As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time to take a look back on yet another year of highs, lows and memorable moments.
Lunchtime Live has been with you through it all – and here are some of the best bits from the show this year:
Lunchtime Live highlights Endometriosis in Ireland
One-in-ten women in Ireland suffers from Endometriosis, a lifelong condition that causes pain, fatigue and other harmful symptoms.
This year, Lunchtime Live highlighted the condition in a series of episodes culminating in a special panel made up of experts, patients and politicians.
Speaking on the panel, former National Maternity Hospital Master Dr Peter Boylan pointed out that if men could suffer from endometriosis, the condition would be taken much more seriously in Ireland:
‘It’s inhumane’ – Woman misses mother’s funeral after being denied care cover
The show also highlighted the plight of many carers in Ireland this year – some of whom told the show they feel “completely isolated’.
In September, Andrea spoke to a woman who missed her own mother’s funeral because she could not access respite support from the HSE.
Gayle Murphy said her son Luca suffers from a severe form of autism and cannot be left alone as he self-harms and requires "serious behavioural intervention".
Ms Murphy had to watch her mother's funeral online and warned that HSE carer services are "appalling" for people in her position:
Bullying in the HSE
A split-screen of Lunchtime Live presenter Andrea Gilligan and an illustration of an upset nurse.After months of campaigning from Lunchtime Live, the new HSE chief promised to make bullying in the health service one of his top priorities.
The campaign began after host Andrea Gilligan revealed that she was ‘gobsmacked’ at the number of reports of bullying in the HSE she received.
The show was inundated with contacts from HSE workers after listener Kate contacted the show to say she left the health service altogether after being experiencing bullying in two different roles.
The issue was subject to an Oireachtas hearing in February and the show continued to highlight the issue right up to the early summer – when HSE said it was making the problem a “top priority”:
Why we need miscarriage bereavement leave
In August, Lunchtime Live heard from a host of listeners about their experiences of miscarriage in Ireland.
Listeners told Andrea that they felt they had no time to grieve after suffering a miscarriage because they were not entitled to time off work, without taking sick leave.
One listener said she was so worried about her job that she had surgery on a Monday and logged back into work on the Tuesday.
The show heard that miscarriage can be devastating no matter how far along in your pregnancy you are and that it impacts on men as well as women:
Andrea finds out just how 'Donegal' she is
As part of this year’s #LoveDonegal Day, host Andrea Gilligan decided to find out just how much of her beloved Donegal runs in her blood.
She took a DNA test to get to the bottom of it and Ancestry.com historian Dr Jennifer Doyle joined the show to reveal the results live on air.
The findings, it is safe to say, were something of a bombshell with Dr Doyle telling Andrea that she is in fact, largely from Leitrim.
The test showed that Andrea is 95% Irish and 5% Scottish – with most of her Irishness coming from Leitrim, with a little bit of Monaghan and Fermanagh thrown in:
Andrea Gilligan in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk
