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Warrior – a film worth fighting for!
Yesterday, Katie Joan Maguire’s passion project came to life in a Private Showing – Warrior – at the Lighthouse Cinema. Played to a packed audience, the film had a devastating punch when exploring the issue of undiagnosed chronic illness. At the event, Katie said: “It has been a long two years getting our film from page to screen. Couldn’t have done it without our fantastic cast and crew. My hope is that through this film those sitting across from someone with an invisible illness might understand that just because something can’t be seen, doesn’t mean it’s not real, and for those in Jenny’s shoes to hopefully, finally be understood and know they are not alone.” Lorraine Fox, actor in the film, said: “Warrior is a film full of complex emotions, which truly touched my heart. I’m extremely grateful to be part of the stellar cast, and so proud of Katie for bringing Jenny’s’ story to the Big Screen. This film will certainly resonate and touch the heart of every viewer who watches it.” Siobhán Dunne who plays the lead role of ‘Jenny’ said: “I was blown away by the lovely reception the film received and so touched to hear how so […]
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Making a Difference – A Life Between Heartbeats: Eimear Byrne, Arklow, and the Price of Time
Eimear Byrne does not present as someone defined by illness. She is a primary school teacher, rooted in her work, her language, and her town. Yet her life has been shaped by a medical condition that now demands something extraordinary, not of her alone, but of the community around her. Listen to the radio show (May 11) At the age of ten, Byrne was diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder and underwent her first open-heart surgery. It was, by any standard, a difficult beginning, though she speaks of it without embellishment. “That was quite difficult as a child, but I recovered and got on with life,” she says. Life did resume. She trained as a teacher, returning eventually to the very Gaelscoil where she had once been a pupil. Irish is not inherited in the Byrne household, but it has become central to both Eimear and her younger sister Niamh, chosen rather than assumed. “We ended up going to the local Gaelscoil,” she explains, “and I’m actually back in the school I went to.” There is something circular, almost poetic, in that journey. Teaching through Irish is not simply a professional choice; it is cultural participation. Niamh followed her into […]
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The Wishing Well: Ciaran Casey – Leadership Is Not What You Intend but What Others Experience
Ciaran Casey has spent more than three decades working in leadership across sectors and geographies, yet his central argument is disarmingly simple. Leadership, he suggests, is not something a person possesses. It is something that happens between people. Listen to the radio show on here (April 28th) Casey’s book, Leadership in Tune: Cultivating Impact Through Connection, which will be published on May 27th, reflects both his professional experience and a period of deeper reflection. Having moved into leadership development in recent years, he found himself revisiting ideas he had encountered throughout his career, this time grounding them in lived experience. What emerged was a growing curiosity about a persistent gap. “I have never met anybody who set out to be a bad leader,” he says. “People come into leadership with good intentions, and yet the experience in the workplace does not reflect that.” The data supports his observation. Levels of engagement remain stubbornly low, with only a minority of employees fully invested in their work. Trust fluctuates, and organisational change often fails to deliver its intended outcomes. For Casey, the explanation lies not in a lack of effort, but in a misunderstanding of what leadership is. “We have a gap […]
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Making a Difference – Rachel Grace and the business of making a life in music
Rachel Grace has done something many musicians spend years trying to achieve. She now makes a living entirely from music, not from one narrow strand of it, but from the full working life of a modern independent artist: recording, live performance, session work, teaching, choir direction and the steady administrative labour that sits behind it all. It is a practical achievement, and one that says as much about discipline as talent. Listen to the radio show here (April 20th) Grace is from Wexford, where music arrived early and stayed. Her grandmother, she said, was the main influence in a family that listened to music but did not play it professionally. She was taken to sessions as a child, sat in with musicians while still very young, and learned guitar and banjo in the process. School helped too. Her primary school had an orchestra and assigned instruments to pupils, which is how she learned saxophone. Guitar came first, then piano. The piano, she said, won because of how it sounded. “I discovered the piano and how lovely and depressing it sounded, and I switched.” There was little ambiguity about the ambition. Grace said she had wanted to be a pop star […]
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Wishing Well – Eleanor O’Reilly On the Purpose of Language
For Eleanor O’Reilly, purpose sits at the centre of everything. It is there in the classroom, where language is both subject and tool. It is there in her writing, where discipline matters as much as inspiration. And it is there in the way she speaks about creativity, not as something decorative, but as something necessary. Listen to the radio show here (April 14) O’Reilly is an assistant principal at Gorey Community School in County Wexford, one of the largest schools in Ireland, with close to 2,000 students passing through the building each day. She teaches English and Classical Studies to Leaving Certificate honours level, and she also teaches creative writing to Transition Year students. For her, the connection between those disciplines is obvious. Classical Studies draws on ancient literature, mythology, architecture and archaeology. English is rooted in literary study. Both, in different ways, are about stories and how they are made. “I love teaching both subjects,” she says. “Teaching is very creative, and that’s what keeps me going.” That sense of creativity has not dimmed with time. After 26 years in the profession, O’Reilly still speaks about teaching with energy and clarity. “Every day is different, every class is different, […]
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