Reportage
2011

In the days following the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 99 % of the land of Belarus was contaminated to varying degrees by radioactive fallout. A quarter of a century on, the costs to those living in the region are widespread. A generation later, children are being born with birth defects, heart problems and thyroid cancer. High unemployment and poverty is putting pressure on family life. Social problems and domestic abuse are widespread. Today, there are about 7 million people living with the physical and psychological legacy of this man made disaster

Scenes from the annual Carrownisky beach races, Louisburgh, Co. Mayo.

Scenes from the annual Ballinasloe horse fair. The October Fair is one of the oldest fairs in Ireland, deals are done, horses are raced and the young traveller girls search for husbands.

Although the Catholic Church has come under severe pressure following the clerical sex abuse scandals I found signs of how deeply ingrained Catholicism still is in Irish Life. Religious iconography and symbols are still prominently displayed in homes throughout Ireland.

The aftermath of the Haiti earthquake

Fairs are more than places of trade in Ireland. Women regard them as occasions worth dressing up for, often with great care, lending a kind of delicacy to the day, a femininity to counterweigh the spit-in-the-hand dealings of the men folk. There is a vibrancy of colour, red hair, freckles and a range of ensembles guaranteed, at the very least, to attract your notice. Many of these are travelling people, part of an ancient tribe of Gaelic nomads who have never remained in one spot for very long despite numerous integration attempts by settled society. Though they lead very simple and basic lives they have a reputation for ostentation and pomp in marking certain occasions. But there's business to be done. On days like these horses and ponies are their stocks and shares; the towns and squares of Ireland morph into their trading floors. In the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, seen by many as a vacuous and immoral age, these old meeting grounds are flourishing arenas of openness and transparency. They barter. They laugh. They sing. They row.

The Ard Ri Hotel in Waterford has been abandoned by its owners. Now stripped, rotting and vandalized beyond recognition, the once thriving hotel has become a blot on the city's landscape.

Dingle Community Hospital Patients move from the 180 year old to a New hospital built in the town of Dingle . 43 residents of Dingle Community Hospital will move to their new state of the art home in the new multi million West Kerry Community Hospital.

The Twins festival in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan.

Images of competitors during various diving events at the 2010 LEN European Long Course Swimming Championships.

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