INTERVIEWS - West Cork People

Making a difference

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

After spending four decades helping countries and organisations to rebuild after communism, Steven Kelly and Mari Novak finally hung their hats in West Cork. Partners in life and business, the couple, who celebrate 42 years of marriage this year, moved to West Cork from Prague in 2012 with the intention […]

Getting to the heart of life

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

After going into heart failure at the age of 40, Martina Conroy was told she had 18 months to live unless she underwent surgery. In that moment her life changed forever. “You learn what fear really feels like and you stop taking life for granted,” she tells Mary O’Brien. Handed […]

The bard of Butlerstown

Mary O'Brien July, 2026

While it’s many moons since the clanging of the hammer on the anvil last rang out around the village of Butlerstown, it’s a sound that Michael O’Brien, 81, tells Mary O’Brien, he still hears as clearly as if it were yesterday. The small coastal village between Courtmacsherry and Barryroe once […]

Catching the wind in her sails in Kinsale

Mary O'Brien July, 2026

“If it scares you, you should probably do it,” Éidín Griffin tells Mary O’Brien, laughing. It’s an outlook that has served Éidín well throughout her 53 years, during which time she has taken more than a few leaps into the unknown across two continents, with humour always as her compass. […]

Dialogue and dreams

Mary O'Brien June, 2026

There’s a heavy drizzle falling on the country road. Framed by the lush green of the softly humming hedgerows, a man sits on his bicycle in the mist, waiting to greet the farmer coming his way. “Soft,” remarks the cyclist with a smile, acknowledging the weather. “Soft indeed,” replies the […]

Connecting past to present through flax

Mary O'Brien May, 2026

The how and why will always be more important than the finished product to process-driven artist Kathy Kirwan. In fact the end may never be reached, as demonstrated by her most recent and ongoing passion for flax and its many threads writes Mary O’Brien. Kathy Kirwan’s interest in flax – […]

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