Amas and Ammar Al-Kadry are two Syrian brothers who put themselves in the hands of ruthless people-smugglers to escape their war-torn country. From the deserts of Algeria to lawless Libyan towns and rickety over-crowded boats, it’s a long way from Damascus to Mayo. (First broadcast 2015) Themes: Adventure, Conflict, Development, Foreign See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 29, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
A story of emigration and sport. Jack Dowling survived an orphanage in Waterford and an industrial school in Cork. He moved to the UK to work in the mines and went on to become an international race walker. Jack was good enough to represent Ireland, but never got the chance. He did set many records, some of which still stand (Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 22, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
Leeanne O’Donnell was browsing a market when she saw a bedwarmer from a Big House in North Cork, between Mallow and Mitchelstown. The landlady who owned it was successful author, Elizabeth Bowen who, according to the stallholder, was hated because she spied for Churchill during The Emergency. Was that true? Leeanne set off to find out. (2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 15, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
Astonishing and largely unknown, this is the story of how the Irish 1916 Rising provided a blue print for one of the first armed uprisings of its kind in India, Britain's largest colony, bringing closer than ever the inevitable demise of the British Empire. (First Broadcast 2016) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 01, 2016•42 min•Ep. 1
In August 1916, the British executed a very unusual rebel figure: a knight-cum-Irish rebel who honed his nationalism in ‘Belgian’ Congo in Africa - Sir Roger Casement. From Dublin and Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, he was captured in Kerry. Then, imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was, as the saying goes, “hanged on a comma”.(Broadcast 2016) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 25, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
In 1916, a GAA match between Kerry and Louth footballers took place on a pitch named Croke Park, at a prisoner of war camp in Frongoch, Wales. 100 years on, three relations of men who played in that 1916 match retrace their forbearer’s footsteps. In the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, Frongoch became home to 1,800 Irish volunteer prisoners. (2016) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 24, 2016•41 min•Ep. 1
With a sung narration performed by Mick Flannery, this documentary delves into the life of an Irishman who lived in England. In 2006, Patrick Folens remains were discovered in Horton Woods in Kent. He disappeared mysteriously in 1995. (2007) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 14, 2016•41 min•Ep. 1
Longford/Westmeath was a controversial constituency in General Election 2016. Why? For two reasons. The count took a full six days – and before the election was even called, gender quota caused uproar. Behind the scenes, what were the politics at play from a woman’s perspective? We follow two female candidates as they battle their way to the Dail. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 04, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
In 1985, Kerry club Castleisland Desmonds won their first and only men’s Senior Football All Ireland club title. 30 years on, clubman Dan Kearney examines the David and Goliath journey that his local team embarked on - and tells a story that encapsulates everything about club GAA - and a legacy that his small town is proud to have. (Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 26, 2016•44 min•Ep. 1
12 Miles tells the story of Guillermo Rigondeux and his Irish manager, Gary Hyde. Gary was a boxing manager from Cork, who risked over 20 years in prison to smuggle amateur Olympic and world champion boxers out of Fidel Castro’s Cuba. (First Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 05, 2016•37 min•Ep. 1
Since 2011, Joanie Madden (Cherish the Ladies) has organised a Caribbean cruise with a difference – over seven days she brings together dozens of Irish musicians, dancers and storytellers from all over the world - and hundreds of passengers return year after year to hear the best of Irish traditional music and song. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 29, 2016•49 min•Ep. 1
The Newry Canal in Northern Ireland was built to link the Tyrone coalfields via Lough Neagh and the River Bann to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry. In this documentary we hear from those who worked on the canal to the people trying to save it from disrepair with restoration and preservation plans in mind. (1978) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 28, 2016•41 min•Ep. 1
In 1990 the Republic of Ireland soccer team played in their first ever world cup finals. RTE Sports, John Kenny re-lives the games at Italia 90 where a country began to believe in itself and perhaps laid the foundations for the Celtic Tiger that was to follow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 15, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
An Irish surgeon's medical adventures in Africa involving Coca Cola gas, home-made fuses and a hotline to the Electricity Supply company. Emer Horgan gets to see at first-hand the impact of the teamwork involved in surgical development in Tanzania. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 08, 2016•40 min•Ep. 1
Fran O'Toole, lead singer with the Miami Showband was murdered along with band members in a loyalist ambush in Northern Ireland in 1975. Soon after, Fran's young daughters were taken to live in Canada by their mother. Rachel and Kelly have long searched for a connection to their father and his family, imagining what might have been. (2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 19, 2015•40 min•Ep. 1
To the watching world in 1968, Tipperary man, Mick Meaney was an ordinary Irish emigrant to the U.K., with the extraordinary dream of breaking the world record for time spent buried alive underground. His bizarre record attempt was pushed along by Kerry publican turned promoter Butty Sugrue. But for how long and at what cost? (2018) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 11, 2015•38 min•Ep. 1
To the watching world in 1968, Tipperary man, Mick Meaney was an ordinary Irish emigrant to the U.K., with the extraordinary dream of breaking the world record for time spent buried alive underground. His bizarre record attempt was pushed along by Kerry publican turned promoter Butty Sugrue. But for how long and at what cost? (2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 10, 2015•38 min•Ep. 1
Matthew O'Brien from Meath has been counting down to Thursday 17th December 2015 for over a year - the day when the new Star Wars film ‘The Force Awakens’ opens in cinemas worldwide. Matthew has been hooked on Star Wars since he was 4 years old and he invites us into the curious world of a serious Star Wars fan (2015). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 20, 2015•40 min•Ep. 1
Two sisters in one Dublin family joined convents, one in Canada, one in Leitrim. Then both women left religious life. At the time, their ‘baby’ brother, Kevin, was too young to understand what was going on. Now, 50 years later, he’s decided to find out. (2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 28, 2015•40 min•Ep. 1
There’s talk that a papal visit might be on the cards in a few years time. We look back to that other papal visit in 1979, and how – all because of an attack of the poisonous yellow weed ragwort - dairy farmer Terry Grant’s field came to be known as the Pope’s Field. (Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 09, 2015•41 min•Ep. 1
Journalist Shane Stokes follows cyclist Sam Bennett on his first tour de France. Sam grew up in Tipperary and has battled injury, self doubt and the weight of expectation to perform at the highest level in sport. We hear the stories of those battles as the peloton makes its way to Paris during the summer of 2015. (First Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 02, 2015•40 min•Ep. 1
An Irish nurse in Saudi Arabia records her life on her phone. At first, it’s the differences in the Middle East but the phone becomes an audio diary of her unravelling life back in Mayo and Kerry. She and her partner struggle to maintain their strained relationship by Skype. Themes: Emigration, Happiness, Relationship, Romance, Travel, Women. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 25, 2015•40 min•Ep. 1
10 yrs ago Nora Nic Con Ultaigh’s learned of an unusual family story – that her great-grandfather from Galway was once, reportedly, the owner of a Caravaggio painting. Could this be true? Did a work from the great Italian artist once reside in Tuam? If so, where is it now? Nora sets off on a trail – hoping to find some answers (Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 11, 2015•44 min•Ep. 1
In February 2013 St. Brendan’s Mental Hospital at Grangegorman, Dublin finally closed after 199 years. When artist Alan Counihan heard about the personal possessions left behind of people with mental health problems, who had been in this psychiatric institution, he took some of these items home to investigate. Speaking with people who knew life inside the hospital, Alan met with former patients, psychiatric nurses and the hospital Chaplain as they reveal the true nature of life inside the buildi...
Sep 04, 2015•42 min•Ep. 1
When Gardai entered a chalet on Mayo's Northwest coast in April 2014, they found a scene of desperation and solitude. Scattered amongst the rubbish lay the body of Marsha Mehran, 36. Marsha, an Iranian born, international bestselling author was a recluse and died alone. How did Marsha come to die at the foothill of Croagh Patrick? (Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 28, 2015•44 min•Ep. 1
April 2015, earthquakes in the Asian country of Nepal result in over 8,500 deaths. Half a million homes lost. Tim Desmond travels to see the destruction and poverty first hand. Meeting families who lost relatives, livelihoods and farms, Tim examines how a country copes with disaster. Can new technology help improve things? (First Broadcast 2015) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 14, 2015•43 min•Ep. 1
When Dylan Haskins was eleven years old he and his Dad were driving along an Irish road, when a voice boomed out of the radio: “James Haskins, you have been sentenced to death by hanging.” Dylan’s Dad almost crashed the car. Years later, Dylan sets out to unravel a family mystery, and tries to finish what his late father began by answering the question: Is he related to the last man hanged in Wicklow Gaol? And what was the heinous crime that James Haskins committed in order to deserve the ultima...
Aug 07, 2015•41 min•Ep. 1
Johnny Jameson is a Meath born DJ living in London who entertains Irish emigrants with music and one-liners. He's also a man with an incredible past which includes working with Johnny Cash, Diana Ross, The Monkees and the Miami Showband - as well as meeting Nixon, Springsteen and Bon Jovi! (Broadcast 2015) Themes: America, Music, Community See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 30, 2015•39 min•Ep. 1
In July 2014, Donegal TD, Joe McHugh became Minister of State with responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs. Only problem? Last time Joe spoke Irish was in school. He had to learn the language fast. We follow him over the last 12 months as he faces criticism, a public deadline and gets to grips with a language politics forced upon him (Broadcast 2015). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 24, 2015•42 min•Ep. 1
On February 19th, 2011, a young Irish woman named Grace Farrell froze to death on her makeshift cardboard bed in the doorway of St Brigid’s church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was the coldest night of that New York winter. She was just 35 years old. A few days afterwards, Grace`s friend Emmanuel, who'd also emigrated from Ireland to the US, wrote a story about her for the New York Times. Here, Michael Kealy tells the story of Grace, a Drogheda woman who emigrated to America in the mid...
Jul 17, 2015•39 min•Ep. 1