Irish History Podcast

The forgotten story of the Irishman forced to work on Japan's Railway of Death which inspired the film The Bridge over the River Kwai. In 1942 Britain suffered one of its worst defeats when Singapore fell to the...

In the final episode of this series we follow the 1798 rebellion into its most dramatic and desperate days. As fear grips Dublin and battles erupt across Wexford and Ulster the future of Ireland hangs in the balance...

The Battle of New Ross was one of the bloodiest clashes of the 1798 Rebellion and within hours it was followed by the horrific Scullabogue Massacre. Together these events created a day long remembered for fire, terror...

As my series on the 1798 Rebellion returns, this is a great point to dive in to the story... In this episode we see major fighting break out as the south of Ireland erupts in revolt. Rebel forces sweep through the...

In March 1844, the quiet community of Culdaff in north Donegal was rocked by the brutal murder of fourteen-year-old servant Mary Doherty. As the Great Hunger loomed on the horizon, Mary’s tragic death was soon...

In the early days of 1798, Dublin teetered on the edge of revolution. A shadow war raged between the United Irishmen and the British authorities, with the city’s fate hanging in the balance. This episode delves into the...

This special episode of the Irish History Podcast is made in partnership with An Post. In Nazi-occupied Rome, the Irish priest Hugh O’Flaherty risked everything to save thousands from certain death. By running a secret...

This episode covers one of the most famous events in our history. It’s part of the 1798 Rebellion series, but you can dive straight in if you don't want the gripping backstory! In the closing months of 1796, Ireland was...

This episode returns to the story of the 1798 Rebellion, but also stands alone as its own story. In 1793, war broke out between the British Empire and Revolutionary France. This episode explores what happened when a...

This week, we’re taking a break from our series on the 1798 Rebellion for a fascinating conversation about the Great Famine in Dublin and why this key chapter in the city’s history has been largely forgotten. When most...

While this episode fits into a bigger series on the 1798 Rebellion, it’s also designed to stand on its own. The French Revolution of 1789 electrified Ireland, inspiring hope and fear in equal measure. It would lead to...

This episode is part of a wider series on the 1798 Rebellion, but you can enjoy it as a stand-alone story. When the American Revolution broke out in the 1770s, it sent shock waves across the Atlantic, transforming Irish...

This podcast opens a broader series on the 1798 Rebellion, but also works as a stand alone episode. For over a century, Irish Catholics and Presbyterians were subjected to the Penal Laws. Although the vast majority of...

The 1790s remain one of the most important decades in modern Irish history. After years of rising tensions, the island was rocked by the 1798 Rebellion—the largest uprising in Irish history. In just a few months, more...

In the 1960s, over 30,000 Irish immigrants were working in Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). While the NHS is often celebrated as one of Britain’s greatest achievements, the vital contributions of these Irish...

William the Conqueror has been dead for nearly a thousand years, and he never set foot in Ireland—so how did he end up at the centre of a modern Irish culture war? With Normandy gearing up for “The Year of the Norman”...

In 1973, just two people attended the lonely funeral of May O’Callaghan, an Irish emigrant in North London. Few could have imagined that this quiet woman from Wexford had once stood at the very heart of Soviet power. In...

This special episode of the Irish History Podcast, in partnership with An Post, marks the 250th anniversary of Daniel O’Connell’s birth. In this podcast, I explore the life and legacy of one of Ireland’s most...

How do we decide who the most significant people in our history are? Whose story is worth telling? In this episode, I’m joined by Eoin Kinsella, managing editor of the Dictionary of Irish Biography, to explore how he...

When we think of Ireland’s past, we usually envisage an island shaped by two languages: Irish and English. But hidden in the history of South Wexford is Yola, a unique dialect that survived for centuries after the...

This episode continues the story of NORAID - the Irish American organisation who were the voice of the IRA in the US. Jamie Goldrick and I delve into the complicated history of wider Irish American involvement in the...

In this episode, we explore the fascinating and controversial story of NORAID, the Irish American organisation at the heart of the new documentary NORAID: Irish America & the IRA. Joined by the film’s producer, Jamie...

In the 1950s, more than 20,000 people—over one percent of the adult population of Ireland—were locked away in mental asylums. This was the highest rate in the world, with more people confined in asylums than in all...

While we’re on the last week of our summer break, we’re bringing you one of our most popular episodes from the back catalogue. For over four decades, contraception was not just taboo in Ireland—it was illegal. From 1935...

A story from the 1920s that will reshape the way you view our great grandparents lives! Unfortunately, there’s no new show this week, but I wanted to re-share an episode I really enjoyed making two years ago. It'll well...