mother through serious illness did not stop her achieving excellent results in her Leaving Certificate, allowing her to go on to study at third level.

 

Jackie Kelly was 16 when her mother, Mary, was diagnosed with cancer in June 2009. Until this time Jackie had been a diligent student at Our Lady’s Secondary School in Templemore, Tipperary. She achieved ten Honours in her Junior Certificate, so everyone had high hopes for her, none more so than her own mother, who always placed great value on education.

 

However, when Mary was diagnosed with cancer, Jackie knew she would have to spend a lot more time at home helping her to recover. Jackie (an only child) and her dad John got a lot of emotional and practical support from their extended family. Setting herself up for the school year ahead, Jackie invested in a laptop computer so that she could study on the go for her Leaving Certificate while still caring for her ill mother.

 

Jackie attended school on days when her mother felt well enough to be left alone. On these days she collected notes and homework from her teachers, which she would complete at home and send back to school via post or email. She communicated with her teachers by text message, often asking for extra homework. She also made good use of the Department of Education and Skills website and sites such as skool.ie to guide her through her studies. In total, Jackie missed 50 per cent of the school year and, according to fellow student Stephen O’Riordan, her classmates thought it was Jackie herself who was sick, oblivious to the struggle she faced at home. When they heard of her experiences, he says they learned just what a “diligent, caring, loyal” person Jackie is.

 

One morning in December 2009, Mary collapsed. Unable to find a pulse, Jackie performed CPR on her mother while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Mary was brought to hospital in Clonmel and later moved to Cork University Hospital.

 

By mid-January 2010, Mary was showing signs of improvement. Jackie returned to school and began to prepare for her pre-Leaving Certificate exams. Jackie graduated from school in May 2010 and went on to complete her Leaving Certificate, obtaining 120 points more than was required to secure a place on her chosen college course. She recently completed the first year of a four-year degree programme in Business at Limerick Institute of Technology based in Thurles.

 

As Jackie’s success at school progressed, so did her mother’s health. Indeed, her achievements seem to have had a direct effect on Mary’s recovery. As Martin Leyden, Jackie’s business studies teacher, said, “The better she would do in her exams, the better her mother would get.” Mary is now doing well.

 

Jackie’s experience has been a wonderful inspiration to the people around her. Her caring spirit and quiet determination make her a positive role model for everyone in the community. For her maturity, strength and motivation in the face of adversity, Jackie Kelly is awarded the Young Person of the Year Award.

“A brave and courageous peacekeeper”, “a great police officer”, and “a modern-day hero” are some of the ways in which Constable Ronan Kerr has been described. But none of this can hide the fact that Ronan Kerr was a young man of only 25 when he was tragically killed by a car bomb outside his home in Omagh, Co. Tyrone.

 

Ronan joined the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in May 2010 and, having completed his training in December, was posted to Enniskillen Police Station to complete a probationary period. On 2 April 2011, it is believed that Ronan, who was due to go to work two hours later, went out to get something from his car, when the bomb that killed him went off.

 

It is thought that dissident Republicans are responsible for the killing, supposedly trying to deter any other Catholics from joining the PSNI forces. However, their actions did not have the effect they desired. Religious, sporting and political figures from Ireland, Britain and America united in condemning the killing, saying that the perpetrators were trying to drag Northern Ireland back to its bloody history and were acting against the wishes of all the people of Ireland. First Minister Peter Robinson said that it was “shocking and deplorable”, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said that the bombers had “betrayed the community”, Taoiseach Enda Kenny called it a “heinous and pointless act of terror”, while British Prime Minister David Cameron described it as “a wicked and cowardly crime”.

 

That weekend was supposed to be a memorable occasion for the Kerr family. Ronan’s brother Cathair was travelling back from Australia so that the family could be together to celebrate Mother’s Day. Their sister, Dairine, the youngest of the family, would be turning 18 in a few weeks and this was a chance for Ronan, Cathair, Aaron and Dairine to be together with their mother Nuala. However, on a stopover in Abu Dhabi, Cathair went on Facebook to check the football results, and discovered that Ronan, had been killed. Instead of the joyful reunion it should have been, the Kerr family were together to mourn the tragic loss of their son and brother.

 

Their father had died in October 2008 after a long battle with cancer, during which time Nuala took time off from her job as a nurse to care for her husband. Throughout this time Ronan remained at home, working in a series of manual jobs to support his mother. After his father’s death, Ronan was attracted to work with the PSNI, a move that was widely supported by his family and friends. Many regarded him to be a kind person who always helped others. Fr. John Skinnader, a family friend, remarked that he remembered Ronan was interested in the police even as a young boy. He recalled how Ronan would hide with his brothers in the bushes and pretend to radio the number plates of cars to an imaginary control room.

 

In 2001 the Police Service of Northern Ireland was established, replacing the RUC. At this time the composition of the PSNI was 8.2 per cent Catholic and 91.8 per cent non-Catholic. In order to ensure that the new police service was representative of the community, a 50:50 recruitment policy was recommended by the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland. This policy was in place until this year, when it was announced it would lapse, the Policing Board noting that Catholic representation of PSNI officers stood at 30.3 per cent.

 

Despite the PSNI’s policy towards Catholic recruitment, Ronan’s decision to join the police service was considered a brave one but it came as no surprise to those who knew him. Gearóid Ó Treasaigh, Chairman of Beragh Red Knights GAA Club, where Ronan was a member from the age of five, said that Ronan was highly regarded in his community and had joined the PSNI “because he wanted to play his part in making our society a better place.” Indeed, his involvement in his local GAA club was remarked on by Criostóir Ó Cuana, President of the GAA, saying that his contribution as a player and his promotion of Gaelic games was “considerable”.

 

Ronan’s love for his job was evident in his work. District Commander Temporary Superintendent Pauline Shields commented that he served his community “impartially and professionally” and provided an “exemplary service” to his district. Ronan’s mother, Nuala, described how he had “all the attributes of a great police officer – fair, empathetic, intelligent, humorous, a great communicator and loyal to all who knew him. And he just loved his job.”

 

While, for many, the tragedy of Ronan’s death can never be forgotten, the positive mark he made on his community will always remain. Formerly, the GAA banned members of the security forces in Northern Ireland from joining its organisation. Yet here was a young man who played an active role in his local GAA club and was looking forward to a fruitful career with the PSNI. Ronan’s success at uniting his community was evident even after his death – a minute’s silence was observed at a Tyrone match, the GAA’s highest-ranking officials spoke out against his death, and GAA players and officials stood side by side with PSNI officers at his funeral, helping each other to carry his coffin to the church. Even in death Ronan brought together two groups that were often at odds with each other.

 

For the enormous bravery and commitment he showed in both his community and in his service to the PSNI, Ronan Kerr is posthumously awarded a People of the Year Award.

Many of us are familiar with Gandhi’s immortal encouragement to “be the change you want to see in the world”. But how many of us really take these words to heart? One Irish woman, whose life’s work has drawn inspiration from Gandhi, is the embodiment of these words.

 

Edith Wilkins was born in Cork and, from a young age, showed she had a caring nature by spending her summer holidays looking after the sick and elderly who visited the Marian Shrine at Lourdes. She trained as a nurse at the Cork Polio and General After-Care Association (now known as the Cope Foundation), focusing in particular on people with intellectual disabilities. After a brief period in Limerick, Edith moved to Scotland where she trained as a State-registered nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. She later returned to Cork, and worked at St Finbarr’s Hospital. While there, an old school friend who had been working with the charity GOAL in Calcutta got in touch. At this time the charity was newly established and had only two volunteers in Calcutta and so Edith decided to join her. After a few years Edith moved to Sudan, a country struggling to recover from severe flooding and famine. Edith personally experienced the civil unrest when she was shot at a border crossing in Darfur. Three years later, when Edith heard of the suffering endured by thousands of children living on the streets in Calcutta, she decided to return there and do what she could to help. Edith found she couldn’t turn her back on those who so desperately needed her help. In 1984 Edith launched Amadir Bari (Our Home), the first halfway house to be established in India. She began working at the Child in Need Institute, which helps mothers and children to break free from their lives of poverty. Edith completed a postgraduate course in counselling with a focus on disturbed and abused children, and young sufferers of AIDS. During this time Edith also worked closely with Mother Teresa.

 

In 2001, Edith was asked by a number of local groups to move to Siliguri in Darjeeling where she worked closely with local NGOs. This was an area badly affected by widespread drug addiction, the physical and sexual abuse of children, child trafficking and child labour. The closure of local tea gardens meant unemployment was high and a lack of child services had forced thousands of children to live on the streets, scavenging in rubbish dumps for food and anything that could be recycled.

 

It was here that Edith learned that every few months, up to 2,000 children were being trafficked across the border from Nepal, mostly for prostitution, slave labour or to smuggle drugs and other goods into the country. In some cases the children were as young as three or four years old. This situation was not being addressed by any other NGO in the area so Edith set up the Edith Wilkins Street Children Foundation.

 

The Foundation’s main aim is to save children from their struggle to survive on the streets by providing them with a place to sleep in halfway houses and night shelters, and the chance to get an education and break free from the cycle of poverty. A drop-in centre was established where children could have a meal and rest in a peaceful and safe environment. Edith also opened outreach clinics on railway platforms and in the slum colonies where most street children lived. These clinics provided free medication and treatment for disease, as well as counselling and basic education for children up to 18 years old. The clinics treated children with mumps, tuberculosis and chicken pox, who would otherwise have remained untreated.

 

Edith built strong relationships with the police forces of West Bengal. She also campaigned to raise awareness of child trafficking among the 1,200 taxi drivers in Darjeeling, encouraging them to report suspected instances.

 

In her time in India, Edith has suffered many hardships, including contracting diseases like malaria, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid, as well as receiving threats on her life from the pimps from whom she rescued and protected children. But perhaps the most difficult thing for Edith has been burying the children she had tried to save who died from a variety of illnesses.

 

However, Edith’s story is not just about hardship and suffering. Over the years she has fostered 20 children, many of whom have progressed to third-level education. In September 2010, Edith and her Indian-born children, Omer, 18, and Karishma, 10, moved home to Cork due to Edith’s ill-health from the many illnesses she picked up through her work over the years. Edith continues her work for the Foundation here in Ireland with fundraising activities. Thousands of children in India now have a place they can call home thanks to Edith’s relentless caring spirit. As Brian Bermingham, former Lord Mayor of Cork, said, “Edith lit a candle rather than curse the darkness.”

 

For her compassion, selflessness and unfaltering commitment to improving the lives of the people of India, Edith Wilkins is awarded the International Person of the Year Award.

Early on the morning of Sunday, 3 July 2011, a fleet of almost 50 Tall Ships glided majestically through the quays of Waterford City, along the Suir Estuary and out to the open sea at Dunmore East. From there they headed up the east coast of Ireland towards Greenock in Scotland in the first of the Tall Ships Races of 2011.

 

Although this marked the beginning of a month-long voyage for the ships, for the people of Waterford it was a triumphant conclusion to a lively four-day festival of music, parades, market stalls, street performances and fireworks.

 

This was the second time that Waterford was successful in its bid to host this prestigious maritime event, having previously welcomed the Tall Ships in 2005. Of course, Waterford has a maritime tradition dating back almost eleven centuries when a fleet of Viking warships sailed up the Suir in AD 941. The city once was home to some of the most sophisticated shipbuilding operations of the 19th century and was Ireland’s leading location for iron shipbuilding from the mid-1840s until Belfast took primacy in the early 1860s.

And so, keen to embrace their nautical heritage, the people of Waterford came together to put on a vibrant display of everything they have to offer.

 

There were food and market villages where visitors could sample the finest in local cuisine and produce, as well as a craft village where people could take part in workshops and demonstrations. Visitors could take to the skies above Waterford with helicopter rides, while down below the streets were thronged with street performances and parades. A number of cultural venues in the city held a range of educational events and exhibitions, and throughout the city numerous musical performances were staged, featuring some of the top names in local, national and international music. Even the children got involved by attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of costumed pirates at a single location.

 

 

Naturally, such an exuberant and dynamic event takes an enormous amount of planning and organisation. But perhaps what is most impressive about the organisation of the Tall Ships Festival was that the majority of the 60 people involved were volunteers, with only four paid staff.

 

Local people were also invited to “get on board” as sponsors or partners, by providing products or services, or by volunteering to help during the festival. Between 500 and 600 people volunteered in all areas of the event from liaising with ships, crews, working at street performances, assisting with transport and traffic, and even continually picking up litter to keep the streets of Waterford clean. Des Whelan, Chairman of the Tall Ships Festival Waterford 2011 – Waterford, congratulated the wide range of people who contributed “to delivering a first-class international event”. Des was delighted with the efforts made by so many people, saying, “it was great to see all of the logistics work so well and a tremendous atmosphere prevail”. He expressed his appreciation by saying a big thank you to everyone involved, stating he felt it was a “tremendous piece of work to lead”.

 

During two years of preparations, these energetic people amassed 13,760 hours of voluntary work, and it certainly paid off! An estimated 420,000 people visited the quays over the course of three days, with an additional 80,000 lining out to see the Parade of Sail along the Suir Estuary on Sunday morning, bringing the total number of visitors to a phenomenal 500,000 throughout the duration of the festival, the largest number of people ever assembled in the city.

 

Indeed, the huge accomplishment of this organisation has been widely remarked upon. Redmond O’Donoghue, Chairman of Fáilte Ireland, said that all who worked in delivering the programme of events should be very proud of their involvement in this “awesome success”. Remarkably, The School of Business at Waterford Institute of Technology estimated the event would have generated a total of €30 million in economic activity, the value of which is enormous during such troubled times in our country’s economy. Michael Ring, TD, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, commented that “an event like the Tall Ships will really put the wind back in the sails of Ireland Inc.”

 

The Tall Ships Race, which takes place annually, is organised by Sail Training International, a non-profit organisation that promotes the development and education of young people through the sail training experience, regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background. Young people are encouraged to become a member of the crew on board a Tall Ship, no matter what their previous sailing experience, to help them discover their own strengths and talents while also learning the value of teamwork. Without a doubt, the many people who put so much effort into making this event such a success made good use of their strengths and talents and stood together as a formidable team.

 

For the enormous voluntary and community effort that led to a hugely successful festival, the Tall Ships Festival Waterford 2011 – Waterford is awarded a People of the Year Award.

Sunday, 19 June 2011 was a special day for fathers all around Ireland, but it was particularly special for Gerry McIlroy, who stood on the fairway of the 18th hole at the Congressional Country Club and embraced his son Rory, after his record-breaking victory in the US Open Championship. As Rory lifted the famous trophy and said to him, “Happy Father’s Day — this one’s for you”, the world knew that this was the moment the McIlroys had been waiting for all their lives.

 

Born in Holywood, Co. Down, in 1989, Rory’s relationship with golf started at the tender age of 18 months when he picked up his first golf club. He showed early potential when, six months later, he hit a 40-yard drive. His first hole-in-one came when he was just nine years old. With his father, a former scratch golfer, teaching young Rory the game, his love affair with golf quickly developed. The story goes that when he got a golf club as a present, and having been shown the correct grip by his father, Rory then took the club to bed with him that night, his hands holding it properly.

 

At the age of seven, Rory was successfully proposed for membership of Holywood Golf Club, becoming its youngest-ever member. He still retains Holywood as his home course and credits it as challenging him to develop the full range of skills necessary to eventually become a top player. It was here that he was first coached by Michael Bannon, who remains part of Rory’s team today.

 

Rory attended his local national and secondary schools while continuing to progress with his golf game in his spare time. His parents, Gerry and Rosie, made many sacrifices to support their only child, both working long hours, often in two to three different jobs at a time. They travelled across Europe and America supporting Rory, who has always said that he cannot thank them enough for what they have done for him.

 

Rory’s first significant international victory came in the World Championship for 9–10 year olds in Florida. He continued to collect trophies throughout his teenage years, including the 2004 Junior Ryder Cup with the European Team, back-to-back West of Ireland and Irish Close Championships in 2005 and 2006 and the European Amateur Championship in 2006, the year in which he represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy.

 

Rory decided to forgo an offer to play collegiate golf in the United States, preferring to play amateur golf in Europe. He made his first appearance in a European Tour event a few days after turning 16, when he took part in the 2005 British Masters. He turned professional in 2007. He had his first wins on the European Tour in 2009 and the PGA Tour in 2010, the latter in the same year that he represented Europe in the Ryder Cup.

 

2011 is a year that Rory will never forget as he reached the lowest and highest points in his career to date. As he put it, “I will look back on 2011 as the turning point in my career.” In April Rory brought the US Masters to life with his fantastic skills. His four-shot lead going into the final round made the world stand up and take notice of the young man with the distinctive curly hair from Northern Ireland. History was to be made on that fateful Sunday, but for all the wrong reasons. As the lead slipped from his grasp, the world watched Rory struggle to contain his emotion and disappointment, his dream ebbing slowly away from him, shot by shot. He showed maturity beyond his years in the aftermath of the Masters, saying, “There are a lot worse things that can happen in your life. Shooting a bad score in the last round of a golf tournament is nothing in comparison to what other people go through.”

 

Rory’s positive attitude was key to his recovery from the Masters. He spent time consolidating his game, using the experience as a valuable learning tool. He got advice from golf legend Jack Nicklaus and he also took a break from his busy schedule in the week leading up to the US Open Championship to go to Haiti in his new role as Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland. The trip had a big impact on Rory. He said, “The spirit, not just of the kids, but the whole country, was incredible. The whole experience was quite inspiring. It changes how you think.”

 

A more relaxed and confident Rory McIlroy teed off at the US Open Championship at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland in June. Over the course of the tournament he tied or broke 12 Open records. Fear that the last day would bring a repeat of the Masters loss was dispelled when Rory showed the world that he had learned from his mistakes as he comfortably led the field of world-class golfers. His record score of 16-under-par, an eight-shot victory, made him the youngest winner since 1923.

 

The 2010 US Open Champion and People of the Year Award Winner, Graeme McDowell, describes his close friend: “Nothing this kid does ever surprises me. He’s the best player I’ve ever seen. Simple as that. He’s great for golf. He’s a breath of fresh air for the game, and perhaps we’re ready for golf’s next superstar.”

 

For his inspiring determination, his talent and hard work leading to outstanding achievements on a world stage at a young age, Rory McIlroy receives a People of the Year Award.

 

With five centres in Dublin and Limerick, and over 60 staff, Pieta House now stands as a testament to one woman’s dream and a source of hope for those who are suicidal and who self-harm.

 

Pieta House, which provides counselling, support and advice for those who are actively suicidal, who may be contemplating suicide, or who self-harm, was created in 2006 and is the brainchild of Joan Freeman. It is the only service in Ireland for people who self-harm.

 

In 2003, while working as a psychologist and running her own counselling business, Joan was inspired to create Pieta House, having had personal experience of the effects of suicide and seen a gap in services. The Pietà is a renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo that depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. Joan came across a version of the Pietà while flicking through a book called The Seven Sorrows of Mary and was taken by the sculpture’s symbolism. “There is a lovely symbolic story behind it. Michaelangelo made Mary’s body bigger than that of her son. He made her shoulders very broad and her lap big so she could embrace his death.” Joan was immediately inspired to create a service that would be strong enough to provide the same support for some of the most vulnerable in society. “I thought what we need is a service that embraces the broken lives of people in our community. It was really one of those flashlight moments and it started from there.”

 

Once that thought had entered Joan’s mind, it would not leave and she felt compelled to close her business and focus completely on the creation of Pieta House, a decision that she says was easy to make. “There was no difficulty at all. It just didn’t come into the equation at all. This was all I knew I had to do.”

 

 

It took three years for Joan’s dream to become a reality. First, she felt she had to research the topic of suicide in greater detail. “Even in my own practice, we were always afraid of dealing with anybody who had suicidal tendencies, so I immersed myself in the subject of suicide and self-harm.” To ensure that Pieta House would last longer than most services of its type, Joan embarked on a course of diligent and meticulous research and preparatory work. “I had to do a sort of feasibility study to see was it feasible to have a service like this, and then I had to do a business plan.”

 

Many difficulties presented themselves while Joan was creating and establishing her new organisation, with funding inevitably being one of the most difficult obstacles. Having initially received no public funding, Joan put her own home on the line by borrowing from the bank and using it as collateral. Despite this risk, Joan’s determination made her see it simply as a necessary step towards her ultimate goal. “I didn’t see it [as a commitment] at all to be honest. I asked my husband Pat about it obviously, but he knew I was so blinkered about it at this point so we started off with six people and we now have 60 staff.” In spite of her initial success the difficulty of funding never went away and today it costs €1.3 million annually to provide therapy completely free of charge to those who need it across the five Pieta House centres. “85 per cent of the €1.3 million would be down to fundraising and we don’t have a fundraiser. It’s down to the huge generosity of people, people randomly hearing about us and doing a fundraiser for us. It’s not easy, though, and we still manage from month to month but the journey has been miraculous in that way as many charities close down in the first couple of years.”

 

Historically Ireland has had a particularly complicated and difficult relationship with suicide. Despite an improved awareness of suicide in Irish society through personal experience and National Office of Suicide Prevention research, there still appears to be an unwillingness

to openly discuss or debate the issue. In the past, a stigma attached to suicide led to under-reporting in coroner reports. Every day more people die through suicide than road traffic accidents, yet suicide prevention budgets do not reflect this. With suicide in Ireland on the rise, it is very clear that there is a need for services like Pieta House. In 2009 there were 527 reported deaths by suicide, an increase of 24 per cent on the previous year.

 

Joan feels that attitudes need to change if Ireland is to deal properly with the issue of suicide. “It is getting people to see that behind suicide is not always a psychiatric illness but usually a very human experience. We see that most people who come to us have no psychiatric history but the reaction to a life event such as a bereavement, or a relationship break up, bullying, all those sort of things. It’s trying to get that message across because there is still a stigma attached. Once people start realising what it is, then we can do something concrete about it.”

 

Looking to the future, Joan Freeman has grand plans for Pieta House. She hopes to open more centres in Cork and Galway and aims to have a Pieta service within 100 km of everyone living in Ireland. Beyond that Joan aspires to create Pieta House services outside of Ireland as she proudly states, “We’ve emails from all over the world asking where the nearest Pieta House is.”

 

It would appear then that if Joan Freeman gets her way, many more than the 4,000 users of Pieta House will get the help they need in the very near future.

 

Helen Keller said that “walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light”. This aptly describes the relationship between Ian Lawlor and Sharon Malloy. A friend can be crucial to a person’s ability to deal with difficult times, and can reach a person on levels that are unknown to others in their life. Sharon Malloy was able to reach Ian Lawlor on the deepest of levels during his darkest time, extending the true hand of friendship to someone in desperate need.

 

Ian Lawlor grew up in Portlaoise, and came into contact with drugs for the first time aged just 14. By 17 he was already addicted to heroin. He attempted a rehabilitation programme, but left after only two weeks. At 19, things began to take an upward curve as Ian entered a rehabilitation programme for a second time. “That was a year-long programme and I graduated from it within ten months, which was very good,” he recalls. It was there that Ian met Sharon Malloy and began his journey towards recovery.

 

Born in the UK to an Irish father, Sharon Malloy and her family, husband Mike and two daughters Annie and Sara, have lived in Ireland for the last 15 years. Sharon has a broad range of qualifications, all with the common theme of care and support. She has studied reflexology, trained with the Rape Crisis Centre as a Sexual Abuse Counsellor and recently trained with the Merchant’s Quay project and UCD in addiction counselling.

 

Sharon had worked in the rehabilitation centre Ian attended originally doing reflexology. She then introduced Ian to the practice of metamorphosis as Ian was open to the idea of self-healing. “In metamorphosis the practitioner is a catalyst which enables people to heal themselves and let go of their addictions. You’re there as a support for them to come into their own balance and once in their own balance, they will live more in the moment, lessening the significance of the chaos of the past.”

 

Ian felt the benefit of this approach to the recovery process. He quickly began to trust and confide in Sharon. “When I was expressing myself to Sharon she not only listened but heard everything I had to say. That’s all you need, you know, when you feel lonely or down, or depressed, or missing something or someone, you only need an ear.”

 

Before Ian completed his 12 months of rehabilitation, Sharon’s time at the centre came to an end. “I expressed how sad I was at her leaving so Sharon left me her number and told me once I had finished my 12-month rehabilitation, I could contact her if ever I needed support.” Giving out her personal number was a serious commitment for Sharon to make but she wasn’t nervous. “There is a stereotype, but my experience, especially with heroin users, is that they are actually very vulnerable people and very sensitive people too. Take the drugs away and there is honestly a beautiful person underneath.”

 

Out in the world, Ian used Sharon’s number as a lifeline. “Not even a week after finishing my treatment I contacted Sharon as my head was all over the place; all I could think about was heroin. That first night that I called her she listened to me for hours.”

 

Ian was nervous making that first call to Sharon but he clearly outlined the importance of her support and the stark reality of his situation at the time. “I hadn’t talked to her in a few months, the reality of it was, though, it was either call Sharon or call a drug dealer, and just luckily, Sharon answered my call.”

Sharon acknowledges that there is plenty in this relationship for her too. Ian has become a friend to her and there is a sense of pride in her voice as she speaks about him; not pride in her support of him, but pride in his achievements. “It’s lovely to see somebody like Ian grow. It is a lovely experience. To see where he is now, even for him to make the nomination and that he has the confidence to do that is wonderful.”

 

Ian’s struggles were difficult but he feels they would have been much harder without Sharon by his side. “I was lucky I made a friend who committed to seeing my recovery through. What started out as two strangers meeting has to me become one of the greatest friendships imaginable.” A modest Sharon, meanwhile, believes her role in their relationship is a privilege. “It’s a real honour to have someone trust you enough to tell you intimate things and to trust you, 100 per cent. I’ve listened, but he has put the work in and it was an honour that he brought me with him on his journey.”

 

Usually associated with countries such as England, India, Pakistan and Australia, cricket has a new-found popularity in Ireland, all thanks to the outstanding achievements of the Irish Cricket Team. For years cricket was a minority sport in Ireland, played in only a few communities around the country. For many, the rules of cricket were a mystery. But in 2011, the Irish people were ‘bowled’ over by the sport, inspired by the outstanding performances of the national team. In fact, for a week in March, Ireland went cricket crazy.

 

The love affair with the Irish Cricket Team began in 2007 when the team, which was made up of both professional and non-professional players (such as postmen, school teachers, electricians) travelled to the Caribbean for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup. Cricket had few followers in Ireland at that time, but two months later, after Ireland had beaten Pakistan in a historic match on St Patrick’s Day, advancing to the Super 8 stage of the tournament, the fan base at home was growing. The little-known sportsmen returned to a hero’s welcome and while some commentators thought this was a one-off fairytale story for the Irish team, it was only the beginning.

 

Four years later, and with better financial support, facilities and training, the Irish Cricket Team returned to the Cricket World Cup. The team played in India and Bangladesh and its great performances made the rest of the world sit up and take notice. Ireland came home with two wins out of six matches, a relatively average result, but it was the performance against England that will linger in the memory of cricket fans around the world. The dramatic fashion in which the team achieved its first victory over its closest neighbour impressed even non-cricket fans.

Ireland played England at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on 2 March. England won the toss and chose to bat, getting off to a strong start. Nevertheless, Ireland persisted and after the eventual loss of their first four wickets, England’s middle-order batters crumbled under the weight of the Irish bowlers, managing to score just 38 runs between five of them. Ireland’s innings started shakily when the captain, William Porterfield, was bowled out on the first ball. When the fifth wicket fell and Ireland’s total was just 111, it seemed the English would remain undefeated. But cricket is different from other team sports in that the performance of an individual greatly impacts on the performance of the team as a whole.

 

And so, in walked batter number six, Kevin O’Brien, with a huge responsibility and a sizeable target still to reach. Instead of succumbing to the pressure, O’Brien held his head high and used the opportunity to show the extent of his skills. He gave all he had for his team and for his country.

O’Brien faced 63 balls and scored 113 runs. In that spell he racked up 100 runs from just 50 balls, the quickest century ever achieved in the Cricket World Cup. He hit six sixes, one of which was the highest recorded at the tournament up to that point, measuring 102 metres.

 

When O’Brien was eventually run out, it seemed the Irish could dare to hope, but to lose after such an inspirational display would have been shattering. However, Trent Johnson calmed nerves by scoring four runs on his first ball and stayed in with John Mooney to bring the team to victory, the highest-ever successful run chase at a World Cup.

Although O’Brien’s performance stood out and earned him the title of Man of the Match, Ireland’s triumph over England was indeed a team effort. Alex Cusack scored 47 runs not out while John Mooney took four wickets and scored 33 runs not out – the winning runs against the English team.

 

Phil Simmons, Coach for the Irish Cricket Team, described what winning the match meant to the team: "We were very aware of just how much the win meant to not just the cricketing public, but the whole island. It gave everyone a much-needed boost and it was great to hear of cricket entering the mainstream public consciousness. It'll go down deservedly as one of the truly great moments in Irish sporting folklore. We were delighted to bring so much joy to the people of Ireland, and feel very humbled and indeed honoured to be recognised by them with this prestigious award."

 

Sporting and non-sporting people alike joined forces in congratulating the Irish Cricket Team on its momentous achievement. Many people commented that it was similar to England beating Ireland at hurling. Taoiseach Enda Kenny praised the team, saying “their supreme effort will lift the spirits of every single Irish person” and that their inspiring performance on the cricket pitch showed that “the apparently impossible can be made possible”.

 

The Irish team’s performance won them fans around the globe and 1 billion people tuned in to watch their next match. Cricket fan or not, nobody could dispute that the Irish Cricket Team had taken Irish cricket to new levels and hopefully will continue to do so. Ireland is now ranked tenth in the world cricket rankings.

 

For being proud ambassadors for Ireland, showing courage and unfaltering determination under pressure, the Irish Cricket Team is awarded a People of the Year Award.