MONDAY 9TH FEBRUARY
PRESENTER RICHARD DOWNES
MENTAL HEALTH STORIES
On this evening’s Nationwide programme there are stories of hope and possibility. The team visits a farm in County Kildare where the owners have ambitious plans to develop a residential step down mental health support facility. Plus, in Dublin, reporter Valerie Waters meets a young man who has created a comic book designed to help teenagers cope with bereavement.
The first story focuses on the efforts of the parents of a young man who died by suicide. Determined to offer hope to others who are struggling, they aim to establish a therapeutic farm for psychiatric patients. The McKeon family must raise thirty million euro to bring this vision to life, and they have undertaken a national campaign to garner support for what will be a step down facility at Kyrie Farm in rural County Kildare.
Also on the show is a story that addresses the topic of grief in the form of a comic book. Valerie Waters meets a young Dublin man who has produced a book, which is sensitively written, aimed particularly at readers aged twelve and up, to support them following a bereavement.
WEDNESDAY 11TH FEBRUARY
PRESENTER ANNE CASSIN
PROGRAMME ON MICHAEL MURPHY
On this evening’s programme, Anne Cassin travels to County Wexford to meet author, psychoanalyst and former RTÉ newscaster Michael Murphy at his home. As he approaches his 80th birthday, Michael looks back on a rich life and career that reflects the story of a changing Ireland. Nationwide celebrates the life and times of one of the most familiar and trusted voices on Irish airwaves for over four decades, since he first joined the RTÉ newsroom in 1971.
FRIDAY 13TH FEBRUARY
PRESENTER BLÁTHNAID NÍ CHOFAIGH
VALENTINE’S DAY STORIES
On the eve of Saint Valentines Day, Nationwide has stories of love and romance from rural Ireland. In Donegal, the team meets a couple who met while visiting the county and who today are settled and raising their children on a farm in Fanad. Plus, in County Carlow another farming couple who work together, farming and selling their Wagyu beef in their farm shop.
The programme begins with a story from the Fanad Peninsula in County Donegal at a farm where love for the land, family and food all come together. Reporter Tommy Stenson has been to meet the couple behind Mulroy Meadow farm.
Next, the team meets the husband and wife team behind Coppenagh House Farm shop. They pride themselves on rearing and selling their own Wagyu beef and despite running a business together, they still find time for romance on and off the farm.
