‘Changing Ireland’ online hit:
“Young Guns”
Poet John Carmody has had a few close shaves in his lifetime and survived. ‘Changing Ireland’ filmed John reading his poem “Young Guns’ and uploaded it onto our website. We also put it on youtube where it is diverting attention to something positive when people look for a video under the “limerick gangs” tag. It’s been viewed over 700 times. Check it out! John read out ‘Young Guns’ on Sept 24th as the Bedford Fow Family Project marked its 10th anniversary. The project works with families of prisoners: Time has become the bond that links us now, Like crawlers from the wreckage who have survived somehow, The battles of a life within our neighbourhood Living on the edge much closer than we should. We were never close but we’ve both mutual friends While walking through the madness burnin’ at both ends. … As I look back down the years, through all the friends I’ve lost, Amid the drugs and drink and violence, tis now I know the cost, Of all the lies I swallowed about what it is to be a man, From friends who knew no better than the wisdom in a can, One by one they fell away, between the prison and the grave, And all that we are left with now are the stories of the brave, Yet (there’s) no-one to share them with, there’s only you and I; Two young fools who managed to live longer than the lie…
Prison video series ‘Changing Ireland’ nominated for award complains TV3 for slander
‘Changing Ireland’ has been nominated for an Aontas STAR Award in the Nationwide or allisland reach category. The nomination is for our ‘Visiting Prison for the First Time video series’ and related resource material. Over 2000 people have now viewed the videos. The theme of the 2010 Adult Learners’ Festival (22 – 26 February 2010) is ‘Better Together’ and, once again, AONTAS are encouraging adult and community education providers nationwide to celebrate learning in their communities by holding a festival event that week. For more information, visit: www. adultlearnersfestival.com. The STAR award winners will be announced at a ceremony on February 22nd, in Dublin, and Aontas received 109 nominations in total.
TV3’s CEO David McRedmond has promised to edit out slanderous claims made in a documentary called ‘Crime Capitals’ focusing on Limerick. ‘Changing Ireland’ editor Allen Meagher dismissed the programme – aired in October - as “cheap television” and lodged a formal complaint with the Broadcasting Authority together with local groups in Moyross. The documentary – produced by Donal McIntyre – falsely claimed that Limerick was the ‘crime capital of Europe’. Limerick’s Mayor, Kevin Kiely, also lodged a complaint directly with TV3 and has received an apology. As Allen Meagher told the Sunday Tribune at the time of the broadcast: “We in ‘Changing Ireland’ showed earlier this year that disadvantaged communities can resist factually incorrect and slanderous reporting. We successfully brought a case to the Press Ombudsman in March about ‘Irish Examiner’ coverage and the newspaper printed a retraction of false claims made about Moyross. “’Changing Ireland’ is here to promote community development nationally but we won’t stand idly by when elements of the media publish or broadcast exaggerated reports about our community.”
NEXT ISSUE! • Can CDP volunteering be rescued? What do volunteers have to say? • The new Irish Local Development Network. What do Partnerships say? • Male unemployment – responses on the ground. • What are communities crying out for in 2010 and what can be done? Plus much more. Meanwhile, keep up to date with ‘Changing Ireland’s blog and follow us on youtube and facebook.
Wanted: News writers
We’re on the lookout for people engaged in community work who have an eye for appropriate stories and an ability to write news. Call us. If we print it, we’ll pay for it.
Thank you!
Thank you to the many community organisations – local and national – that emailed in stories in recent times and apologies that we could not – even with 40 pages – print them all.
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Hidden homeless includes people in sub-standard housing