From those in the emergency services, to volunteers providing meals to the vulnerable, Irish Independent photographer Mark Condren spoke to six people who gave an insight into their daily routine as they try to balance the festivities while saving people’s lives and bringing some much-needed cheer.
George O’Brien – Chef
Chef George O’Brien has volunteered to cook Christmas dinner for the homeless at the RDS in Dublin for the last 11 years.
His day starts at 6am, when he will prepare the kitchen to cook for between 350 to 500 people who avail of the service with around 25 or 30 fellow volunteers who “come from all walks of life”.
“We have doctors, nurses, solicitors, builders and are all delighted to be there. It’s a good feeling. It makes us feel good to know that we’re helping people. There’s also 5,000 individual meals to go to people who are on their own and don’t have anyone to cook for them.
“After I finish and the clean up I get home for about 3pm and then I have my Christmas dinner with my family, my wife Jacinta and three kids, Shauna, Rebecca and Craig.”
Sarah Byrne – Clinical nurse manager
Sarah Byrne, who works as a clinical nurse manager in the ICU of Our Lady’s Children Hospital, will help Santa make Christmas as special as possible for families at a difficult time.
“Christmas can be such a sad time for families in hospital. We could have up to 23 patients in ICU over Christmas and particularly Christmas Day, so our staff have to make it as special as we can. Sometimes it’s not a very happy place but we try to bring some sort of joy and excitement into the family’s lives.”
Santa visits the ICU on Christmas Eve, moving quietly to leave presents at the end of the children’s beds, she said.
“We celebrate with our family when we come home then,” Ms Byrne added.
“My son wrote me a card, knowing how sad I was about working Christmas Day but that it didn’t matter because I was out saving the lives of all the other children. I can celebrate with my family every other day, but some of these children can’t.”
Tommy Mescall – Journalist
RTÉ journalist Tommy Mescall will read the news on Christmas Day and while it is often a relatively quiet day, it can also be “unpredictable”.
“It’s a job that I like doing. I often volunteer to do the news on Christmas Day as a lot of my colleagues have young kids and I don’t, so that makes it a little easier for me,” he said.
Many of his colleagues will have already filed stories from across the country when he arrives in Dublin in the afternoon. “Given the unpredictable nature of news, though, you can never be really sure what way your day is going to pan out.”
The news bulletins will go out at 5.30pm and 8pm, which means the journalist should “hopefully get whatever scraps are left of the Christmas dinner” when he returns home.
Dean Kelly – Firefighter
Dean Kelly, a firefighter with Dublin Fire Brigade, will work on Christmas Day for the first time, which means it will also be his first Christmas away from his family.
“I’ll be coming in and relieving the new crew from the Christmas Eve shift. I’ll be coming in a couple of hours early to let the lads go home and get to their families and be there for Santa presents opening,” he said.
“Hopefully over the course of the day it’s not too busy because if we’re busy, it means people aren’t going to enjoy their day.
“And then hopefully come 5pm or 6pm, I get to go home to my wife and two children and there’s still a couple of presents unopened so I can take part in the magic day that is Christmas.”
Fr Michael Commane – Priest
Fr Michael Commane, a Dominican priest, will cycle to two prisons in Dublin to say mass on Christmas Day.
“The streets will be so calm and quiet. There’ll be nobody about and just a moment to think as I cycle along,” he said.
Fr Commane will say mass at Mountjoy Prison at 10.30am before travelling to the Dóchas Centre.
“Always in our prayers for the faithful, we pray for the prisoners and the victims as well,” he said.
“I leave the prison at about 4.30pm, maybe 5pm, and as it so happens I have a cousin living nearby, I’ll sit down and have my Christmas dinner with them, and then hopefully I’ll cycle back home.”
Rachel Creighton – Dairy Farmer
Rachel Creighton, who is dairy farmer in Co Kildare with her husband and father, supplies all year round to Tirlán for its Avonmore milk and cream.
They will milk 60 cows on Christmas morning, which is “like any other day” for them.
“Before we come up for the cows, Santa comes and we spend a little bit of time with the kids opening up the presents. Then we head up and everybody milks the cows as a family,” she said.
“Cows need to keep their routine, so we need to look after our girls so our girls can look after us. Dinner needs to be on the table for 2pm on the dot so we can get back out and milk the cows again at 4pm.”
