Health Scan

Christine Buckley, co-founder of the Aislinn Centre

Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?

Absolutely not. I enjoy what’s not good for me too much. I’m still addicted to nicotine. I have made attempts to stop, but sadly the battle continues.

How often do you exercise?

When I was younger, I enjoyed squash and tennis but I had a back operation and I suffer with it from time to time. I hate the winter but I do like a walk in the summer.

Do you get your five a day?

I absolutely adore vegetables. I think that’s the only one of these questions I can be positive on. We grow our own and this year we had fennel, cabbage, rhubarb and we have apple trees. We have an organic garden too with basil, parsley, sage and rosemary. I absolutely love gardening.

Do you worry?

Non-stop. I worry about my three beautiful children who are adults. I worry about the centre here and our funding. We work voluntarily and I really feel the HSE does not appreciate the commitment we make to keep the centre open. We offer survivors of institutional abuse courses in self-development, drama, computers, cookery – I firmly believe that every person has a talent. Here, people get a chance to find it.

What do you do to relax?

Gardening, reading and I love documentaries. I absolutely love forensics – movies about how they find murderers after years and years. I’m interested in anything to do with forensics in books or on TV.

What’s your unhealthiest habit?

Everything that’s bad for me I love. I wish I could give up cigarettes but I’m just not going there at the moment. And I love a glass of red wine in the evening.

The Aislinn Centre, co-founded with Carmel McDonnell Byrne, provides therapeutic and recreational classes to survivors of institutional abuse and their families.