Radio ReviewBernice HarrisonIf they weren't so busy binge-drinking, taking drugs and becoming obese, the ears of the nation's teenagers would have been burning all week. Everyone was talking about them. Mammies phoning in to Brenda Power (Your Call, Newstalk, Tuesday) to tell harrowing stories of 13-year-old girls with shocking drink and drug habits, or dads talking about their wayward sons, such as the man in the rural Irish town (Liveline, RTÉ Radio 1, Monday) whose boy was caught with €30,000 worth of cocaine and a weighing scales - "he wasn't dealing Joe . . . he fell into the wrong crowd".
Parental denial is as rampant as teenage bad behaviour - with Bertie Ahern leading the way. In the Dáil, the Opposition made much of The State of the Nation's Children report, stressing that such rampant drinking and drug-taking were a societal faultline, while Ahern implied the findings were exaggerated. "I do not believe that. I do not believe it. I do not see it" - the soundbite turned up on several news bulletins on Wednesday, presumably because it sounded like a masterclass in denial.
Professionals working on the ground are more realistic. A headmistress talking about the rampant truancy in her secondary school in Clondalkin (Today with Pat Kenny, RTÉ Radio 1, Thursday) told reporter Valerie Cox that nearly a quarter of all students are absent for more than 20 days per year.
One reason for the absenteeism, particularly at the start of any given week, she said, is because students have been out binge-drinking at the weekend and are too hungover to come to school. And this is in a school that has no funding for a home liaison officer because it isn't judged to be "disadvantaged". More denial at official level.
What was missing from all this debate were teenage voices - although, and this is unusual in any week, there were some young voices on air. Derek Mooney moved his show to Áras an Uachtaráin (Mooney, RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday) to cover a forum in which groups of teenagers discussed how they would like to see Ireland in 2020. It's an initiative by the President to get teenagers more involved, and they sounded smart, interested and socially aware. Of course, there was the odd eyes-to-heaven moment, such as one boy's "Mass is boring, it's too religious" comment, but for the most part, the teens had interesting things to say on a wide range of issues, from transport to health.
Mooney asked for a reaction to the earlier comments Gay Byrne had made about the legalisation of drugs on Conversations with Eamon Dunphy (RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday). "Legalising drugs is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, you're still going to be doing something wrong," said one boy, in what was possibly the most sensible response to Byrne's idea heard all week.
Interviewed by Mooney, President Mary McAleese talked about "the embedded cultural attitude to alcohol". She said that in general she was optimistic about the future. "There would be something wrong with you if you weren't optimistic; there's so much of a good news story to tell." As a country, she said, "we're in growth mode, prosperity mode". She is always worried when young people say there is nothing for them to do. "The truth is, there was never more for young people to do."
Such optimism for the youth of the country must be difficult for people such as the Groococks to hear. In 2005, their 20-year-old son Kevin killed himself, and Ann Marie Power (Documentary on One: The Guest, Wednesday, RTÉ Radio 1) made this moving - how could it be anything else? - documentary by talking to Kevin's parents, professional cellist Richard and piano teacher Marleis. Kevin grew up in a house filled with classical music - sombre, haunting music was as much a feature of the programme as the parents - and he became a talented trombonist.
"We both know we have become different people, but life is the same as it was before," said Kevin's mother, echoing the sentiments familiar to the bereaved everywhere. "Life is the same as it was before, but it is completely different."
When their energetic, talkative son first showed signs of depression they got professional help for him, but as his depression worsened he attempted suicide. An attempt, said his father, is seen by people who are depressed as a "failure", increasing the determination to "succeed" in completing the act. "It feels," said his mother, who sounded sad and bewildered by the loss of a son who will always in her mind be 20, "as if he had been a wonderful guest and he had to leave."