The Moriarty Family

The Moriarty’s are a family of four living in Listowel in the Kingdom of Kerry. Recently returned from Chicago dad Eugene is a facilities manager, his Irish American wife Sharon is a stay at home mother who is on the school board. Eugene is a believer. He knows that we all have to make changes. He also believes that mum Sharon is one of the people who has the most to change. He can’t understand why their bills are so high. Mum, Sharon on the other hand is oblivious to the cost of her daily energy use; having grown up in the land of plenty, Chicago, she just loves her mod cons especially her gas guzzling American automatic. She does not do walking.

Children Eoghan (13) and Eibhlis (11) are at opposite ends of the eco scale. Eibhlis is on the school Green Committee, she really believes that we can all make a difference, she is also fiercely loyal to the family cause and believes that they can pass all of ‘Dr. Kirk’s Challenges’. There are no ‘ifs’ in Eibhlis’ vocabulary.

Eoghan is another kettle of fish he doesn’t mind what happens as long as his own little world is left intact. His games console, TV and computers are all out of bounds as far as he is concerned and he will stop at nothing to get on when he can no matter what the consequences. He’s as devious as he is funny. But when he gets to be a challenge monitor the saying ‘poacher turned game keeper’ comes into play….big time.

The Moriartys are a real ‘can do’ family. Fiercely proud of the Kingdom they do not want to let Listowel down. Dr. Kirk as he is known in the house is often the bearer of bad news or of tough times ahead but they are always ready to give it a go, even though sometimes what they think they should do and what they should actually do are different things. Though Sharon is the person who seems to bear the brunt of the challenges it’s usually Eugene who is the one most disappointed by the results of their endeavours.