Kerry family welcomes Dublin teen into home for RTE’s ‘Raised by a Village’

KERRY beekeeper and farmer Paul O’Neill knows firsthand just how different life is in a big city is to remote rural living. He and his parents moved from Ballyfermot to Kerry when he was young under what was then a rural resettlement programme. “In the early 1990s there was a heroin epidemic. I was one of three and my parents wanted to get us out of there. There was a rural resettlement programme at the time,” he explained. The family ended up in Cahersiveen where they built a new life.

Now all these years later, Paul runs Island Organix on Valentia island – a far cry from life in Dublin.

So when he and his wife Roisin were asked to take a Dublin teenager into their home for the RTE series ‘Raised by a Village’ they decided to do so and it was an experience for both Dion (13) and for the O’Neill family, which also includes Sam (15), Rowan (10), Lola (7) and Alex (5).

Dion from Dublin spent a week living with the family on Valentia Island experiencing life on the organic farm in a very remote location high up on the mountain which Paul and his family run.

“I actually knew one of the producers of the show and she asked me to do it and we discussed it and we decided to,” explained Paul

“We wanted to give a girl from Dublin a nice experience.”

“With four children here already, it is busy enough as it is and it got even busier... It was manic,” he laughs.

Dion came to live with the O’Neill family last summer but the experience only made it to TV screens last weekend as she and the O’Neill family shared the life-changing experience on the series which also showcased the wonderful life of Valentia island.

The 13-year-old from Clondalkin who spent most of her free time on Tick-Tok and under her duvet was sent to Valentia to get a new perspective on life.

And she certainly got that given her experience of cleaning out the hen-house, helping grow plants, and even playing football with Valentia Young Islanders which has prompted an interest in GAA for the Dublin teenager.

Her experience helping at Island Organix where the family grow micro-greens and sell ornamental plants as well as running Valentia bee beds – a healing experience using live bees, gave her very different daily routine.

‘Raised by the Village’ – the four part RTE series helps teenagers like Dion experiencing difficulties to get time away from their lives and experience a new way of life.

“It is a completely different life here from inner city Dublin,” says Paul.

“It is black and white, especially the open spaces as opposed to houses and people.”

It was what Paul himself experience when he moved with his family from Ballyfermot. Just like Dion their story featured on a TV programme at the time.

“Dion had a tough upbringing, not by her parents, but it’s a tough environment but she was a nice young kid. The toughness is an act, a product of inner city life. Behind it is a wonderful girl,” explained Paul.

“We gave her a test of a life here, she has to go back to normal life but the memory might stick with her and push her to a change later,” he said.

Island Organix can be found on Instagram

WE GAVE HER A TASTE OF LIFE HERE, SHE HAS TO GO BACK TO NORMAL LIFE BUT THE MEMORY MIGHT STICK...