Planning Ahead for RTE Nationwide Visit Next Month

RTÉ One Nationwide Presenter, Mary Kennedy pictured with cameraman and Caherciveen native, Reggie McCrohan during the programme's last visit to Castleisland in June 2012. ©Photograph: John Reidy 19-6-2012
RTÉ One Nationwide Presenter, Mary Kennedy pictured with cameraman and Caherciveen native, Reggie McCrohan during the programme’s last visit to Castleisland in June 2012. ©Photograph: John Reidy 19-6-2012

Proposals are being put together at present for the visit of the RTE One Nationwide team early next month.

There are so many events, items and facilities that such a visit could cover that the team would want to bed in here for a week or more.

It seems that the team will also be taking in a trip to Listowel for the same programme and that’s likely to diminish further their ability to cover everything proposed for the Castleisland trip.

Regular Presenter

It’s been almost six years now since the last visit by Nationwide to Castleisland and that job fell to regular presenter, Mary Kennedy and the Caherciveen native cameraman, Reggie McCrohan.

The Kerryman's Images and Chronicles on RTE 1 23/05/2002
RTE 1 Nationwide reporter, Maria Mullarkey and cameraman, Paschal Cassidy with Michael Conway during filming in the Pound Road area of Castleisland in 2002. ©Photograph: John Reidy 23/05/2002

Previous to that, presenter and Mayo native, Maria Mullarkey and cameraman, Paschal Cassidy came down in 2002 to talk abour the condition of the houses in Pound Road in the early 1960’s.

This was based on Kevin Coleman’s set of photographs of old Pound Road taken for The Kerryman before the building of St. Stephen’s Park.

Spoke to Mikey Conway

Ms. Mullarkey spoke to Pound Road native, Mikey Conway who gave her the lowdown on life there – which had been chronicled in The Kerryman’s centenary book Images and Chronicles which was published in 2001. Interestingly, Paschal Cassidy resurfaced in Castleisland during the 2016 Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival as one of the cameramen with the ‘HUP’ team which did a fantastic job on the event for TG4.

Nationwide was first screened in 1993 after being put forward as an idea by its first presenter, Michael Ryan.

Joined by Mary Kennedy

In 2001 he was joined as presenter by Mary Kennedy and he continued in that role up to his retirement in 2011.

He, in turn had been a reporter on Frank Hall’s Newsbeat and Hall’s Pictorial Weekly.

It will be interesting to see what they’ll manage to squeeze in from Castleisland within the strict constraints of their time allocations.

The man in charge at this end is Charlie Daly from Currow and a member of the Castle of the Island Society and he can be contacted on: 087 23 89 995

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