NATIONWIDE WEEK 49
MONDAY 5TH DECEMBER
PRESENTER BLÁTHNAID NÍ CHOFAIGH
ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS GIFTS PROGRAMME
WILD IRISH FORAGERS, COUNTY OFFALY
Mother nature provided us once with everything we needed, hedgerows and fields, they were like supermarket aisles. And this hunting for food in the wild was something our ancestors did on a daily basis, but now there has been a great revival of this old practice of foraging. One particular family in Co. Offaly started their foraging journey 14 years ago and now they have a multi award winning business.
GROWN FOREST NATURE RESERVE, COUNTY WICKLOW
It’s that time of year when people are thinking about what kind of Christmas tree to get. For one Irish Company, they won’t cut down a tree for you, but they will plant one. We meet Dublin firefighters Neil McCabe and Damien Bligh who started a company called Grown Forest Nature Reserve in County Wicklow and we hear how they are on a mission to revive Ireland’s native woodlands.
WEDNESDAY 7TH DECEMBER
PRESENTER ANNE CASSIN
NATIONAL REHABILITATION HOSPITAL, DÚN LAOGHAIRE
On this evening’s Nationwide we are coming to you from the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, a place where patients come to put their broken bodies and lives back together again. Nationwide visits on a very special week in the hospital calendar as it’s their annual sports showcase week where patients and out-patients get a chance to try out sports that they can participate in. We also visit a farmer in Co. Cork who hasn’t let his spinal injury stop him from achieving anything, including going sailing with his friends.
CORK FARMER/REPORT NIALL MARTIN
Niall Martin has been to meet a County Cork farmer who suffered a spinal injury after a road accident but who loves competitive sailing in his spare time.
SPORTS AWARDS/REPORT NIALL MARTIN
We are at the National Rehab Hospital Sports Showcase week where patients get to focus on what they can do rather than on what they can’t. Niall Martin has been talking to patients and coaches during the week.
FRIDAY 9TH DECEMBER
PRESENTER ANNE CASSIN
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME
On Nationwide this evening we have small businesses whose objectives are community support and advancement. We meet some of those involved in social enterprises in Ireland to discover how they work, who is involved and to find out, how these small enterprises benefit the community at large.
AIRFIELD ESTATE/REPORT ANNE CASSIN
We are at Airfield in Dundrum in County Dublin to find out about a flourishing business sector where profit is not the main driving factor. We find out about Airfield’s role as a Social Enterprise and earlier this year, following the lifting of the covid restrictions, Airfield held a Social Enterprise market day, inviting lots of such businesses to showcase their wares.
SECRET STREET TOURS/REPORT NIALL MARTIN
Reporter Niall Martin went on a ‘Secret Street Tours’ tour in Dubin city to find out about how this social enterprise came about.
THE MUGSHOT/REPORT NIALL MARTIN
The Mugshot is a coffee kiosk located in the car park, in the centre of the Four Courts complex and is staffed by former prisoners. We went along to see this social enterprise in action.
THE BIKE HUB/REPORT NIALL MARTIN
Our last social enterprise story mixes training and volunteering and commercial aspects. The Bike Hub in Dún Laoghaire is a great example of a social enterprise which has lots of spokes to its wheel.