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Irish Independent
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘Be stubborn with your ambition, but flexible about how you get there' – Irish celebrities on their Leaving Cert experience
Today at 21:30 As the Leaving Cert exams get underway next week, we asked some familiar faces to reflect on their own experiences, what their plans were at the time and what advice they might offer their younger selves. Pat Shortt Comedian Pat Shortt sat his Leaving Cert exams in 1986, a time he described as 'extremely stressful'. 'Largely, I really did not know what I wanted to do. I think the options for me were not really opening up terribly well,' he told the Irish Independent. 'I was a musician and I suppose, really, I always wanted to get into performance. But I didn't realise it – and that's a big problem too, when you're at that age doing your Leaving Cert, it feels like what you do in the next few weeks will map out the rest of your life. Of course, that couldn't be further from the truth, but that seems very real to someone at that age.' The comedian dropped out following his first year of art college in Limerick to become a full-time musician and performer, having met Jon Kenny, the other half of D'Unbelievables, a few months before. While he had a good experience in school, he said that he had 'very little concentration skills'. 'It just didn't suit me. I would go into a room and practice saxophone for five hours straight, and walk out raging that I had to go for my dinner and couldn't stay for another five hours, so it wasn't about applying myself. If I opened a book, I'd get to the second line and I'd be looking out the window, dreaming about something.' He said students should do the best they can, but remember that it is ultimately 'just an exam'. 'I think you really need to get out into the world and start living a little bit before you realise what you really want to do – and after a year or two, the Leaving Cert, nobody cares about it. 'You can make life decisions after the Leaving Cert [or] without the Leaving Cert, and be very successful.' Derval O'Rourke Three-time Olympian Derval O'Rourke had her sights set on the Olympic Games when she sat down to complete her Leaving Cert in 2000, attending her first in Athens four years later and becoming world indoor 60m hurdles champion in Moscow in 2006. 'The Leaving Cert felt, at the time, like it was the most important thing because it felt like that was all anybody asked you about. It felt like a very big milestone when I was a teenager,' she said. 'I didn't care hugely about academics, I really cared about running. I wanted to go to the Olympic Games and I figured at some point that probably the best route for me was to get a scholarship and go through a college route, to be able to get supported that way. 'The Leaving Cert for me was massively intertwined with wanting to go to the Olympics.' She added: 'I knew I needed to be running well to get a scholarship, but I also needed the points to gain access.' While the exams felt like 'a means to an end', she enjoyed everything she studied after her Leaving Cert and is a firm believer that it is not a defining measure of intelligence or where someone will go in life. 'I have two kids – a six-year-old and a nine-year-old – and I know for sure my priority for them won't be nailing the Leaving Cert. 'My priority will be that they're purposeful and content and happy, and that they've a work ethic. I don't think getting loads and loads of points necessarily creates that. 'The people I think are the most extraordinary, I have no idea what they got in their Leaving Cert. I just don't think it correlates with the things that actually really matter,' she said. I didn't know anybody who wasn't stressed, you start getting stressed maybe two years in advance, because everyone is talking about it Sarah McInerney RTÉ broadcaster Sarah McInerney sat her Leaving Cert in 1999 with a plan to enter journalism, but it was something she was not totally committed to. 'I did want to do well, to give myself options. That's where the pressure was coming from – it wasn't necessarily to get into journalism, it was to give myself options,' she said. 'I didn't know anybody who wasn't stressed. You start getting stressed maybe two years in advance because everyone is talking about it. There's huge build-up, which is so difficult when you're that age,' she said, adding that she hopes there is less focus on the big exam by the time her own children sit the Leaving Cert. 'I've always been very focused and that's just the way I am, so I would have done a lot of studying in advance, maybe two or three hours every evening. I would have been doing that continuously, but there were some topics I could never get my head around. I found maths very difficult, and home economics – I just couldn't make myself interested in it.' She said she is a 'big believer' in the fact that 'things do come around', adding: 'If I could go back and talk to myself when I was 18, I would be saying: 'Give it everything, do your best and whatever comes out, you will work with it and it'll be fine.'' Keilidh Cashell Make-up artist Keilidh Cashell, who is now one of Ireland's best-known beauty influencers and the owner of award-winning brand Kash Beauty, sat her Leaving Cert in 2014. She was 'very easy-going' in school and had initially considered becoming a tattoo artist before shifting towards make-up artistry for films and TV. 'I always knew I wanted to do something creative, so I spent my final year creating a portfolio for art college. It was a great excuse for when I didn't want to study,' she said. On what advice she would offer to her younger self, she said: 'What's for you won't pass you. I had spent all my time working on my portfolio, and ended up not getting enough points for the course I initially wanted. You just have to trust sometimes that the world has different plans, but you know that if you work hard and give it your all, it will all work out the way it's supposed to. 'But I don't remember lingering on it too long, I just knew then that I really wanted to do make-up, and [I] really believe what's for you won't pass you, so I just looked up other courses. It all worked out in the end because if I had gotten my initial course I wanted, I wouldn't be on the path I am now 10 years later with my own make-up brand. 'By the time I would have finished the first college course, I already had my own make-up collaborations and worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, really cementing myself in the online make-up space. None of which would have happened if I got the original course. 'You just have to trust sometimes that the world has different plans, but you know that if you work hard and give it your all, it will all work out the way it's supposed to.' Áine Kerr Broadcaster and entrepreneur Áine Kerr had sat down and made her plans to become a teacher and a journalist at the age of 15. 'I've done two master's degrees since, and nothing would have me repeat my Leaving Cert. It is this cloud that just hangs over you in school,' she told the Irish Independent. She achieved 545 points when she sat her exams in her native Co Monaghan in 1999, going on to earn a BA in Education before teaching fifth class at Corpus Christi Girls' National School in Drumcondra, Dublin 9. 'I was very fortunate at 15 to have a little mini plan that worked out for me and so, when I think back to that 15-year-old self, my 17-year-old self going off to Dublin, going to college, it's a reminder that you'll find your way [and] you'll still be finding your way – I'm now 43 and you're never done with it.' She added: 'I've been a teacher, I've been a journalist, I've become the accidental entrepreneur along the way, I've gone on to work in and help found two start-ups, I've worked in Facebook, I've worked in Spotify, and the thing with learning is that sometimes your life is the learning, your life is the lesson.' Her advice to any young students is to 'be stubborn about the ambition you have for yourself, but then just be flexible about how you get there'.
Irish Daily Mirror
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Derval O'Rourke hits back at skorts debate telling fans 'put your bums in seats'
Top athlete Derval O'Rourke says the best way to show support for the camogie girls is to go and watch them play. The world champion sprinter says it's all very well to be outraged, but what women's sport needs is to "put more bums on seats". Olympian Derval, 43, was speaking ahead of the Munster senior camogie final, which was due to be held today but has been postponed after both sides vowed to wear shorts in protest at the rule they must wear skorts. Derval said: "We're all very quick to get outraged and of course, they should have the choice to wear whatever they want. It's ridiculous and frustrating. But for all of us who have got engaged with this - now, go to a match. I'm including myself in that. "We've all cared enough to talk about it. Now actually show up. The takeaway for all of us who have gotten engaged with it is, get off the couch and go to a match. The big thing in women's sport is people consuming it. So show up when this is resolved, when it dies down. "They're so skilled. I was at an All-Ireland final a few years ago... It was absolutely phenomenal, they're unreal. Camogie players, you have our attention now. We should watch you do what you do and not care what you wear. Add another layer to the support." The Cork star said this is an issue that would have been building for a long time before it burst out. She added: "These scenarios never happen overnight, particularly for women in sport. It's not like women wake up one morning and say, 'We're fed up'. This has been happening for years and years. "A tipping point happens - like what happened last week." [The match was abandoned when the Kilkenny and Dublin players turned up in shorts.] "When that happens it's like someone lights the match and it has to get resolved. I enjoy that they're resolving it by a little bit of force. "Obviously they should be able to wear whatever they want, but it's about choice - I hope they get the choice." Derval was talking to The Mirror to mark asthma awareness week this week. It's dedicated to raising awareness and promoting active lifestyles for sufferers. The mum-of-two told how she has asthma and says being active made her feel better. She was diagnosed with the breathing condition when she was seven or eight and recalls getting wheezy and short of breath as a child. Derval added: "For a while, I used to not run too far and because I was always a sprinter, I would run a bit and have a rest. "There's a negative association with asthma and being active. It shouldn't be that way. Because when you're active, it's brilliant for you. Moving and being active is the right thing to do. "I was diagnosed and then I remember always having my inhaler and my reliever inhaler with me everywhere. As a kid, I wondered would I be able to do sport. I was worried about it. If there was a problem with my asthma, maybe i couldn't do it." Her asthma has been well managed so she never ended up in hospital. However she has had to go on courses of steroids over the years, to prevent attacks. She says finding out Paula Radcliffe had asthma made her feel she wasn't alone. 'There's a negative association with asthma and being active, It shouldn't be that way. Because when you're active, it's brilliant for you. It's helpful. Moving and being active is the right thing to do.'
The Irish Sun
07-05-2025
- Health
- The Irish Sun
The sign of major condition that you might notice when exercising – and it can be fatal
HEALTH chiefs have issued an important alert over a common lung condition that's 'often misunderstood'. The condition, which affects your ability to breathe, usually starts in childhood but it can begin at any age. 2 Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in Ireland Credit: Getty Marking World Asthma Day this week, the 'This might mean difficulties breathing from time to time, or breathing problems most of the time.' The People with asthma are at risk of having a severe asthma attack. READ MORE ON HEALTH Ireland has one of the highest asthma rates in the world, affecting one in 10 people, according to the Asthma Society of Ireland. Some 450,000 people in Ireland have asthma but many remain unsure where to turn for guidance. Symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and experiencing a tight chest feeling. HSE ADVICE THE cause is more likely to be asthma if the symptoms: happen often and keep coming back are worse at night and early in the morning happen in response to an asthma trigger such as exercise or an allergy change with the seasons - for example, they are worse in the summer or winter See a GP if you think you or your child may have asthma. We are still learning about the causes of asthma. But you may be at more risk of asthma if you: Most read in Health have a parent or sibling with asthma have other allergic conditions, such as eczema had a severe respiratory infection as a child are exposed to dust or certain chemicals at your work have overweight or are exposed to air pollution CEO of the Asthma Society, Eilis Ni Chaithnia, warned that asthma can be 'unpredictable' and 'frightening' at times. How to spot asthma in your child and signs of an asthma attack She said: 'For too long, there has been a misconception that asthma and physical activity don't mix. 'And if you've ever been left gasping for breath — or even hospitalised — from exercise, it's only natural to fear doing it again. 'But the evidence is clear: regular movement, done safely, strengthens your lungs, reduces inflammation, and can alleviate the mental toll of having a chronic disease.' The group have just launched a free service on their Adviceline connecting people with a Senior Physiotherapist. Olympian and asthma ambassador Derval O'Rourke, who has lived with asthma throughout her career, admitted she has second-guessed herself before training. She said: 'But I also know that staying active has helped me manage my asthma, not worsen it. 'This campaign is about empowering people — whether you're walking around the block or aiming for a marathon, the support is there.' Respiratory Consultant at Tallaght University Hospital and Trinity College, Professor Patrick Mitchell said that asthma is 'one of the most common chronic conditions in Ireland, yet it's often misunderstood'. He explained: 'People with asthma should be able to participate fully in exercise — even competitive sport — with proper management. 'If symptoms appear during or after exercise, it may be a sign that the asthma is not well controlled, not that activity should be avoided. 'We know that regular activity, done safely, can actually reduce symptoms and improve lung function. "That's why the right education, support and treatment are so important.' For more information visit 2 Over 450,000 people in Ireland have asthma Credit: Getty
