Glasnevin Cemetery tour guide: ‘I’m a bit of a nepo baby. I’m related to Daniel O’Connell’
Irial Ó Conaill finds special the revolutionary nature of the facility, with no separate sections - so ‘everyone is equal at the very end’
What I Do
‘Oysters are ecosystem warriors because they clean the water. It’s great to work with that type of product’
Diarmuid Kelly, an oyster producer in Galway, exports his products worldwide, from Canada to Singapore
Birr Castle’s head gardener: ‘We see leaves coming out in December. That is totally not normal’
What I Do: Shane Hollywood is head gardener at Birr Castle
‘My mother said: I would be proud to be buried in a coffin that you made’
What I Do: Martin Boyle makes green coffins out of willow in Co Donegal
Third-generation shoemaker: ‘When my grandfather started out, they were repairing a thousand pairs a week’
What I Do: Michael Tutty is a shoemaker in Naas, Co Kildare
‘We deal with horrific crimes. We have to consider the victims but we have to look after ourselves too’
What I Do: Jessie Flood, probation officer homeless team, Dublin
A Star Wars cosplaying chef: ‘Over the years, I probably spent more than 20 grand on my hobby’
What I Do: Norzainuri Albakri is a chef who loves cosplaying, prop-making and all things Star Wars
An Irish stonemason: ‘I want to upskill homeowners to carry out some of the work themselves’
What I Do: Eóin Madigan is a sixth-generation stonemason in Ennistymon, Co Clare
‘Hedges are a highway for wildlife. You’ll never see a mouse springing across a field’
Steve Bass is a hedgelayer based in Mayo, who works with his son Toby
‘It is lovely to see a six-year-old child planting a tree. When he is 25, he will have memories with that tree’
What I do: Dr Navchetan Singh is an EcoSikh Ireland founding member and volunteer
‘A lot of kids are stuck sitting down at school all day and it doesn’t work for them. It just doesn’t’
Hannah Morgan is a therapeutic riding coach in Festina Lente, Co Wicklow
‘I was 5 when I studied the violin. At 19, I rebelled and moved to Ireland thinking music was not my future’
What I do: Guided by his parents in Slovakia, the Kildare-based musician Vladimir Jablokov began studying the violin at the age of five. His dedication to the instrument has, for better or worse, shaped his life
Confessions of a driving instructor: ‘Young people think passing the test is easier than it is’
Eric Wharton, a driving instructor at Kerry School of Driving, says the oldest learner he has had was born in 1937
Inside the Garda Armed Support Unit: ‘You see things no one should ever see – shootings, murders and stabbings’
What I do: A garda on daily life with the special policing unit
‘I never have a full night’s sleep before singing at a funeral - it’s someone’s last goodbye’
What I Do: Olivia O’Hanlon is a wedding and funeral singer
Model boat making: ‘It takes you to a different world. You can’t hear or see anything else’
Ken Finn used to work in maintenance for spray paint machines, but now his hours are absorbed by his passion for model boat-making
The life model: ‘I’ve fainted because I stood in a weird pose for too long. That was a big lesson’
What I Do: Ygraine Hackett-Cantabrana is a part-time life model in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin
The stone carver who education left behind: ‘There was something f**king dying to get out of me’
Tommy Lysaght, a stone carver from Fermoy in Co Cork, works with Cork Life Centre and Simon Community
‘People think we go out killing stuff for taxidermy. It couldn’t be further from the truth’
Donal Mulcahy pursued his passion for taxidermy from a young age, eventually turning his hobby into his vocation
‘We’re the original recyclers on the island’
Traveller Martin Ward’s mission is to offer a recycling service that gives back to circular economy
‘When you have a good dog . . . it’s like owning a very expensive car. It’s the best thing ever’
What I Do: Paul Walker is a sheepdog trainer and shepherd
‘I’m extremely quirky and I get so much grace living in Donegal’
What I Do: Mirenda Rosenberg built a successful soap business from her home in Donegal by posting videos on TikTok
My father and brother were murdered. I was surrounded by gangland violence. But I came out the other side
What I Do: George McCabe is owner of G Force Fitness at the St John Bosco Youth Centre in Drimnagh, Dublin 12
‘I empower children through puppetry, to give them a voice’
What I Do: Carmel Balfe is a puppeteer and founder of Little Gem Puppets
Irish pet detective: ‘I’ve had people take machetes to me, firearms. I’ve been set on fire in a vehicle’
What I Do: Robert Kenny has helped to find thousands of missing and stolen pets over the past 17 years
Christmas tree farmer: ‘We are definitely seeing the impact of climate change’
What I Do: Karen Morton is a Christmas tree farmer at Killakee Christmas Tree Farm
The druid: ‘I was nine in religion class and it just dawned on me that the God the nun was talking about didn’t exist for me’
What I Do: Eimear Burke is a druid and chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
‘Men have infantilised me at work, saying ‘Good girl, big and strong’. I need to prove them wrong’
What I Do: Rebecca Hegarty, a 24-year-old plant maintenance technician, keeps office plants thriving across Dublin
‘Plants have stories, they aren’t just weeds’
What I Do: Sarah Gonzalez leads foraging and wildcrafting classes in Co Meath
‘A local production company asked if I was interested in filming a pilot: baking classes for kids through Irish’
What I Do: Aoibhín O’Dea is a baker, founder of Cácaí Aoibhín and cookery show presenter
‘I’ve always been really interested in the darker side of things, the macabre, the gritty, the gruesome’
What I Do: Ciaran Behan takes tourists on Dark Dublin tours of the city, sharing stories of grave robbing, serial killing, cannibalism and more
‘Being sick was a wake-up call. I thought, if I was to die, what is the one thing I wish I had done?’
What I Do: Aleksandra Konieczka is an ecologist and founder of Understory
‘A lot of people feel very detached from the Irish language, there is a sense of resentment. There isn’t a sense of joy’
What I Do: Mollie Guidera, aka Múinteoir Mollie, teaches Irish to students online as @irishwithmollie
My construction company collapsed in the crash – so I reinvented myself as a chainsaw sculptor
What I Do: Will Fogarty, known as Fear na Coillte, makes sculptures from fallen or dead trees
From Bono to Samurai swords: Dublin’s ‘Knife Man’ on the dying sharpening trade
What I Do: Denis Murphy goes door to door sharpening blades for restaurants and barbers
‘The East-Link Toll Bridge is the ugliest bridge in Dublin by a long way’
What I Do: Seán Harrington, an architect, has designed some of the bridges you walk over every day
‘Lo-fi music is true and original, that’s what makes it relatable’
What I Do: Erica Lee and Grace Doyle make DIY music at home together
Is the threat to humankind so great that the only way we can live with climate change is by ignoring it?
What I Do: Fergal McCarthy has been travelling around Ireland installing red flags at locations particularly impacted by climate change
‘When I do a sand drawing, you know the thing you are looking at will never be seen in the world again’
What I Do: Manuel Frölich is a sand artist from Chile living in Co Waterford who creates giant temporary artworks on beaches
‘I have a really good skill in making videos go viral’
What I Do: Paddy Galloway (27) is a YouTube strategist from Carlow
‘Nobody should have a closed coffin if it’s their family’s wish to say goodbye’
What I Do: Glynn Tallon is an embalmer specialising in advanced reconstruction for traumatic deaths
They call me Dr Chaos on occasion. I’m quite at home in a waiting room when people are acting out
What I Do: Dr Austin O’Carroll, who has worked as a Dublin city GP for 26 years, said he was first told he couldn’t do medicine because of his disability. After meeting Mary McAleese that changed
Alice Leahy: ‘Helping homeless people is about more than money, bricks and mortar and ticking boxes’
What I Do: Alice Leahy, founder of Alice Leahy Trust, has been working with homeless people in Dublin for 50 years
‘Viking men were tall, blonde lads. They definitely had better standards of hygiene than the Irish’
What I Do: Katherine McCormack, archaeologist and living historian, Dublinia
‘I practise animal acupuncture. Yes, of course people are sceptical’
What I Do: Dr Jacqui O’Brien is a vet and animal acupuncturist
‘I’m giving these buildings a second chance and giving them the love they never had in life’
What I Do: Nathan Wheeler found creative and professional satisfaction in hand-building models of family homes and derelict buildings
‘I’ve heard people say, you know more about my family than I do’
What I Do: Maeve Mullin is a probate genealogist, who helps to find beneficiaries after the death of a family member
Poo-drenched clothes and screeching birds: My summer as a seabird warden on Rockabill
What I Do: Micheál Fitzgerald (26) looks after Europe’s rarest breeding seabird
‘I feel like I didn’t choose this coffee; this coffee chose me’
What I Do: Wojciech Tysler will represent Ireland in Athens next week
My husband rescues people, and I rescue animals
What I Do: Bev Truss cares for orphaned and injured hedgehogs, birds and other wildlife in Co Clare
Golfers used to underestimate me for my disability – not any more
What I Do: Brendan Lawlor (26) is one of the top disability golfers in the world
‘You have to be mad to be a conductor ... We’re a weird breed’
What I Do: Elaine Kelly is a resident conductor with the Irish National Opera
I kidnapped a priest, now I make currachs with other ex-convicts
What I Do: Seamus O’Brien is workshop manager at Meitheal Mara, a community boatyard in Cork City
‘I started off with three sheep, bought a spinning wheel and taught myself how to spin’
What I Do: Sandra King is a wool crafter in Co Clare who spins and dyes her own yarn
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