Twenty Minutes With.‪.‬ pjcoogan

She gave up a "proper job" as an engineer to pursue her first love - the stage and screen. Sinéad is an accomplished actor & producer, and operates her own independent production company. Speaking from the heart, however, she admits that what keeps many performers going and drives them on is their sheer love of the craft & the endless pursuit of that "dream" role..

Brónagh McAtasney grew up in Newry, Co Down, just inside the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Her schooldays were also some of the most fraught days of the "Troubles", but like any other teenager of the time, Brónagh was obsessed with music, fashion and just having fun. She kept a diary, which was probably her first venture into writing. Her latest work has been published in a new book of border based authors.. and that 1980's diary.. well you'd never believe who makes an appearance! 

Emergency Medicine has been Chris Luke's life. Although now "semi retired" for medical reasons, he continues to teach, lecture and campaign for change in the Health Service. He also returned to the frontline in 2020, however, when Covid-19 hit Ireland, bringing his extensive experience to the pandemic battlefield. We met as his autobiography "A Life in Trauma" was released. 

Tipperary man, Joe Byrne runs a small hairdressing salon in the Cork suburb of Glasheen. He's also one of the best known charity suppprters in the City. Joe set up the salon after deciding to make Cork his home in the 1980's. An immensely popular character on Leeside, Joe has never revealed in public why he does so much for charity - until today - and it's a deeply personal story.. 

A Dubliner, Niall Conroy leads a Public Health team, battling Covid 19 in Queensland, Australia. What I didn't know about, however, was his passion for saving the lives of the tiniest of babies. It's a passion that drove Niall to develop & open a neonatal unit in Africa. His life as a doctor has taken him to many parts of the World, but he now plans to return to Ireland in 2022.

Carol Rice is an activist and a writer. Her second book is due soon. Carol lives with a condition called Pseudo Achondroplasia. It means that she's pretty much in constant pain, but she's determined to live life to the full, and that's exactly what she does. I spoke with Carol to mark Dwarfism Awareness Month, this October. She's passionate about teaching us that the World isn't always a comfortable place for Little People, but that the rest of us can very easily help with that..