Growing up a Jehovah’s Witness in rural Co Tipperary was not your typical Irish childhood.

Weekends spend proselytising, no Christmas or birthdays and very little interaction with the world beyond the community meant Trish Bourke was a very sheltered teenager when she was groomed by an older man.

In her book UnWitnessed, Trish writes movingly about her steps away from the faith that shaped her, the predatory relationship she fell into and a termination she went through as a result, and her eventual discovery of her place in the world.

From being called a murderer by her devout family, and a loving but sexless marriage to teaching computer literacy to Martin Sheen, her story is full of twists, turns and contradictions.

Trish Bourke is today’s guest on The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast. Her book, UnWitnessed, is published by Menma Books and available at unwitnessed.net.

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Management, clinicians and staff at Cork University Hospital are in a mounting disagreement with the HSE and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill over staff and resources at the South-West region’s biggest hospital.

Trolleys are mounting up at the hospital’s Emergency Department and as the health service faces into the winter season, staff and management fear a tragic incident if resourcing is not urgently addressed.

Last week CUH boss Jennifer Kearney wrote to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to say the hospital was unsafe for patients and staff.

“My responsibility as chief executive is not simply to comply with a process," she wrote. "It is to speak clearly when I believe that process is creating a foreseeable risk to patients and staff.

"I would rather raise that concern now, when there is still an opportunity to act, than remain silent and explain afterwards why we did not.”

The Minister hit back in an interview on RTE radio, saying there was “no evidence” the hospital was unsafe - but medical staff at the hospital have since rowed in on the CEO’s side.

So, is the hospital safe or not?

Irish Examiner Health Correspondent Niamh Griffin gets into the detail of the dispute at CUH on today’s episode.

Health minister says no evidence of increased patient safety concerns at CUH

Hiqa seeks clarity over Cork University Hospital safety fears

CUH boss says hospital 'unsafe' for patients amid shortfall of over 1,000 staff

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Jung Chang achieved worldwide acclaim for her autobiographical work Wild Swans, published in 1992.

The book told the story of her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine whose feet were bound, her mother, a Communist Party official who suffered under Mao, and herself, one of the first students permitted to leave China to study in the West in the 1970s.

Since its publication Jung has become a prolific writer and historian of China but her biography of Mao, written with her Irish husband Jon Halliday, put her on the wrong side of the Communist Party’s propaganda.

Her new book, Fly Wild Swans, tells the story of her life since Wild Swans’ publication – particularly her increasingly difficult relationship with the Chinese authorities.

In this interview with Deirdre O’Shaughnessy recorded in front of a live audience at the West Cork Literary Festival, Jung describes how her life changed when the Party became displeased with her; her difficulty in visiting China since the publication of the Mao book; and, for the first time, she discusses the death of her beloved mother, whose life story inspired millions in Wild Swans.

This episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast was recorded live at the Maritime Hotel Bantry as part of the West Cork Literary Festival 2026. See westcorkmusic.ie.

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