CONOR MCDEVITT of the Ranelagh arts festival joins Eoin Drinan to discuss the events of this years festival. They speak of bringing fifty artists from India who will demonstrate their skills in palm leaf and wood carving. There will also be many theatrical events including a play called “The Crossing” staged outside the village market…
The Benefits Of Having An Allotment
CATRIONA REDMOND of the Balbriggan Allotment Association speaks to Noel McGuinness about the benefits of having an allotment. Catriona talks about how having an allotment is great for bringing people together, the uses of an allotment such as growing food, the speakers that they have invited regularly to the Balbriggan allotments to teach members how to…

Adult Education in Donahies Community School
Mark speaks to GEMMA O’ CONNER, coordinator of the Adult Education program and EDDIE MOORE, who teaches Bridge @ The Donahies Community School. They talk about how long the adult education program has been on for, the variety of courses available as part of the program, how open they are in starting new courses, the details about…
The Big Green Apple: Taking Irish Playwrights Across The Atlantic
CAMILLE DONEGAN, co creator of transatlantic theatre troupe “The Big Green Apple”, joins John Healy to talk about their new project in which ten short plays will be written in one week. Of these, five will be chosen to travel to Broadway in New York to be performed at the first Irish Festival. Camille tells…
Volunteer Of The Year
John speaks to NINA ARWITZ from Volunteer Ireland and MATT CULLEN who recently won the Volunteer Of The Year award. Nina talks about the background of Volunteer Ireland, the hard work that is put in volunteers, how thanking the volunteers for their hard work makes it worthwhile to be involved, the wide range and diversity…
Swords 1014 commemoration
Noel McGuinness interviews PAUL BARNES, events officer at Fingal County Council about the Swords 1014 commemoration, which mark the connection of Swords with the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf and the death of Brian Boru as well as Fingal’s strong links to the Vikings. He explains the different events that will take place as well as…
Jonathen Lynam is seeking help for his disabled Father
Pat Meehan speaks to JONATHEN LYNAM, JONATHEN speaks about his disabled father who got both his legs amputated in Beaumont Hospital due to an illness. He is seeking help from the Dublin city council to get the house adapted so his father cam come home. The family have been told there will be no funding…
Women’s Aid
John Healy speaks to LINDA SMITH who is the helpline manager with Women’s Aid , she talks about the 2 in 2u campaign & she highlights the relaunch of the campaign. LINDA talks about how young women can protect themselves when they are on line using social networks sites…
Dublin One City One Book: Strumpet City
JANE ALGER, director of the UNESCO City of Literature programme, speaks to John Healy about the purpose of the programme. Jane talks about what the programme encourages, the book that the programme are celebrating this year, the events that they put together that connect to the book, the plot of the book itself based on the…
Donna Cooney – Green Party- General Election 2016
DONNA COONEY Green Party candidate for Dublin Bay North is chatting to Mark Finnegan about 2016 Election. She was a Dublin City Councillor from Jan.’96 to ’99The Sunday business post called Donna a “hard working councillor”. Donna was a Dublin City Councillor in the 90’s and Chair of the Cultural committee. Over the last twenty…
Last Hope Animal Charity
Mark Finnegan speaks to ANDREA CARROLL from last hope animal charity. They are a Meath based charity running for ten years. They help re home abandoned animals from goats to chickens. It’s run by volunteers who give up their time to help out the animals…
Restoration of Richmond Barracks
Mark speaks to ÉADAOIN NÍ CHLÉIRIGH about the restoration of Richmond Barracks. She talks about the remembrance day they had at Keogh Square, the history of the barracks, the significance of the barracks during the 1916 rising, how the women of today are creating a quilt to commemorate the women involved in the rising and how…
“Uprising” play by Smashing Times Theatre Company
Pat interviews PAUL NOLAN from Smashing Times Theatre Company, to talk about the play he’s involved in, called “Uprising”, about the difficulty of integrating the past with the present in relation to the comunities in the North. They always try to involve the listeners in the play, and they make a break in the middle to have…
All Hallows Offers Adult BA Course for Personal & Personal Professional Development
COLM KILGALLON Assistant Director of Adult Learning at All Hallows College is live in the Near FM studios with Noel McGuinness. All Hallows held an Open Day recently to attract potential students to the Adult Learning BA course at All Hallows. This course is unique in Ireland. It is based on a US programme that…

Active Parents service
ODREN REID talks about the closure of the Active Parents service in Finglas. The service is facing major funding cuts. He tells Pat Meehan about what the service provides for parents, including teaching young adults parenting skills, linking back into families, a drug and alcohol awareness programme and various activities for service users. Child charity…
