Posts Tagged ‘Ukraine’

Hoping for a Great Summer!!

June 1, 2026

Bantry Bay

OK, that was May put to bed and while the early summer did tease us recently with a few decent summer days, it did end pretty grim and that optimism started to disappear.

Will it be a good summer after all, when will we take a break and where will we go?!!

These thoughts were running through my head while I flicked through the news in The Irish Times and I read about more intense bombing by the Russians on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine and I wondered about my buddy over there, Paul Niland.

Paul who is originally from Ireland, is a journalist, a political commentator and the founder and CEO of Lifeline Ukraine, a national suicide prevention service. He has been living in Kyiv for nearly 24 years.

After reading an article in The Irish Times back in February 2022 about the likelihood of Russia invading Ukraine, I reached out to him to see if he was interested in being a guest on my Win Happy podcast and he kindly agreed.

Since then he has been a regular guest providing the listeners with valuable insights during the different phases of Russia’s war against Ukraine. While these have been extremely valuable they have given us a huge understanding of the Ukrainian people and their resilience. I have also got to know Paul quite well and how much this place means to him.

I was fairly sure that Paul wasn’t worrying about the weather this summer and his holiday plans, so I reached out to him to see how he was and to once again come on the podcast. To my great surprise I was greeted by lots of optimism.

He was hoping it would also be a great summer but for very different reasons!!

My chat with him was fascinating as always – he spoke about the routine attacks by Russia, Orban’s defeat in Hungary, EU membership, Trump the Russian asset and the drone expertise which has allowed the Ukrainian military reach deep into Russia providing their citizens with a taste of what it is like to experience fear during this pointless war started by Putin.

He also spoke about attending concerts and how music is reflecting the unbreakable spirit of Ukrainians and the role it is playing in what he believes is the the inevitable path to Victory!!

If you fancy listening you can find the episode on all the usual apps and directly via this link

I hope it’s a great summer…

Greg

Greg Canty is the Managing Partner of Fuzion, a Brand Communications Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

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Posted in Motivation, Music, Politics, War | Leave a Comment »

Christmas Shopping with Micheál Martin!!

December 19, 2023

Last Saturday I found myself in the queue in Waterstones in Cork with a bunch of books and a game in my hands, Christmas presents for all and sundry.

The queue was moving fast as it always does (a well oiled machine) and the mood everywhere was light and jovial – while buying presents can be stressful I find that act of buying gifts has everyone in good spirits.

Behind me in the queue I heard lots of chit chat and the usual mentions of “Merry Christmas” between people inevitably bumping into others that they knew, all performing the same vital task. Hopefully we will be in that queue again next year, a year older buying presents for the same people.

One of the voices behind me sounded very familiar and when I turned around sure enough it was none other than our Tánaiste, and former Taoiseach Micheál Martin. He was chatting to some woman that he knew and it was just like any other conversation between any random shoppers, “how is so and so doing, haven’t seen them in ages, must meet up soon, say hello for me, Merry Christmas….”

One of the wonderful things about Ireland is that we will deliberately (I’m sure not always) leave that well known person alone to their moment of privacy and let them get along with the same every year human task of buying a Christmas present, and not bug them. No one was bothering him. Maybe they were close by, but I didn’t see security people for him and for this Saturday Micheál and I were the very same, two men in town buying Christmas presents for loved ones.

Micheál was relaxed, warm and friendly, comfortable in his own skin as he chatted and moved through the store.

Now, Greg being Greg I did want to say something to him but hopefully not bug him. He doesn’t know me but would probably recognise the face from all of the functions and Chamber meetings down through the years that I would have attended.

I reached out to shake his hand and without hesitation he reciprocated. I said “thank you for the great work” he has been doing on our behalf. I meant it and I wanted to communicate it. Politicians take a lot of flak from so many quarters and they should also be given credit for their service – I couldn’t think of another job as thankless as that one where everyone feels they own you 24/7. Despite the various challenges that we face as a country I think he has been great and always represents us superbly.

He thanked me for saying that and I quickly went on to ask that Ukraine gets the money and resources that it needs so it can keep fighting against Putin’s Russia and in doing so to make the world a safer place for all of us. He assured me it would happen and we both went off to continue with our shopping.

We should never take for granted that in this country of ours that this is still possible

Greg (the shopper)

Greg is a partner at Fuzion a Brand Communications agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Christmas, Irish Politics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Gratitude..

March 14, 2022

I was 57 last Friday and I was determined to do a few very simple things on the day.

I walked the dogs first thing as I always do with Dee – they love getting out!

The intention was to not work at all but I was busy with some client commitments, but I like what I do so that was more than ok.

I met mum for lunch – nothing fancy but it was great to see her.

Ellen my daughter popped by to say hello, which was great.

I popped in next store to say hello to our fantastic neighbours and their two kids – such special people.

And we popped down to the local, The White Horse with friends for dinner and drinks and while I was there Brendan, my son rang and we chatted briefly and I got to see little Hazel, my granddaughter over WhatsApp – they will be back from New Zealand in the next two weeks.

After dinner we came back to the house for a night cap – everyone was tired so it was just the one.

Before going to bed I checked my phone and returned the many messages with birthday wishes from friends and family.

That was it, another birthday spent with Dee and some of the other special people in my life and the two dogs of course.

While it is easy to get a little bit down with each passing year (and those numbers getting bigger!!) all I could feel this year was huge gratitude for being around to see another one and for spending it in a relatively safe country.

(God love the poor woman pictured above as she left her home and belongings in Mariupol in Ukraine – it makes no sense)

Thank you….

Greg

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Caring, Family, Friendship, Homelessness, Parenting, Personal development, Politics, Terrorism | 2 Comments »