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Irish Times Magazine: How the west has won
My story about people moving from Dublin to the west of Ireland was the cover story for the Irish Times magazine on Saturday. I’m really proud of this article, and it’s very close to my heart. It was an absolute privilege to speak to so many wonderful, fascinating and engaging people about their experiences of moving to the west of Ireland. The article isn’t just happy stories, of course. While some moved to the west out of choice, others were forced out of the city they loved because of the completely unsustainable cost of renting and buying property in Dublin. Speaking to these people reminded me of the incredible challenges…
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PinkNews: LGBT choir sings ‘We Are Family’ outside venue to protest queer exclusion
I had the privilege of interviewing Ursula Halligan recently for a PinkNews story about a singing protest that took place outside Dublin’s World Meeting of Families. The Catholic event came under fire for its exclusion of LGBT+ people. In response, Halligan and other Irish activists arranged for a group of LGBT+ singers to perform “Something Inside So Strong” and “We Are Family” outside the venue. Here is the story: An LGBT+ choir has staged a protest outside the Catholic World Meeting of Families, where they sang “We Are Family” and “Something Inside So Strong” in response to the exclusion of LGBT+ people from the event. The idea for the protest came…
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PinkNews Updates
I’m currently doing some freelance reporting for PinkNews, one of the world’s leading LGBT+ news websites. In the last few weeks, I’ve gotten to work on some important stories. Here’s a selection of some of the work I’ve done for PinkNews over the last few weeks: Gay man turned away from London club for wearing high heels ‘It’s a clean slate’: Former child actor Josie Totah comes out as transgender Two men beaten up in homophobic attack in Kiev Petition calls on parliament to ban anti-LGBT material from schools ‘Are you sure it wasn’t your girl name?’ Transgender woman outed by airline crew member Malaysian minister who censored LGBT portraits…
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‘We have students at UCD who commute daily from Cavan and Limerick’ – Inside Ireland’s student accommodation shortage
This feature appeared in The Irish Times last week, looking at the shortage of student accommodation as students across the country prepare to begin the new academic year. Students across the country are struggling to find accommodation as the annual start of college looms in September. A shortage of accommodation has driven prices upward to a point where many students – especially in Dublin – are simply not able to afford. The situation is becoming increasingly untenable for students, many of whom have no income of their own and rely on parents, guardians and grants to pay for their education. Read the rest of this feature on IrishTimes.com.
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First ever Trans Pride march to take place in Dublin – PinkNews
I was delighted to interview the founders of Dublin’s first ever Trans Pride march for PinkNews. “Dublin is set to have its first ever Trans Pride march on 28th July, after organisers felt that Dublin Pride, which took place at the end of June, was not paying enough attention to trans issues. “They also feel that Dublin Pride has become too focused on corporations, and claim that the presence of large companies overshadows LGBT+ activists and groups…” Read the full story here.
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Inside Ireland’s first and only gender balanced festival
You may not have heard of Ireland’s newest festival, but one day, it could be remembered as the first of its kind. The Folly is set to become Ireland’s first festival created with a specific mission to feature equal numbers of women and men on its line-up. It is difficult to know if the festival, which takes place in Cullahill, Co Laois, on 21st and 22nd July, is the first time a festival has had an equal billing in Ireland. However, it certainly looks to be the first time a festival has been launched with a specific mission to have the same numbers of men and women. The idea came about…
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PinkNews Reporting
I’ve recently started doing some freelance reporting work for PinkNews, one of the world’s leading LGBT+ news websites. I’m really excited to be writing for a website that is at the cutting edge of reporting on issues that affect LGBT+ people globally. You can see the stories I work on here.
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How children in London are learning the Irish language through play
For my latest feature for The Irish Times, I went out to the London-Irish Centre on a Saturday to see what was going on with a playgroup where children learn Irish through play. It was really wonderful experience and it was great to meet so many people passionate about the Irish language. You can read the article here.
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Homing in on the Referendum: the Irish abroad who came home to vote
The recent referendum on the Eighth Amendment resulted in a landslide ‘yes’ vote, with almost two thirds of people voting in favour of allowing abortion up to 12 weeks. I spoke to some of those coming home to vote from abroad in the referendum for a feature in the Irish Independent, which you can see here.
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Share Your Story
Would you like to share a personal story or news about something you’re working on with the media? I have contacts in most national newspapers in Ireland and can pitch these stories and write them. Please get in touch at patrickkelleher4@gmail.com. I am happy to hear from PR professionals, individuals with stories that they would like to share, or organisations who are doing interesting things that have the potential to do improve people’s lives.