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LIVELINE CALLBACK

Joan Shelley Image Name: Joan Shelley Description: Joan Shelley

LIVELINE CALLBACK-Episode 3, Thursday 22nd November

In the third episode of Liveline Callback we follow up on some of the most powerful and dramatic stories from Joe Duffy’s popular radio show.

This week we hear the story of how 87-year-old Joan Kennellen in North Dublin was lying on the her kitchen floor waiting for an ambulance for hours until her daughter rang Liveline; up to 200 brides were left without bridesmaids dresses after Wedding World in Dublin suddenly ceases trading and pensioner Paedar Daly is asked to repay 5.90 of his recently diseased wife’s pension.

THE AMBULANCE

In February this year Carol Kennellen from North Dublin contacted Liveline because she was in the midst of an emergency at her mother’s home in North Dublin. Carol’s 87 year old mother Joan had fallen at home that morning. An ambulance was called straight away by her mother’s Personal Alarm service provider, but when Carol contacted Liveline at 2pm, her mother was still lying in the middle of the kitchen floor. Fortunately, as Carol told her story, Dr Austin Byrne happened to be on the line, waiting to talk about something else. He was able to give Carole some reassuring words in the midst of her crisis. The HSE heard Carol telling Joe about her situation on air; they called the Liveline production team to get Carol’s address and sent an ambulance straight away.

 

THE BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

In March this year Wedding World in Marino in Dublin suddenly ceased trading, leaving up to 200 brides without bridesmaids dresses. Many of the prospective brides rang Liveline when they realised they had lost their deposits and in some cases even the full price of the dresses. The only contact details supplied by the shop was the UK supplier of the Dessy dresses, but they hadn’t received all the orders  or the deposits. One of the brides who contacted Joe Duffy was Melissa Sutcliffe from Drimnagh in Dublin. She’d paid the full price for two bridesmaids dresses only a few weeks before the shop closed. The first thing she heard about the closure was when she logged onto the website Help I’m Getting Married. She – like so many other brides – was distraught to have lost almost 600 euros, and because she paid cash rather than with a Visa card, she was very unlikely to get any of it back.

Many angry brides rang Joe telling their stories, but the next day Bernie O’Farrell contacted the show. She runs a wedding dress shop in Wicklow and had more than a hundred Dessy sample bridesmaids dresses she was willing to give away to those left in the lurch. Liveline helped organise a venue and Bernie, as well as two other wedding shops, helped out the distressed brides and bridesmaids. Some of them had only a few weeks until their wedding, so were really worried they’d have no bridesmaids’ dresses in time.

Melissa Sutcliffe fortunately had several months until her wedding, so decided there were other brides who needed Bernie’s help more than herself. But she was able to get two even nicer dresses for her bridesmaids in time for her August wedding.

THE OVERPAYMENT

Paedar Daly from Scariff in East Clare contacted Liveline after he’d received an upsetting letter from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It was only shortly after his beloved wife Margaret Daly had passed away from Parkinson’s. Paedar was still grieving and had forgotten to cancel the very small pension she received for her cleaning job in the local Garda station. Now the Department was looking for the 5.90 that had been overpaid.

Paedar spoke to Joe Duffy about how upset he was about the letter – particularly as it was for such a small amount. His story clearly touched many hearts, and after the radio programme the Department reviewed it’s procedures. Since this May they no longer seek to recoup overpayments under 250 Euro.

 

 THE BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

 Wedding World ceased trading in March 2018 leaving as many as 200 brides without bridesmaids dresses they’d ordered from the shop. When customers rang the shop a phone messages directed them to the UK supplier Dessy. But many people who’d paid deposits and even the full amount for the dresses hadn’t even had their orders registered with the UK supplier. Their money were lost and they had to pay all over again for the dresses. Many prospective brides were very distressed and called Liveline to tell their story and were not happy with how the shop owners had treated them. Melissa Sutcliff had paid the whole amount for her two bridesmaids dresses, and only heard about the story when she looked at the web site Help I’m getting married. Bridal shop owner Bernie O’Farrell from Arklow also contacted Liveline to say she had about 100 Dessy samples that she’d give to people who’d been left in the lurch by the shop closure. Liveline helped organise a venue in Croke Park, and Bernie and two other shop owners brought hundreds of Dessy samples up to Dublin.