March 21st is International Day against Racism and this feature showcases how sport can unite and cross all boundaries that divide us. In Count Us In we hear the story of how a sports initiative in Dublin's inner city primary schools is not just introducing children to new sports but encouraging and promoting multi-racial play and integration. ...…

In Sisters Act we meet two sets of competitive sisters; the Ffrench O'Carroll twins, Rebecca and Charlotte, in athletics and the Murphy sisters, Annalise and Claudine, in sailing. Two different sports but both sets of sisters have their eyes on one prize, the Olympic Games, but to get there may well mean having to beat their own sister. For ath ...…

The clash of the ash and the pride of local clubs. It's been a golden age for Portumna GAA and its legendary hurlers, All Ireland Club Champions for the last two years and pushing for a third title in 2010. In Club Heroes we meet the champion hurlers of Portumna and find out why, for many players, a club victory is even more important than a co ...…

Cities should be a celebration of the human spirit according to leading Irish architect Sean O'Laoire. But are they? This four part series takes the lid off our leading cities and finds out what makes them work, or fail. The first programme in the series focuses on Dublin where 40% of the country's population lives. Builder and developer Mick W ...…

Cork people tend to see their city as the 'real' capital and Ireland's second city is seen by architects and urban planners as being one of the best in the country. Cork is getting more things right than wrong says planning expert Conor Skehan while architect Joan O'Connor says it has managed its modern development with more ease than others. B ...…

Limerick still tends to attract headlines for all the wrong reasons. In this programme we look at how it can overcome its 'Stab City' reputation. Developer Ger Clohessy talks about trying to get economic movement back into the city, comedian Jon Kenny shares his take on his home town, while local arts journalist Mary Coll talks about the city's ...…

'A cheeky city' is how one developer describes Galway in the final part of our Urban Beauty, Urban Blight cities series. One of our smaller cities, Galway remains charming and cultural but like Dublin it suffers from an expanding waistline with apartment blocks stretching out the coast road. Leo Moran of the Saw Doctors bemoans the loss of iden ...…

The Last Wake is a radio documentary produced by Athena Media for Newstalk 106. It explores the fading tradition of waking the dead in Ireland and hears stories from the north, south, west, east and Dublin's inner city. It is produced by Helen Shaw with the support of the BCI Sound and Vision funding scheme. Narrated by Coilin O Scolai and rese ...…

Episode 1 of Women and Words - Anne Enright. The 2008 Booker Prize winner Anne Enright has become an internationally recognised author through the success of her last novel 'The Gathering' but Anne Enright's voice has been emerging since 1991 and the publication of her piece 'The Portable Virgin'. Enright's voice is often darkly funny, capturin ...…

Episode 2 of Women and Words - Eavan Boland. Eavan Boland is one of Ireland's finest poets and she is considered to be the pioneer who facilitated women's stories, both domestic and internal, becoming part of the Irish literary tradition. Eavan shares her journey and poetry and her life now divided between Stanford, and its literary freedom, an ...…

Episode 3 of Women and Words - Jennifer Johnston. Jennifer Johnston is one of Ireland's most highly regarded novelists with a lifetime of work behind her yet she is still hungry to write, as she calls it, 'the short great Irish novel'. Now in her late seventies Jennifer lives in Derry in Northern Ireland and in this interview and readings asses ...…

Episode 4 of Women and Words - Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. Like Eavan Boland, Nuala Ni Dhomhaill has been a radical voice in Irish poetry - ensuring that women, their words and world are captured in the poetic form. Nuala has chosen to write in the Irish language because as she says it's where her voice comes from, but her work has been translated int ...…

Episode 5 of Women and Words - Maeve Binchy. Maeve Binchy is one of Ireland's best loved literary exports. Her work is a popular best-seller across the world and has been transferred to both television and cinema. Yet Maeve Binchy sees herself as an extremely moral author driven by a celebration of friendship, love and values like loyalty and c ...…

Episode 6 of Women and Words - Marie Jones. Dramatist and playwright Marie Jones is an actress who turned writer because as she says the words were not there for women. Marie's plays like A Night in November goes to her to Belfast sectarianism and she sees herself as a writer framed and informed by the Troubles and by the social and personal co ...…

Tower Songs is a one hour radio documentary produced by Athena Media for RTE Lyric FM. It follows the development of a music project in Ballymun where the young people of Ballymun were able to create their own song cycle which celebrated the transformation of Ballymun and honoured the passing of the Ballymun Towers. Produced by Helen Shaw and r ...…