Patrick Geoghegan

Now, the Special Olympics Ireland Summer Games is taking place in Dublin this weekend, the first time in eight years.

Thank you very much.

Athletes from five regions, Connacht, Eastern Region, Leinster, Munster and Ulster are competing across 12 sports in Dublin, Meath and Kildare.

Now, Henry McKean has been checking out the track and field.

or watching the child soldiers of Boko Haram attempting to find forgiveness or redemption, she has been perhaps surprised to find the power of love triumphing again and again over awful vicissitudes.

He visited Morton Stadium and he's with me now.

Good morning, Henry.

And she's written about some of those uplifting encounters in a new book, which is called This is Also a Love Story, subtitled Searching for Good in a Divided World.

Sally Hayden, good morning and welcome.

I have to ask you why you wrote the book, because you mentioned that journalists can become a bit inured to violence, inured to death, a bit dehumanized in their own way, such as their exposure to these awful things.

And we have to remember that there's a so-called ceasefire going on at the moment between Israel and Lebanon.

And yet the shooting continues overnight.

And that's Stephen Fagan there.

The Special Olympics, even when you hear those voices, it must mean a lot to the athletes and to their families.

Now, later on in the book, there is a chapter dedicated to Lebanon, but it is one of the most extraordinary stories.

It's not overtly about love, love, love, but it is about the love of a man for his family who are struggling, even though they have money in the bank.

Tell me what happened.

There was a big explosion as well, which was flour, I think, exploding in a warehouse.

Yeah, I mean, it was there ostensibly, although maybe it wasn't.

That's another story.