Louise Currie, co-founder of MindSpace Counselling
“There are more people presenting with alcohol issues than there would have been previously,” Currie, co-founder of MindSpace Counselling, says. “Some of these people would have had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol but they were somehow managing it. They were distracted with the gym, with friends, going out; whereas now, in lockdown, they’re in the house and alcohol consumption is increasing.”
Currie says people are drinking earlier in the day, every day and a couple who used to share one bottle of wine a night are now drinking two.
“The clients I work with would be what you’d term ‘functioning alcoholics’ people who still have jobs, people who appear on the outside to have it all together but now family members are noticing because they’re not able to disguise it as well,” she says.
The images of 2020 will remain fresh in our minds long after this year has ended. Grief, loneliness, resilience and joy Covid-19 has tested us in ways we could scarcely have imagined just 12 months ago. Through it all, our photographers have chronicled these experiences, capturing the beauty, poignancy and inner strength of our nation.
Powerfully sad image of respect shown to fallen Garda Horkan
Mark Condren
I ll never forget the night of June 17, 2020. About 1am I was woken by a text: A Garda has been shot and is in a critical state. I was shocked that this has happened again, not just as a photojournalist, but being part of a family who has had a long tradition with An Garda Síochána. My dad Larry served as a sergeant for 37 years in Cork, as did my Uncle Sean in Dublin. My wife, asleep beside me in that early morning, is a serving garda in Dublin.
The post-Christmas sales are traditionally a wallet-opening exercise by shoppers hoping to purchase some luxury designer numbers that are normally outside their buying power.
Examples of designer goods reduced online at Brown Thomas include an Alexander McQueen long, double-breasted, notched-lapel wool coat, which is marked down from €3,924 to €2,354. A Balenciaga hourglass houndstooth coat is €995, down from €2,449.
Marks & Spencer Ireland confirmed that, “in line with Government guidelines”, they are postponing their Christmas/January sale.
Pulling on my fashion editor’s hat, I would point you in the direction of classic buys and good investments, from a cosy knit for now to sensible, comfortable boots to get us through the next few months and into spring.
Janine Briscoe (28) arrived from South Korea. I m hungry. I didn t take off my mask on the flights, not even to have something to eat, said Janine, who teaches English in a school in Seoul. Her mask is attached to a chain which means she can remove it without touching it and she can leave it hanging on the chain for a few moments rather that stuffing it unhygienically into a bag or a pocket. A mask has hardly left my face in months and I ll been staying masked in Ireland, said Janine, who underwent a test before flying and will be self-isolating while she awaits another test in Ireland on Christmas Eve. She said South Korea is one of the most successful countries in the world in battling Covid. On the day she left South Korea, there were 11 deaths out of a population of 51 million.