Community spirit triumphs at ?Darndale? in the second part of the controversial series.

TV3 GROUP RELEASE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday 26th September, 2014

 

Community spirit triumphs at ‘Darndale’ in the second part of the controversial series.

 

Episode 2 of TV3’s hard hitting documentary series ‘Darndale: The Edge of Town’ will focus on the community spirit that is prominent in the area.

 

The residents are preparing for a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ charity fundraiser while Noel waits to hear whether he has a place on a drug treatment programme, Gemma tackles the rubbish problem in her back garden and Christopher studies for his upcoming exams.

 

Interviews available on request.

 

‘Darndale: The Edge of Town’ episode 2 airs Monday 29th September at 9pm on TV3.

 

Video Link to view the second episode is available on request

 

Following on from the very successful series premiere, episode 2 of TV3’s hard hitting documentary series Darndale: The Edge of Town will focus on the community spirit that is prominent in the area.

 

The fly-on-the-wall series gives an honest portrayal of Darndale’s residents’ lives as they cope with harsh everyday realities, experience moments of triumph and despair, while looking beyond the boundaries of the estate and seeking a brighter future, which is the case for Christopher who is studying for his Leaving Cert. His mother Lisa is determined to see him break the cycle of poverty and unemployment in her house as he will be the first in the family to take his Leaving Cert.

 

“Coming from Darndale, and I’m not ashamed of where I live, I love my house, I have lovely neighbours, he needs to level the playing field so if he has a good education maybe someone will give him a job. If he doesn’t get something, a job, his options don’t look very well for life on the dole.”

 

Despite its reputation as an unemployment, crime and drug black spot, Darndale is home to a vibrant and close-knit community.

 

This week we also meet street sweeper Tommy, whose real passion is for Darndale Football Club. Over 150 children play for the club but the pitch has been unfit to play on for the last couple of months. Tommy is the motivating force behind a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ charity fundraiser to help get the pitch back in good nick. Tommy jokes that it is not something he would usually do but he is surprised at how he is finding it.

 

“If anyone was to say to you Thomas Daly is doing dancing, you’d say no way but I’m enjoying it. It’s one of the best things we’ve done.”

 

 

 

Single mother Gemma is tired of being on the dole and wants a different kind of life for herself and baby son Alfie. She has decided to look at college courses but first she has to deal with piles of rubbish that have been building up in the back garden, as her mother Roseanne has been unable to pay for bin collection. With the rubbish now blocking the pipes, they are unable to use the washing machine or hang any clothes out in the back garden. With Gemma worrying about how the unhygienic nature of the rubbish will affect baby Alfie, Roseanne explains how the situation came about.

 

“We have a big problem and it’s embarrassing for me really in front of the neighbours. When you suffer from depression like I do, you tend to hide you bills away and especially when the kids need clothes or shoes, you tend to put them first and forget about everything else. A lot of things in my life have gone downhill but that I need fixed.”

 

This episode also features Noel Darby who is still anxiously waiting for a place on a drug treatment programme. An addict since he was 17, he reached a low point two years ago with the death of his best friend. Noel is now determined to get clean for the sake of his two year old twin girls and his infant daughter.

 

Meanwhile, Darren “Bull Eye” Sweeney has taken on the responsibility of caring for the horses in Darndale because unlike other estates, it does not have official stables and some of the locals have made temporary facilities on a piece of disused land.

 

The series premiere last Monday proved a ratings success, reaching 489,000 viewers or approximately 11.8% of the available viewing population. An average of 211,800 people tuned in to watch the ambitious, observational series which follows local residents on one of Ireland's most notorious housing estates, Darndale in North Dublin. The programme was very strong for young audiences, with Adults 15-24 posting a 19.74% share and Women 15-34 even more impressive, at 26.07%.

 

Episode 1 also sparked a massive huge debate was sparked amongst residents with some Darndale locals voicing their concern regarding the documentary on 98fm’s ‘Dublin Talks with Adrian Kennedy’. The debate has also been heated on social media. According to @TTmobile_ie, #darndale began to trend on Twitter 15 minutes into the programme as the number 2 trend in Ireland before reaching the number 1 spot and staying there until 9.45am the following morning.

 

 

‘Darndale: The Edge of Town’ episode 2 airs Monday 29th September at 9pm on TV3.

 

Images have been sent to your picture desks and are available on request.

 

See Notes to Editor for contributor biogs.

 

ENDS

 

 

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NOTES TO EDITOR:

Darndale contributor biogs:

Darren ‘Bull Eye’ Sweeney (30)

Darren ‘Bull Eye’ Sweeney is originally from Darndale, but now lives in Belcamp. He been in and out of jail for years based on drugs charges but since being released last year, he is attending the methadone clinic in Darndale. Darren turned to drugs when his brother died. They were very close and he struggled to cope with the grief. 

 

Darren now focuses his time on the horses in Darndale. He is the main man when it comes to the horses and everyone comes to him when they have a problem. He has a lot of respect from the younger lads and in that sense is a bit of a leader. Darren’s goal is to get land allocated by the council for the horses so that he can care for them without the fear that they will be rounded up and taken away. Darren often gets calls in the middle of the night to say the horses have been confiscated by the Gardaí.

 

He believes that horses play a huge part in people’s lives in Darndale and it helps keep kids who are normally troublesome out of trouble. We follow them fighting for the right to have land to build a stables themselves. They say they will do everything to get the stables functioning if they could just get the land.

 

Gemma Geraghty (19)

Single mother Gemma has a seven-month-old baby boy called Alfie. When we first meet Gemma, Alfie is just three weeks old and she is struggling financially, as she is still living on a 100 euro a week Jobseekers Allowance. Gemma is no longer with Alfie's father, as they broke up after going out with each other for eight months.

 

One of five children, Gemma lives with her mother Roseanne and her younger siblings, Anthony (9) and sister Rebecca (12), who is almost like a second mother to Alfie. Gemma and her family are grieving the loss of Gemma's sister Nicole's baby son, who died a few months previously at just eight weeks old. Despite her own loss, Nicole supported Gemma through her pregnancy, attending at the birth and passing on her son’s baby clothes and his new pram.

 

Coping well with being a new parent, Gemma is understandably anxious about Alfie's heart murmur, which was diagnosed at birth and may require medical intervention.

 

Having left school in her final year, Gemma regrets not sitting the Leaving Cert and talks about going back to do a PLC course, but with a small baby to care for this could be a challenge. We follow Gemma over a few key months in her and Alfie's life.  

 

We also follow Roseanne, who is suffering from depression, but is willing to mind the children if Gemma gets a course.

 

Lisa Lawless (Late 30s)

Lisa Lawless and her partner David have reared six kids, three from Daithi's first relationship and three of their own. They all moved into Lisa’s Darndale home when she became pregnant with her first child, Christopher, now aged 17 and preparing to do his Leaving Cert.

 

Christopher and his two younger siblings were awarded with a Challenger Award in school which is given to kids who have potential in the hope that they stay in education and eventually go onto third level.

 

Neither Lisa or David completed school, Lisa left at 14 and always felt she wasn’t good enough to even go back and sit her Junior Cert. David and Lisa are really proud of their kids and although they love Darndale they are hoping that their children can go to college and earn enough to buy a house outside of the area.

 

For Christopher to be accepted onto the awards programme initially Lisa had to agree to sit a Level 5 Fetac course, which she was terrified of as she says she feared people would ‘see her for what she really was uneducated and unable to even read or write properly’. However, she loved it and although she only started this project three years ago she is now in All Hallows studying for a BA in Personal Development which she hopes will get her a job and away from the kitchen sink.

 

Christopher is nervous about sitting his exams and hopes to get to college to study. They have a small gym out the back and Christopher is there every day training and boxing.

 

This family seemed to have battled with ups and downs all their lives and say things were never easy. David was born with problem with his arm and has a prosthetic arm all of his life. Their eldest son lives with his kids and partner two doors away and they are always in and out and Lisa minds the grandchildren a lot.

 

Lisa was also a very strict mother before she went back to education and admits to being too house proud, but she has learned that there are more important things in life than cleaning and being strict with the kids.

 

 

 

Noel Darby (36)

Noel Darby is a drug addict, now on methadone, who has done time over the years in prison.  However, for the past two years he has been on a waiting list for a residential drug rehabilitation programme.

 

With three infant daughters to care for, Noel is very anxious to get his life sorted, as he doesn't want his younger girls, three year old twins and six month old baby, having the same father that their older sister's knew. Now stable and on a relatively low dose of methadone, things are looking up for Noel as he is assessed for a residential treatment programme, but will he be able to tear himself away from his children, whom he is very close to?

 

Tommy Daly (38)

Tommy has lived all of his married life in Darndale. He is married to Deirdre and has four kids, aged 19, 18, 14 and five.

 

He set up Darndale FC many years ago even bringing stars from Man United and Liverpool in to Darndale to meet the kids. They currently have 155 kids in the club.

 

He works for Dublin City Council as a street sweeper walking up and down Grafton Street with his pull along bin most days.  Although Tommy is overweight he throws himself into everything he does and to date has raised over €200,000 for Autism and is a good pal of Keith Duffy. In February 2014 they ran a huge fundraiser for autism in the Wright Venue in Swords and hope that they will raise enough money to keep the club going for five years and also to hand a substantial sum to Autism Ireland. He ran the same night in 2013 and it was a massive success with the whole of Darndale helping out and arriving on the night.

 

Tommy is the motivating force behind a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ charity fundraiser to help get the pitch back in good nick. It will see 18 people from Darndale who have never danced before putting their names into a hat to be trained by qualified instructors alongside eight people from Autism Ireland. Each person taking part has to raise €850 and he expects the Wright Venue to have between 500 and 1000 people will fill the room for the show.

 

Following on from this, Tommy and his friend Noel O'Reilly decided they were going to run/walk the New York Marathon for charity.