Ireland

Why Ireland is enduring far fewer coronavirus deaths than the UK

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As the British government pursued “herd immunity”, its Irish counterpart imposed an early lockdown to save lives.

A sea of tweed-clad punters, packed together to watch horses hurtle around a track, their minds set on winning a bet, is the image Irish people now conjure up to scare themselves into socially distancing. We call it the “Cheltenham Effect”.

While Ireland was already under partial lockdown, we watched the footage streaming in of 60,000 racegoers in attendance each day in the English countryside. Thousands of these gamblers were Irish people who would be on their way back soon. “It’s coming home,” Paddy Power ads promised.

Cheltenham works as a warning because as of 13 April, Ireland has recorded 365 deaths from the virus and the UK has recorded 11,329. Even allowing for the population difference, Ireland having 4.9 million people and the UK 66.65 million, the death rate per capita in the UK is still twice that in Ireland.

A series of tweets shared by tens of thousands of people last week drew attention to the disparity. Dr Elaine Doyle, a writer and researcher, highlighted that at the start of this pandemic the Irish and British health

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A day late but… here’s a St. Patrick’s Day music special

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00:00 Skipper’s Alley – The Farmer’s Curst Wife
03:40 Breabach – Proud to Play a Pipe
10:18 Mick Hanly & Mícheál O Dhomhnaill – An Bothán A Bhaigh Fionnghuala
12:12 The Bonny Men – Jenny’s Welcome To Charlie
17:06 The Deadlians – I don’t wanna ride yer aul one anymore.
19:46 The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock – Suffer the Wait
24:15 Trembling Bells – The Auld Triangle
30:05 Declan O’Rourke – Indian Meal
33:25 Ensemble Ériu – Gleann na Réimsí
39:17 Joe Heaney – Singing in Connemara (Extract)
39:43 Lisa O’Neill – As I Roved Out
44:24 Ye Vagabonds – When We Were Trees
46:35 Brìghde Chaimbeul – Mary Breenan’s / The Reeling, The Reeling
49:49 Croft No. Five – Track 1
55:07 Breda Smyth – Bachelor’s Walk
59:07 Shooglenifty – Samhla Reel / Scolpaig
01:05:19 Ross Ainslie, Ali Hutton – Action
01:09:24 Jiggy – Ócam an Phríosúin
01:13:04 Martin Low / Martyn Bennett – This Sky Thunders

Despite being a St Patrick’s Day special, there’s also a nice mix of Scottish artists included – we even start in a well known fictional pub on a Hebridean island – Summerisle.

Featuring Skipper’s Alley, Breabach, The Bonny Men, The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, The Deadlians, Trembling Bells (ft. Alasdair Roberts, Ricky Ross, Dan Haywood, Mike Heron, Scott Fagan and Amy Cutler), Declan O’Rourke, Ensemble Ériu, Lisa O’Neill, Joe Heaney, Ye Vagabonds, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Jiggy, Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton, Martyn Bennett, Shooglenifty and more.

Source Folk Radio UK

Lankum’s Ian Lynch boards the Mystery Train

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On a highly entertaining edition of the Mystery Train Sunday Service on RTÉ lyric fm, John Kelly was joined by Ian Lynch of Lankum for a chat and some of his favourite tunes – listen above…

The musician, folk song collector and folklore lecturer explains the epenthetic vowel and a mondegreen, and picks music by Shannon and the Clams, Portishead and Iron Maiden.

Listen to this GREAT show at: Lankum’s Ian Lynch boards the Mystery Train

‘The audience knew they were in the hands of a master’

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A musical number, a chat with a Hollywood star. A debate on the ‘burning issue’ of the day followed by a poem from the woman in the third row, a wave from the man in the fourth and then something for, well, everyone in the audience.

His work ethic was legendary, at the height of his career he was producing and presenting the Late Late, as well as presenting a daily radio show on RTÉ Radio 1.

And that wasn’t all – in the 1980s, while most of the country was enjoying the last days of summer, Gaybo had already started his autumn term, presenting the Rose of Tralee live from the Dome in the Kerry capital.

Add in the ‘Calor Gas Housewife of the Year’ competition and it was no wonder he was known as ‘Uncle Gaybo’ – for some he was as familiar a presence in the home as members of their own families.

Despite his ubiquity however Gay never became complacent about his work and both his television and radio shows broke new ground.

The Gay Byrne Hour, which became the Gay Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio 1, pioneered listener engagement, with listeners writing in and later phoning Gay about the issues of the day or problems close to their hearts.

“Consumer issues, recipes for fruit cake, relationship woes – in the days before social media Gay Byrne was the conduit for all kinds of discussion and debates”

One of the show’s most memorable broadcasts featured letters inspired by the death in childbirth of teenager Anne Lovett in Granard, Co Longford, in 1984.

When news of the tragedy broke, Irish men and women from all around the country wrote to the show with their own stories of abandonment, neglect and fear, stories from the heart which were broadcast to the nation.

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