Nationwide – Monday 2nd November, 7.00pm, RTÉ One
Tonight’s Nationwide features stories that demonstrate the Irish entrepreneurial spirit as the programme travels around the country to meet some small and unique business people.
Bow ties which date all the way back to the 1700s are making a fashion statement this year. A young furniture designer from Mountbellew, Co Galway, is helping make these stylish pieces of neck beauty accessible and trendy again. Whilst studying Furniture Design and Manufacture in Letterfrack in Connemara, Paul Sweeney came up with a unique idea of making bow ties from wood. The County Galway man’s product won the top prize in the GMIT Student Innovation Awards Final and Paul and his father are kept busy with his new business venture. Nationwide meets Paul to find out more and view some of his creations.
Turning a passion into a business meant hand making lampshades in her bedroom but as the business grew, it landed a Cork girl right in the middle of Dublin’s Liberties. Like the street, the work has an edgy quality to it and whilst shining new light on an old tradition there’s nowhere else she’d rather be. Nationwide meets interior stylist and designer Sarah O’Dea.
Next to a story of how one mother’s love of good food and healthy cooking led her to develop her own entire range of baby food which is going down a treat across the country. Irene Queally lives in Waterford with her husband Bill and two little girls and when she found it nearly impossible as the girls were growing up to find a healthy alternative to home cooking, the idea for Pip and Pear chilled baby food was born. RTÉ’s South East Correspondent Damien Tiernan goes along to find out more.
Finally to South West Donegal where a group of students have come up with a delicious range of seaweed-based desserts which they’ve been selling at country markets. Their business won the Foróige Youth Entrepreneur of 2015 and now they’re off to Budapest to represent Ireland in the European final.
Nationwide – Wednesday 4th November, 7.00pm, RTÉ One.
Friday 6th November sees the opening of the 60th Cork International Film Festival. At the first festival in 1956, an impressive 16 countries participated, 32 documentaries and features were shown and it was the year where foreigners, glitz and glamour came to town. Nationwide learns all about the festival and its history.
For cinema-goers the name David Puttnam immediately conjures up images of classics like Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, Local Hero and Memphis Belle. Lord Puttnam has had huge success as a movie producer: ten Oscars, twenty-five Bafta’s and a Palme D’Or. These days he’s Ireland’s Digital Champion and runs an online education service from his home in West Cork where he lives with his wife Patsy. Their son Sacha, a composer and pianist, lives next door and he has recorded a CD of the film scores from his father’s movies. David welcomes Nationwide presenter Mary Kennedy into his home and we hear some of Sasha’s lovely music as well.