Living With Lucy takes a look at the life of a reporter as the host moves in with our crime editor.\n<\/p>\n
The TV presenter was stopped on Talbot Street in Dublin\u2019s inner-city \u2013 close to our offices \u2013 as she trudged along with her luggage ahead of spending a weekend with Nicola for her show Living With Lucy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh Jaysus, there\u2019s Lucy Kennedy, look at her! Are you on a fashion shoot,\u201d asked one onlooker, to which Lucy said she wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
He then asked: \u201cAre you staying over with anyone nice this weekend? Who is it, can you reveal it?\u201d<\/p>\n
When told it was Nicola, he cheered: \u201cAh no way, we all love her.\u201d<\/p>\n
His pal added: \u201cThat means everybody will be watching it!\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lucy was given a tour of our offices at Independent House, where she met among others Editor Brian Farrell and our Deputy Editor Niall Donald, who is co-host on Nicola\u2019s hugely popular Crime World podcast.<\/p>\n
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Nicola took Lucy on a walk around Dublin\u2019s city centre<\/p>\n
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Nicola explained how Crime World\u2019s scoop of landing an interview with notoriously-shy, gangland figure Gerry \u2018The Monk\u2019 was a ground-breaking coup.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we did an interview with The Monk, and it was huge. Now, we\u2019re going to tell a story properly, and focus on how he nearly got elected, and try and delve into that,\u201d she reveals.<\/p>\n
Nicola and Lucy venture back out onto Talbot Street, heading for nearby Corinthians Boxing Club, with which The Monk is closely associated.<\/p>\n
\u201cNicola, I love watching you. I\u2019m only after telling them, I\u2019m after watching the one there,\u201d another passerby on the street interjects after recognising our reporter.<\/p>\n
He tells her that the criminal she had recently featured on her podcast was a \u201cbaddie\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he\u2019s a f**king p***k. Give me a gun and I\u2019ll do him,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Nicola tells Lucy that many of the people she encounters near the office have sad stories.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lucy spent several days shadowing Nicola<\/p>\n
News in 90 Seconds – Saturday November 2 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is actually tragic, because most of them are addicts, you know what I mean. A lot of them will approach you, have a hit of whatever they\u2019re taking, their tablets, or something like that,\u201d she remarks.<\/p>\n
At the boxing club, Nicola is met with endearment of a different kind when the coaches take a shine to her and insist she looks \u201csexy in her cowboy boots\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d fancy her. You\u2019re not bad yourself,\u201d one tells Lucy.<\/p>\n
They explain how Hutch was once treasurer of the club and still pops in from time to time, with the kids getting somewhat starstruck.<\/p>\n
They hope Nicola\u2019s visit will help give a better image of the inner city.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to publicise what we were talking about. The inner city never gets good publicity, about the way we\u2019re treating the kids, the kids coming down here,\u201d says one of the club members.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything Nicola writes about is crime in the inner city. Now there\u2019s a good thing to write about (the club)\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another points out: \u201cMy opinion is after changing on her since the interview with Gerard,\u201d adding \u201cbut if she writes anything bad about this stuff now, there\u2019ll be trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Lucy and Nicola catch up with Eamon Dunphy<\/p>\n
Nicola brings Lucy to her Dublin home of 20 years, which she shares with her adult daughters and adorable pet Jack Russell dog Paddy.<\/p>\n
Over the course of a few days Lucy meets a variety of people who\u2019ve been important in Nicola\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
One is Joey O\u2019Callaghan, the central character in Nicola\u2019s best-selling book and award-winning podcast The Witness, and whose life story is the subject of a new film production.<\/p>\n
Joey became the youngest person to enter the State witness programme when, aged just 18, his testimony helped put gangsters Brian Kenny and Thomas Hinchon behind bars for life for the murder of Jonathan O\u2019Reilly<\/p>\n
Joey, who still had to hide his identity and is naturally fearful about one of the two thugs who threatened him getting out of prison soon, is full of praise for the way Nicola handled him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always be grateful for everything Nicola\u2019s done for me, I hold her up there close to my family, with my mam and that because she\u2019s the only person that when I couldn\u2019t help myself helped me, and there was nothing in it for her,\u201d he confirms.<\/p>\n
Lucy and Nicola also meet Eamon Dunphy, who reveals he encouraged Nicola into the world of podcasting back in 2018, after he fronted his successful podcast series, The Stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe headhunted her because she was so good. She\u2019s the best journalist in her field. And the stories of the Kinahans and all the crime stories are addictive,\u201d he raves.<\/p>\n
Nicola and Lucy also enjoy drinks with Sunday World magazine editor Caoimhe Young, who recalls how Nicola once forced her to follow a notorious fraudster through the streets of Limerick after she has spotted the criminal while driving through the city.<\/p>\n
The pair also meet up with former Sunday World celebrity journalist Amanda Brunker, who describes how she, Nicola and our features writer Deirdre Reynolds were stalked by convicted rapist Mark McAnaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never seen anybody as out of control as he was in custody. He is so dangerous,\u201d admits Nicola.<\/p>\n
She also opens up about how she tracked down Christy Kinahan senior in Marbella back in 2013, and the incident was one of the few times she genuinely feared for her safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking for Christy Kinahan senior. We had really good information., We had about six months gathering the intel before we went,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t know whether we realised we were actually going into the heart of one of the biggest cartels in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we also probably realised how dangerous they were.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably then saw them as a Dublin gang, you know which was a slight naivety.\u201d<\/p>\n
She tells an open-mouthed Lucy how she and her team got closer to the belly of the beast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis particular night we got a tip that he was in the port. We went down and sure enough he was there,\u201d she elaborates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had gone for sushi. We had undercover cameras on him. We had literally got him like he had almost liked they\u2019d kissed the ring. And it showed what he\u2019d become. That actually he was the Godfather.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a huge success. And we were sitting down, having a drink, congratulating ourselves. We\u2019d got Christy Kinahan senior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then alarm bells started going off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next thing, one of the guys who was with us, came back to the table. He just said \u2018you\u2019ve got to leave here now and you\u2019ve gotta walk different directions\u2019,\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t even blink. We just walked out the door and I went back to the villa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018what happened?\u2019. And the guy said \u2018well I was in the loo and I heard this guy on the phone\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he said \u2018Nicola Tallant\u2019s here, get the lads down here now\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, this guy had spotted me, and I had gone in for a little bit of backup. No they probably would\u2019ve, I dunno what\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucy asks if she feared she might be kidnapped, or worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe, actually, when you think of what they have done since, you just wouldn\u2019t know,\u201d she reflects.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that time, I realised, \u2018this is the end of me doing this type of work\u2019 because everybody was put in danger because they recognised me.<\/p>\n