Documentary On One - Rté Documentaries

The small town of Lourdes, located at the foothills of the Pyrenees has been the destination for Irish pilgrimages to Lourdes for decades. Since the Apparitions in 1858, thousands of people have visited the Grotto of Massabielle to pray and reflect. Broadcaster Paddy O'Gorman joined one Dublin pilgrimage as they begin their trip to Lourdes (2000)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She was muse to artists like Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, she was known as the 'Queen of Soho', she toured with Marianne Faithfull and she lived for a time in a mansion in Laois - Henrietta Moraes lived a decadent but fiercely tragic life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mag lived in Wexford in the 1990s. She started to get pains in her stomach. She was assured she was not seriously ill and continued to work - including pulling a plough for her father. Then, the pains got worse... Presented by Ann Marie DuffinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remembering one of Ireland's most famous actors Alfred Willmore also known as Micheál MacLiammóir. This dramatist, impresario, writer, poet and painter was a prominent figure who dominated the arts scene in twentieth-century Ireland. Born in London, he adopted Ireland as home & co-founded The Gate Theatre in with his partner Hilton Edwards (1998)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A multi award winning portrait of an elderly jazz man and his long battle with schizophrenia. Vern has multiple voices that speak to him - and he talks right back. And then there's his accordian - and his humour - and the friendships he had and lostSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

January is a busy time for gyms and leisure centres but, who are the regulars? Portlaoise Leisure Centre has a stream of people through it beginning with children eating breakfast at 7 a.m. Irish life, as seen through a day in a leisure centre.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The remarkable story from 2007 of an Irish nurse who emigrated to America and ended up living on the streets there. She eventually regained control of her life but not without losing her children and being attacked so badly that she now uses a wheelchair.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before Christmas there was the excitment of them coming home - choirs, banners and cheering in the emigrants' airport arrivals. In January, it's a very different story - all about the parents left behind - waving goodbye to their emigrant children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Irishman moves to Japan and learns about the place and its people from other Irish already there: a fake Catholic priest, a teacher on TV and a Roscommon Sumo wrestler. (Made with support of BAI Sound & Vision Fund)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christmas, Arrivals Dublin Airport. Who is waiting at the railings for returned emigrants? The woman who's hiding from her family, the mother who hasn't seen her 19-year old 'baby' in months. An national ritual with individual stories at the railings.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1922, Alice O'Neill and seven of her children are killed by a suspicious fire in their home. One child survives, 8yr old 'Little Molly'. Now, 90 years later, Molly's family finally tell the story of that night - as we discover what really happened.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A woman is rushed to a maternity hospital...in the same hospital, another woman dreamt she'd hold a baby girl, called Lili....across the city a family are seeing children in Australia opening Santy presents. The sounds of Christmas 2012.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In December 2011, a prisoner in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin recorded the sound of the place during the Christmas period, the meals, Mass, present-making and the thoughts of individual staff and inmates on the 'festive' season in jail.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What links Handel's 'Messiah' and Dublin City Council. Well, there are lots of real links (it was written and first performed in Dublin, the annual open air 'Messiah' takes place beside the council HQ). There's one notional link, though. Have a listen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The extraordinary and desperate story of a standoff between teachers, subcontractors and parents. In September 2012, after 160yrs of waiting, Kilfinane in Co. Limerick got a new primary school - but in Nov 2012, a standoff ensued over unpaid bills.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Louis Wilson makes money standing still...very still. He's a 'human statue' in Dublin. He dresses up as writers James Joyce and Patrick Kavanagh and strikes a pose in Grafton St. What's it like? What happens if you have to sneeze or go to the loo?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eoghan Clonan is ten and like many children of his age, he really wants a dog but when Eoghan gets his new pet, it's not your usual four legged mutt. It's Superdog.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Based on the Four Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire & Water. A night-time earth soundscape from Northern Ireland - birth, taxis, death. Sounds from the Maternity Department , Ulster Hospital; Value Cabs taxi, Belfast and the Northern Ireland Hospice, Belfast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A story of famine, enforced emigration, New York tenements, politics and how a kid from the slums of the 'Five Points' got to name a street in Manhattan after his mother's homeplace - Kenmare.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rosaleen McDonagh has a speech impediment. It makes dealing with people difficult. She is often frustrated with others, sometimes blames herself but she can't or won't change how she speaks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.