Real people, real stories

James McCann
James is 35 and lives in Kinnegad, Westmeath. He is married to Catherine and has a baby son Brendan. He left school at 14 and became a mechanic. When eventually the garage had to close, he found that despite the fact that he knew everything about how to fix cars, he couldn't get his full mechanic's qualification because he couldn't read or write. Read more.

Olive Phelan
Olive left school with very poor literacy skills when she was 13. She got married when she was 16 and spent most of her life rearing the kids, doing some home help and staying in the background because her confidence levels were so bad. It was only when her youngest finally flew the nest that she realised that she needed some ‘Me time’. Read more.

Kevin O’Duffy
Kevin O’Duffy from Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly loves farming but as he says himself, ‘Farming is only half of the work’. “The way things have gone there is a form coming through the letter box every second day. The trouble was when I wanted to fill in a form or write a letter. I’d know I’d written it wrong but I didn’t know what the correct way was,” he says. Like many people in Ireland Kevin had difficulties with reading and writing. Read more