History Ireland

Dec 31 2024 123 ep. 70 mins 441
History Ireland Podcast artwork

History Ireland magazine has now been in production for over 27 years. The History Ireland Podcast covers a wide variety of topics, from the earliest times to the present day, in an effort to give the listener a sense of the distant past but also to offer a contemporary edge.

  History  Society & Culture
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Making sense of the 2020 and 2024 general elections

Dec 31 2024 83 mins  
We broadcast again editor Tommy Graham’s interview (55 mins) with Brian Hanley (TCD) following the February 2020 general election, with an update (28 mins) on the November 2024 general election. What do they tell us about the current shape of Irish party politics?

‘Our man in Moscow’—50 years of Irish/Russian diplomatic relations

Oct 06 2024 63 mins  
(Recorded live on Wed 02 October, @ The Cobblestone, King St N, Smithfield, Dublin, D07 TP22) History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, chats to Irish diplomat, Jim Sharkey, who opened the Irish embassy in Moscow in 1974 and returned to live in the city as Ambassador in 2001. This Hedge School is part of the Dublin Festival of History.

Is Irish History ‘sea-blind’?

Oct 04 2024 78 mins  
(Recorded live on Sunday 29 September 2024, @ The Substation, Alexandra Road, Dublin, D01 H4C6) In 1986, the maritime historian, John de Courcey Ireland, wrote: ‘The lives of island peoples like Ireland’s [have] been dominated by the seas encircling them. Yet this fact has been largely ignored by Irish historians’. Is Irish history still ‘sea blind’? To address this ques

How many died—and how—in the Irish Civil War?

Aug 23 2024 59 mins  
(Recorded live on Sat 17 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic) Thanks to UCC’s Irish Civil War Fatalities project we now have a definite figure—1,485. But in this discussion, chaired by History Ireland editor Tommy Graham, with John Dorney, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Michael Kennedy and Caitlin White, we find out a lot more—not only who was killed but also when, where, in what circu

‘Garrison games’—Niall Quinn tackles Oscar Traynor

Aug 22 2024 63 mins  
(Recorded live on Fri 16 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic) History Ireland editor Tommy Graham chats to former international footballer, administrator, businessman and TV pundit Niall Quinn about his recently completed MA thesis, ‘Oscar Traynor—a re-evaluation of a footballer, rebel, politician and football administrator’. Not only was Traynor an IRA commander in the War of I

The Life and Times of Brendan O’Regan

Apr 18 2024 90 mins  
Born in 1917 in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Brendan O’Regan’s background was in hotel management and catering, working in the family hotel in Ennis, the St Stephen’s Green Club in Dublin and the world’s first duty-free shop in Shannon Airport, where he is credited with inventing Irish coffee. In 1959 he was appointed by Seán Lemass as the first head of the Shannon Airport De

St Brigit 1500—who was she?

Feb 08 2024 76 mins  
Recorded on the 1 Feb 2024, at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street. Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 1500th anniversary of the passing of St Brigit, Ireland’s most notable female saint. But who was she?—a figure of history or of myth and legend?—a goddess and/or a feminist icon? With Edel Breathnach, Elva Johnston, Bairbre Ní Fhloinn and Nia

‘Taking her place amongst the nations of the earth’?—Ireland and the League of Nations

Nov 16 2023 66 mins  
To what extent did the Irish Free State’s joining the League of Nations a century ago realise Robert Emmet’s ambition? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney, Michael Kennedy and Zoë Reid. The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com

Iníon Dubh and Red Hugh O’Donnell

Nov 02 2023 70 mins  
(Recorded at Maggie’s Tavern, St Johnston, Co. Donegal, on Saturday 28 October ’23) Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 421st anniversary of the passing of Red Hugh O’Donnell, the ‘Fighting Prince of Donegal’. But no discussion of Red Hugh would be complete without consideration of the real ‘mover and shaker’ in these events, the power behind the th

The Irish Civil War on film

Oct 13 2023 62 mins  
(Recorded at the Irish Film Institute on Wed 11 Oct ’23 as part of the Dublin Festival of History) Listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham for a lively and interactive discussion on how the Irish Civil War was depicted on film, both at the time (newsreels) and subsequently (Michael Collins, The Wind that Shakes the Barley and other films), and how this has affected our und