MONDAY, 8TH SEPTEMBER
Monday’s Nationwide programme features the presentation of awards in the Tidy Towns Competition 2014. Anne Cassin is at the Helix Hall at DCU to meet the winners from different parts of the country. The programme will focus on the main awards of Best Village, Best Small Town, Best Large Town, Best Large Urban Centre and the overall award winner.
WEDNESDAY, 10TH SEPTEMBER
Nationwide meets three exceptional ladies who have lived great, happy and long lives. All three were born over 90 years ago and are still in good health and enjoying their old age.
Reporter Helen McInerney meets a lady who has reached the grand age of one hundred. Madge Fanning is from a Galway family and what makes her story special is that she is one of five siblings who grew up and lived to see their 100th birthdays. We talk to 100-year-old Madge about the secret of old age.
Next to the remarkable story of a lady in County Kildare who has been involved with her local GAA club for over 45 years. Eithne Daly is one of those unsung volunteers who works away quietly for her local club, Ballymore, in the village of Ballymore Eustace. Eithne is the lady who washes the team jerseys after every game, impressive for someone who is almost 95-years-young. This year her community have honoured Eithne with a special person of the year award.
Also in the programme, the team visit the town of Bandon, the gateway to West Cork, to meet a woman whose energy and zest for living belie her great age. Her name is Sr. Alphonsus and she’s well known and loved by the length and breadth of Bandon.
FRIDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
Nationwide visits the Jobs Expo in Croke Park to hear about different initiatives that are helping people getting back to work.
Reporter Niall Martin learns about Momentum which is a Government jobs programme that is proving very effective.
Another initiative featured in Nationwide is The Walk Peer programme which supports young people aged 16 to 24 with disabilities to access mainstream education, training and employment.
Finally, reporter Niall Martin finds out about Ready For Work – a jobs programme run by Business in the Community for people who have come out of homelessness.