Sin Scéal Eile

Sometimes you meet people who just have it made. They don’t ask for much from the world and in turn, they’re happy with their lot.  Lisa brought her 3 kids, husband and 2 dogs to live at the foot of the Dublin mountains not too long ago. She now cherishes the peace and stillness she has. The dark skies at night allow her to watch the stars and during the day, in true Disney Princess style, sh...

It’s not often that I hike anymore, I’m usually in the car, travelling around Ireland meeting folk for this project. When Cara suggested a walk & talk style of interview I was intrigued.  That’s what she does professionally, she’s a psychotherapist who hikes with her clients. It’s a novel and unique idea. She finds that walking with her clients is a perfect distraction for those who might...

At just 23 years of age, Amy is already living the dream. She’s young and but beautifully enthused about life and work and everything that’s coming her way.  She always wanted to be a school teacher, and it’s her first year in the job. We stroll around the Botanic Gardens, just a stones throw from St Patrick’s college where just last year she graduated. She teaches a large group of second cla...

Ryan is 27 but has a life tougher than most will ever know. His parents were only children themselves when they had him, just 15 & 17. They brought Ryan up in a house where he was surrounded by drug use and other harmful situations.  But Ryan made a decision early on not to let his challenges define him. He worked hard, attended school and got his leaving cert. However, after years o...

I met Shantanu at a festival a few years ago and straight away we buzzed off each other. He’s one of those priceless festival friends who when you spot across the crowd, you know that your night is going to go from zero to ninety instantly. When Ray O’Neill (97/365) told me that Shantanu had an epic origin story to tell, I was all ears.  In 2015 Shantanu landed in Ireland, after completing an...

Declan and his mates have formed an “Old Dads Club”. He was 48 when he had his first child, and his second one soon after. We took around the Docklands where Declan has worked for the past 27 years, and he tells me about the joys of fatherhood, and the need to keep fit to keep up with his little ones. He starts his day at 5am, so that he can be home in good time to play with the kids, help with th...

Miriam didn’t always have narcolepsy, she developed it when she was in her 40s. It sounds like an incredibly debilitating disorder to have. It affects her ability to drive, to work and to just partake in the simplest of life’s tasks. She is battling with tiredness the whole time she’s awake She also suffers with cataplexy, which she describes as almost being drunk, your legs just go from under you...

For this daily portrait and podcast project, I’ve invited people to tell me their stories. These can be any stories at all that people wish to share and be remembered for, anything that’s on their mind or that they feel defines them. I could not have anticipated the sheer volume of people who have been in touch who have been diagnosed with some form of cancer.  It seems to be the illness that...

Fatima is a strong, charismatic, funny and incredibly intellectual young Mother. She has chosen to share the story of her baby girl, Poppy, who was born still in April 2021 and is very much missed. Fatima feels that women today need to share their experiences of stillbirth, miscarriages and traumatic births more frequently and openly. She received a flood of messages from friends and acquaintances...

I can’t believe I got to meet the winner of Cabra’s Lovely Gardens competition. Ray moved into his beautiful home not too long ago and found himself in love with ‘Fabra’. The neighbours, the location, but mostly, the joy of having a bit of space to start a garden.  It’s quite the achievement these days to be able to have a dream home like Ray’s, and he shares some handy tips to how he managed...

Ken is a tour guide with a very unique selling point. He’s different from any other tour guide you’ll find in Dublin City Centre and I’ll bet you that he knows these streets better than any other Dubliner.  Ken once called the streets of Dublin home. He has lived a life alongside addiction and all that that brings with it, including sleeping rough, frequenting homeless shelters and methadone...

Ann’s story could have been one of sadness, anger, total depression. She had every right to take to the bed and wallow in her misfortune when her husband received his diagnosis of terminal cancer, but she couldn’t, she had a newborn baby to care for.  Javier navigated the hospital wards and into surgery on his own. It was the height of lockdown, people were social distancing, hospitals were o...

We committed to releasing one interview a day for every day this year, and today we very nearly dropped the ball. Between interviewees cancelling for lots of truly valid reasons as well as fuel strikes blocking the road and just general bad luck, we came extremely close to not having an episode.  In steps the legendary Karen Cowley to save the day. In the last few years, Karen’s whole life ha...

I met Gabriela in her home in rural Mayo. Her two year old son clings to her and it's so wonderful to hear her speaking Spanish to him. Gabi is from Mexico City, a bustling urban environment with over 20 million people. These days, her world is smaller, in a tiny village of just a few hundred, but she's confident it's the best place to bring up a child, even though she misses a lot from home. Sin...

Motherhood and pregnancy is something that a lot of people wish to talk to me about in this daily podcast project so of course I oblige. It’s a topic that doesn’t affect me personally (apart from being born myself) as I don’t have any children, nor do I plan on having any. Possibly one of the factors that turned me off having children was the way that the birthing process is handled in Ireland. I...

George is my nextdoor neighbour. We live in a little estate in the middle of Finglas and it’s the kind of place where everyone knows each other and you’ll also keep an eye out for each other.  Shamefully I knew little of George’s life before this conversation so it was a total treat to be invited into his home and hear all his stories. He spent 30 odd years working for An Post, had 4 sons and...

I’m just going to preface this by saying I LOVE a library. The admin of this daily project is huge, I don’t have an office or a studio, we live in a tiny apartment, so I take myself off to my old college library and bask in the quiet.  It’s been years since I’ve been to a public library and Sarah tells me just how much they’ve changed. No joining fees, no late fees, playstation games to borro...

Jess has recently discovered a whole new strand to her family. She bought a DNA test for her Mum’s birthday and now has a new uncle and a whole heap of cousins.  It’s amazing to think back to just a few generations ago, when people often made heartbreaking decisions to give up much loved children and the need to take those secrets to the grave.  Together they’ve been discovering so much...

Dimitrios is Greek by birth, but Irish by heart. He arrived here in 1989 and was met with nothing but good old Irish hospitality (a cup of tea and a scone). He speaks so fondly of Ireland that I find myself beaming with pride as he reads a short piece he wrote about his experience of being an immigrant in our country.  Come back tomorrow for another podcast/story/portrait. We’re interviewing...

Life feels truly unfair sometimes. All Alan has wanted in life is a family of his own. After being abandoned at a train station in the UK by his mother when he was a child, he finally made his way back to Ireland and started his own family. He has 5 wonderful children, a wife and a 10 week old puppy called Elvis.  When Alan first reached out to me, he wanted to tell me his adoption story, tha...

I’ve never met someone who loves the art of book publishing more than Gráinne Clear. We met in her family home in Navan, where she pops back every few weeks from her base in London. She exploded her life not too long ago and luckily landed her dream job as a result.  She works in children’s books for a publisher that she’s long admired. We have a fascinating chat about the psychology of...

Róisín has quit her lovely stable job as a teacher and has followed her passion of professional birdwatching. We took a stroll around Tymon Park on a rainy Sunday morning and chatted about birds, spotting herons, blackbirds, and even some divorced swans.  Sometimes it’s the simplest topics which are the most enjoyable.  Come back tomorrow for another podcast/story/portrait. We’re intervi...

It was Lisa Walsh’s choice that we meet on the banks of the Liffey for our podcast chat today. She’s a true Northside Dubliner from Ballymun. She’s only lived at 3 addresses in her lifetime, a home bird by all accounts.  Lisa, who trained as a social worker in child protection, loves the feeling of being rooted and acknowledges the sacredness of a home for her children, “It’s their home....

I could have sat in Oli's beautiful wee cottage for hours and hours, drinking tea and listening to the story of his life. His home is as warm and inviting as he is. It's packed with art of various forms, including a gorgeous Mary statue passed down from his grandmother (which has been disco-fied to match the space). Thatch cottage living is in his genes, so it seems only fitting he has settled in...

Martin plays his cards close to his chest. He was recommended to be in the project by a mutual friend of ours and I can tell that he doesn’t quite know what to make of me and my project. In his lovely home in Ballycastle, we sit on his handmade furniture. His beautiful pieces that would sell for hundreds, if not thousands, in a gallery, modestly decorate his living room. In the local village he fa...